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Zeiss Otus 55mm f/1.4 APO-Distagon

Secondary Color Aberrations and Point Spread Function vs 50/2 Makro-Planar + Canon 50/1.2L, 50/1.4 (5D Mark III, Barn Interior)

Production Zeiss ZE Otus 55/1.4 APO-Distagon used here (not a prototype).

Shot on the 22-megapixel Canon 5D Mark III.

The term “APO” (apochromatic) has been degraded in meaning in recent years by product marketing, having come to mean only “some level of special attention given to correction of color errors”.

However, Zeiss uses the term APO sparingly. When used, it indicates a truly exceptional attention to color correction, so much so that your author would tend to categorize it as a somewhat higher standard than the Leica APO designation, based on thousands of field shots.

Comparisons under controlled field conditions are the best way to evaluate relative performance between lenses. Note that comparisons of color errors should be made at the same aperture. Also, a faster lens is inherently more challenging to design for control of aberrations, including color aberrations. Hence an f/1.4 lens has to have an exceptional design to perform well wide open.

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Want a preview? Click on any page below to see an excerpt. And see Lloyd’s articles for Lenspire.Zeiss.com.

Zeiss ZF.2 Otus 55mm f/1.4 APO-Distagon
Zeiss ZF.2 50mm f/2 Makro-Planar
Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4

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