Zeiss Otus 100mm f/1.4 APO-Sonnar Aperture Series: Orange Poppies (Nikon D850)
Get Zeiss Otus at B&H Photo.
This series looks at the razor sharpness and luscious bokeh of the Zeiss Otus 100mm f/1.4 APO-Sonnar on a scene at MOD (minimum object distance) from f/1.4 through f/9.
By "razor sharp" I mean this image tells me that (I saw something amazing at a glance), and the MTF chart shows performance at f/1.4 that few lenses every reach at any aperture, and which f/4 scarcely improves upon—this is the best MTF behavior I can ever recall seeing from any lens. It is far superior to the Leica 50mm f/1.4 Summilux-SL ASPH for example, even if you believe the computed (not measured) graphs of Leica versus the measured Zeiss MTF charts. The Otus has a flat field with flatline MTF with virtually no astigmatism. I cannot think of a better behaved lens.
My immediate impression having shot so many superb lenses in the past few years is that there is something very special and rare going on here, which I’ll summarize as the total rendering style making a synergistic whole. There is certain look to it that just feels 'Zeiss'. See also Micro Contrast and the Zeiss 'Pop'.
In diglloyd Zeiss DLSR Lenses:
Zeiss Otus 100mm f/1.4 APO-Sonnar Aperture Series: Orange Poppies
Includes images up to full camera resolution, plus crops.