Zeiss Milvus 50mm f/2M ZE Lens (Nikon F-Mount)

Spectacular dreamy bokeh even at f1.4, really sharp images and amazing micro contrast. I got it mainly for portraits and to do more monochrome photography, where the micro contrast is incredible. . It does not disappoint, best 50mm in my book bar the Otus 55mm but by f2.8 it's just about on par with the Otus, nothing touches the Otus at f1.4 but if your shooting at that aperture then you really need this beauty on a tripod. It is after all a manual focus lens and the DOF wide open is very very narrow. The new housing on the Milvus line looks sexy too as well as being weather sealed. It's my second Zeiss lens, my other being the 135 f2 apo Sonnar which is taking it to another level, that lens reigns supreme in my collection but this Milvus 50 is not far behind. Highly recommended.

Traumhafte Farbwiedergabe & Bokeh, ja Federleicht ist es nicht, aber ein gut verarbeiteter Panzer wiegt halt. zeigt ab & zu paar CAs bei hohen Kontrasten, stört mich nicht, es geht mir mehr um den Look/Charme. Man erkennt ein gutes Objektiv zB. an der Abbildung der Hautfarben und da ist das Zeiss auch Top Notch.

When I received the lens delivery, the Amazon outer packaging was intact, but the original Zeiss box inside was damaged. The lens itself was not damaged and was in perfect condition. This is not the first Zeiss lens I have bought — I own several lenses from the Zeiss “Classic” series. The 15 mm f/2.8 ZF is currently the only lens from the Milvus series in my collection. I use it on a Canon DSLR via an adapter. The build quality of the lens is excellent. The aperture ring could be slightly wider, which would make it more comfortable to use. I also recommend replacing the 95 mm plastic front cap — the original Zeiss cap comes off easily when the camera with the lens is in a bag. It is therefore best to screw a protective filter onto the lens right away. The lens is quite heavy, but it fits comfortably in the hand. Even though this is a manual-focus lens, focusing is not a problem. I can easily set the focus to infinity, and with a quality adapter this causes no issues. The lens has good contrast and does not flare in sunlight.

Leider mußte ich das Objektiv zurückschicken. Es kamen damit keine scharfen Bilder zustande; je weiter das angezielte Objekt weg war, desto weniger scharf war das Bild. Das heißt, es handelte sich nicht um Front- oder Backfokus, sondern - offenbar - um eine Dejustage. (Die benutzte Kamera funktioniert einwandfrei.) Der Fehler erstaunt mich bei dieser Firma, scheint Zeiss aber auch anderweitig zu unterlaufen; Nasim Mansurov/photographylife berichtet sogar von einer "bad copy" des Otus 1.4/55. Dank an Amazon; die Rückabwicklung hat perfekt funktioniert. (Dafür gibt es Stern Nr. 2.)

Kaum wird die Umgebung ein wenig dämmerig, ist das Scharfstellen extrem schwierig. In solche Situationen will man aber mit einer Blende von 1,4 vordringen. Ist das Objekt gut beleuchtet, ist das Scharfstellen leichter. Ansonsten sehr scharfe Bilder mit einer wunderbaren Farbgebung. Zeiss sollte dem Objektiv einen Autofokus spendieren. Dann bin wieder mit dabei - habe es zurückgeschickt.

I will definitely be buying more Zeiss lenses in the future. Overall the bokeh is very, very nice, especially out of focus highlights. The way this thing draws in general is just gorgeous. Manual focus shouldn't scare you away, It is definitely doable even without an aftermarket focus screen. (At least on a D610) the focus dot can be adjusted using the AF adjustment under settings. If you haven't noticed, the range of acceptable focus (according to the green dot) is kind of wide, (too wide for nailing f1.4) so I adjusted the confirmation dot to be just on the edge of coming on when focusing from near to far, and that has been working out great. If you're thinking about getting it, (you're probably going to anyway) here's another nudge.