Does the Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 Otus ML Lens Image Quality Match the Hype?

As I shared at the Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 Otus ML Lens announcement, I welcome Zeiss introducing new products into the MILC space, especially under the high-end Otus brand, and I looked forward to reviewing these products.

With the RF mount Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 Otus ML Lens in the studio, the highest priority was to produce the Image quality test results, which are now included on the Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 Otus ML Lens page.

In general, the sharper the lens, the easier it is to establish perfect focus. When all visible colors are not focused on the same plane, establishing optimal focus is extremely difficult.

Do you see the color fringing in this lens's f/1.4 sample? It cost me hours of work. Rarely does a second round of testing improve the results, but I had to be certain that the results were accurate. They were. The second round of testing produced the same results.

Focus can be adjusted to remove the color blur from this lens's results, but doing so diminishes the sharpness of the resolution lines. Here is that example:

Color blur is not unusual, and we have seen similar results before from Zeiss:

Compared to the Zeiss Milvus 50mm f/1.4 Lens

However, modern lenses usually keep the plane of sharpest focus color-free. Here is a three-dimensional example from the Otus ML:

Stopping down even slightly significantly reduces the color blur.

Let's look at some comparisons.

Compared to the Zeiss 55mm f/1.4 Otus Lens

Compared to the Canon RF 50mm F1.4 L VCM Lens

Compared to the Sigma 50mm F1.4 DG DN Art Lens

Compared to the Sony FE 50mm F1.4 GM Lens

Please share!

Support this site by ordering the Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 Otus ML Lens (or anything else) from B&H | Adorama | WEX

Rent the Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 Otus ML Lens from Lensrentals.