Filters for the Zeiss Otus 85mm f/1.4 APO-Planar
Related: apochromatic, filters, polarizer, Zeiss, Zeiss 85mm, Zeiss APO, Zeiss DSLR Lenses, Zeiss Lenses, Zeiss Otus, Zeiss Otus 85mm f/1.4 APO-Planar, Zeiss Planar
Zeiss Otus 85mm f/1.4 APO-Planar (about $4490) for Nikon or Canon. THANK YOU for using this site’s links to pre-order.
The filter size of the new Zeiss Otus 85mm f/1.4 APO-Planar is 86mm, which is oddball enough that I still have not been able to obtain the Heliopan 86mm SH-PMC polarizer I want for it (on order at B&H).
Zeiss will have 86mm UV and polarizer filters for the Otus 85/1.4, which are my preference, but these are not yet available. Otherwise, I greatly prefer Heliopan over B+W polarizers (ring stickiness on B+W, plus numbers on the Heliopan).
Recommended filters for the Otus 85/1.4 APO-Planar are a bit hard to find in stock as yet, but here are some choices:
- B+W UV 010 MRC 86mm UV and B+W 86mm polarizer.
- Heliopan 86mm UV filters and Heliopan 86mm polarizer.
- Neutral density filters are also useful, particularly for an f/1.4 lens. A 3-stop (ND 0.9) tends to be most useful, but 2-stop and 6-stop are also. The trick is finding one with high quality scratch-resistant multicoating.
I like B+W MRC or Heliopan SH-PMC multicoating hard coat.
I generally do *not* use a skylight filter, because I want a completely neutral UV filter without any cutoff of deep blue; ultraviolet is not an issue whatsoever due to severe attenuation by modern lens coatings. And while a skylight filter can be useful in some conditions of bluish atmospheric haze, a polarizer is far more effective for such conditions.
Keep all filter meticulously clean, because even the best ones can degrade image quality.
