A guide to Zeiss lens choices for Sony FE

The challenge we have now is no longer one of insufficient lenses: it’s almost one of too many. Having spent the last few months navigating the options and trying to figure out which of them work best for me, I now feel qualified to write this post which will a) explain the differences, b) make some recommendations both for the various series of lenses and within them as a whole. It’s worth noting that these comments and lens options apply to mirrorless cameras in general, though I’ve chosen Sony FE specifically because a) I own the A7RII, and b) there are several ‘native mount’ options that are available for Sony that aren’t for other systems – the first three on the list for starters, and won’t adapt because they require electronics*. I do honestly wish they’d thought out some of the naming better, though – it just lands up being both confusing for photographers and a bit of nightmare for their marketing team.

*Electronic mounts are a good and bad thing. Fully electronic mounts allow for some pretty cool capabilities – stepless aperture controlled from the body for video work; displays showing real depth of field on the lens, focus limits set by the body, optical stabilisation. But they’re also bad because it means the lens might be completely useless without a compatible camera – even focusing won’t work since most of these systems are focus by wire. You run the future risk of having the lens be a single focal distance and aperture optic, or a paperweight. On the other hand, the 100% mechanical lenses will last and be usable for a lifetime so long as you can find a compatible mount adaptor, but you will have to live with annoyances like manual stop down and manual focus. The bottom line is, there is no free lunch – but there are times when it doesn’t matter so much (e.g. AF on shift lenses).

In practice, the bigger headache is that for some focal lengths, you have to pick one or two from each lens line to cover a decent range – and deal with the cognitive switch in operation every time you switch lenses. I can understand why Zeiss wouldn’t want to duplicate lenses, but we’ve got a real consistency problem here. For others, you’ve got too many choices – count the ways to get to fast 50-e, for example : FE ZA 1.8/55; 2/50 Loxia; 2/50 ZM; 1.5/50 ZM; 1.4/55 Otus; 1.4/50 Milvus; 1.4/50 Classic; 2/50 M Milvus; 2/50 MP Classic – that’s nine, excluding the zoom, the not-quite-full-frame 2/50M Touit, and mount options for the SLR lenses. And all of them offer something different enough that you might have good reasons for deploying one over the other – AF, macro, rendering, for instance. Even the two f1.4 50mms in the SLR lines (Milvus, Classic) differ significantly in rendering due to their optical formulae.

Here we go. Please note: links in the section title take you to B&H or Amazon to order; I do get a small referral fee from these that helps cover the hosting and server costs for the site. You’ll notice there are no links for the last three, but ebay or Japan Camera Hunter can help. Direct links to individual products are to previous review articles I’ve written. I’ve ordered them in sequence from most to least native/functional.

Sony Zeiss FE ZA cobranded (B&H Amazon)
2.8/35, 1.4/35, 1.8/55, 4/16-35, 4/24-70, many others for DX and A mount via adaptors. Pick of the bunch: 1.8/55
These are native mount, offer full functionality and the best value for money. They are made by Sony and not QC’d by Zeiss as per the other lenses; this means there is some significant sample variation possible. The 1.8/55 can  be very impressive if you get a good copy; I’ve had to test six to find one though. Other lenses have significant field curvature/focus shift (the 2.8/35 for example) or are average (4/16-35). The 4/24-70 is a real mediocre disappointment and it’s a wonder that Zeiss ever agreed to have their name on this thing at all. I am not considering the SLR A mount lenses here because they are very expensive, clunky in operation via the various adaptors, and will really only work on Sony cameras – IMHO, not worth the investment given the recent confusion (by their own local principals, no less) over whether Sony was discontinuing the Alpha mount. Needless to say, it does not really inspire much confidence. But that might mean some used market bargains to be had…

Zeiss Batis (B&H Amazon)
1.8/25 Distagon, 1.8/85 Sonnar. Pick of the bunch: both are good. Personally, I use the 85 much more since the 25-end is covered better by the Q and 21 Loxia for me.
This is probably the best approach to E mount if Sony can speed up its focusing – the lenses are optically excellent, very well built, light/portable and have a handy display in the top for showing precise depth of field information adapted for the sensor and aperture. They are also weather sealed. I don’t like the fly by wire focusing, but with solid AF you seldom have to use it anyway. Needs a 50-ish thing to fill in the middle; the FE ZA 1.8/55 can do the job but isn’t weather sealed and just not quite as good optically. Oddly, the 85mm has optical stabilisation – good for owners of older Sony bodies but redundant on current and future generations. It suggests that perhaps Sony and Zeiss aren’t talking quite as much as they would like us to think…

Zeiss Loxia (B&H Amazon)
2.8/21 Distagon, 2/35 Biogon, 2/50 Planar. Pick of the bunch: 2.8/21
This series puzzled me at first. But I think they make sense for run and gun filmmakers because of the mechanical focusing with hard limits and declickable aperture rings. They make sense even more to me now given the leisurely and not always accurate nature of the camera’s focusing, especially in low light; the lenses are partially electronic so they trigger magnification in the finder when you turn the ring. This makes it easy to manual focus quickly, and is now my preferred way of working with the A7RII since it takes a lot of the timing limitations out of the equation. The 35 and 50mm designs are modified from the ZM versions; the 50mm is excellent but showing its age and limits on the 42MP sensor. 35 is not a focal length that interests me, so I never tested it. The 21 on the other hand, it absolutely superb – quite possibly the best 21mm made yet.  What’s missing is now is a longer option…though I doubt we will see one since the 85 Batis exists. One catch: diaphragms are mechanical and must be stopped down manually before shooting.

Zeiss Touit (B&H Amazon)
2.8/12, 1.8/32, 2/50M
APS-C only, but worth a mention because they are 18(!), 50 and 75mm-e, and with the A7RII you still have enough pixels to make a usable file, and some of them cover a little more area than advertised. Probably not worth the hassle new, but might be worth a look if you can find them cheap on the second hand market.

Now we start getting into the adapted options: for the Otus, Milvus and Classic lines, Nikon and Canon mounts are available. The Nikon mounts do have CPU chips that feed exposure and EXIF data back to the camera body, and have mechanical aperture couplings to be activated by the body, but this only works on a Nikon. On everything else, they are 100% mechanical and require manual stopping down for exposure. Nikon F mount also has the longest common flange distance which means it is probably the most ‘universal’ of all of the common SLR mounts.

Canon EOS, on the other hand, is fully electronic which means the camera controls the diaphragm electromagnetically; with use of the right adaptor (e.g. a Metabones Smart Adaptor IV) the camera body – even a Sony – can be used to select aperture and then stop down automatically when shooting. There are obviously advantages to this, however it means the lenses are only usable on Canon or Sony bodies; for everything else you will be restricted to the last selected aperture. My recommendation is for those shooting Canon/Sony, or only Sony, you may be best served by the Canon mount versions. However, for those who plan to shoot any other system, the Nikon mount is the way to go – it is slower, but at least you know it’ll always be fully functional so long as you can mount it.

Zeiss Otus (B&H Amazon)
1.4/28 APO Distagon, 1.4/55 APO Distagon, 1.4/85 APO Planar. No picks here; you can’t better any of them in that focal length optically.
The best of the best – what else is there to say? You will pay for it both financially and physically, though. These are special purpose lenses which require very precise focusing and will punish sloppy shot discipline. The A7RII is a good body to mount them on because of the EVF, magnification and stabilisers, but the ergonomics are terrible and I always feel like the mount is going to be ripped off. They are also slow to use and not suited for moving subjects, but the results are unbeatable when everything comes together.

Zeiss Milvus (B&H Amazon) / Classic (ZF2: B&H Amazon, ZE: B&H Amazon)
2.8/15, 3.5/18, 2.8/21, 2/25, 2.8/25, 2/28, 1.4/35, 2/35, 1.4/50 (two versions), 2/50M, 1.4/85 (two versions), 2/100M, 2/135 APO. My picks: 2/28 for the drawing style; 1.4/85 Milvus because it’s an Otus 85 on a budget, and better for portraiture with smoother transitions; the 2/135 APO because it’s one of the best lenses there is, period.
If you must have something to cover a focal length that is not covered by the native options, there are a lot of choices here – and they will also work on your DSLR. Some don’t make sense because the native options are better or have AF (the 21, 35, 50mms for starters) and others are unwieldy but good (the 135 APO). Others have no equivalent – the 2/28 draws very, very differently from the 1.4/28 Otus and is probably preferable for human documentary and filmmaking, in my opinion.

Zeiss ZM (B&H Amazon)
2.8/15, 4/18, 2.8/21, 3.5/21, 2.8/25, 2.8/28, 1.4/35, 2/35, 2.8/35, 1.5/50, 2/50, 2/85, 4/85
I can’t say I’ve tried all of these, but most. The 1.4/35 is a standout in the centre but has really poor edges without the Leica M’s microlenses, and is probably good for environmental portraiture or documentary work where the sides aren’t as critical. The 2/35 and 2/50 are available as Loxias with automatic magnification and native mounts. The 4/85 is interesting for its size, but the weight is close to a Batis and you lose two stops. Bottom line: I’m honestly not sure that many of these make much sense on the A7RII unless you really need the small size; and even in that case you may be better off with an A7II instead because lower resolving demands are placed on the corners.

Contax-Yashica and Contax N Zeiss
Far too many to list, including rare f1.2 exotics and f2 telephotos. My picks are the CY 28/35 PC Distagon, the CY 2.8/85 and the CY 100-300/4.5-5.6
Some of the older CY glass was really good – to the point that derivatives of the optical formulas survived all the way into the Milvus line; the 2.8/21, 2/28, 2/35, 2/100M for instance. It’s worth noting however that the CY housings were usually quite a bit smaller than the modern ones (though no less durable) and are available for reasonable prices on the used market – so this might be worth some consideration, too – especially if trying to make a very lightweight or compact kit. Other lenses were good but still went the way of the dodo – the three I’ve picked are lenses which have no modern equivalents yet perform very well indeed on the A7RII. To the best of my knowledge, the 2.8/35 PC is the only modern-ish Zeiss shift lens made; it is incredible unshifted and so good even when shifted that I put aside my 35mm-phobia to use it. Mechanically, it’s bulletproof too – and the shift mechanism is simplicity and precision in itself. The 2.8/85 is a tiny gem that’s smaller than most 50/1.8s; you can always have it with you and not notice it’s there til you need it. If you work stopped down on a tripod, this may be all the 85mm you ever need – except you’ll soon discover the spherical design leads to very smooth front and rear bokeh. Finally, the 100-300 isn’t small, but performs very well for a zoom – in fact, comparable to Zeiss’ own CY 4/300.

Contax G RF Zeiss
8/16, 2.8/21, 2.8/28, 2/35, 2/45, 2.8/90, 3.5-5.6/35-70
I include these as options for the simple reason that with the right adaptors, you can retain autofocus – albeit slow, and somewhat flakey. The optics do have a deservedly good reputation, but I personally find the setup a bit too temperamental in practice.

Hasselblad Zeiss
Fifty years’ in various versions covering 40, 50, 60, 85, 100, 110, 120, 150, 180, 250, 350mm and up. 
Not really worth bothering with unless you need the very large image circle from these lenses for movements in conjunction with one of the technical cameras like the Cambo Actus. Needless to say, the whole setup is extremely unwieldy. Not all of them have sufficient resolving power, either – the 40 IF FLE is probably about the only one on the wide end, the 60 is borderline, and the telephotos are good, but you tend not to need movements so much at 120mm…

A final word: On adaptors
Much has been said both here and elsewhere in the past about adaptors degrading image quality. They do so not because there is any glass in the middle extraneous to the original optical design – there usually isn’t – but because you’re introducing two more mount surfaces to the equation, and possible skew and planarity issues in each case. And you can be sure that a $40 adaptor probably isn’t made to the same standards as the original mounts, nor is planarity checked to a high degree of tolerance. You could probably shim them yourself, but that’s a hassle and may introduce light leaks. I would stick to reputable brands – Novoflex and Metabones have proven reasonably consistent so far – but even then, you might want to test a few samples with the lens and body combination you intend to use to ensure there are no strange effects. I had one such problem with the 2.8/35 PC: it sang on the 50MP 5DSR, but was very soft on the A7RII – almost as though I was getting free tilt in addition to shift (or certainly exacerbated by the shift. A new adaptor cured that and results were more in line with what I saw from the Canon. The lens options are tremendous: but just because something can mount doesn’t always mean it should. MT

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