As third lens of the prestigious Otus lineup, in 2016 Zeiss released the Zeiss Otus 28mm 1.4 Apo Distagon. At that time it was the biggest, heaviest and most complex 28mm fullframe lens ever seen and it came with an eye watering price tag of $5.000, putting it far ouf of most people’s reach. On the used market you can now find this lens for less than half that – still a lot of money – is it worth saving up for this lens? Let’s try to find out!
This diary entry covers our fourth day of the trip. For details on previous days, see the ‘Further Reading’ section at the end of the article.
See the video of An Arctic Trip; Day Four on YouTube
Sample images in high resolution here.
On the fourth day of our trip, the weather was clear and at sunrise a beautiful light fell on the snow, so I went out alone to take pictures.
Nikon Z6 | Nikkor Z 24-70/4 S | f/8
The Nikon AF-S 28mm 1.8G was the most affordable f/1.8 wide angle prime in Nikon’s AF-S era. It always flew a bit under the radar, probably because many people already had a zoom lens covering 28mm at f/2.8 or because they preferred a 24mm or 35mm. Good fast 28mm lenses are rare birds though, so let’s have a closer look at this one.
The Nikon Nikkor Z 85mm f/1.8 S is a short telephoto lens that delivers excellent background blur thanks to its large aperture. While it’s ideal for portrait photography, it can also be effectively used for landscape and street photography, thanks to its relatively wide field of view for a telephoto lens. This professional-grade lens is designed for both professionals and enthusiasts. From 2019 to 2023, it was Nikon’s only 85mm option for professional use on Z cameras, until the introduction of the 85mm f/1.2 S. Let’s take a closer look!
I tested this lens on a 46 Mp Nikon Z7ii (Sample images were taken with a Nikon Zf and Nikon Zfc)
You can see this review as a YouTube video here!
When camera manufacturers introduce a new mount, they usually also announce some fancy new lenses, which were simply not possible to design for the previous one. Canon for example did that by introducing the Canon EF 50mm 1.0L USM when they made the switch from FD to EF mount in 1989. And when Nikon made the switch from F to Z mount in 2019, it led to the release of this Nikon Z 58mm 0.95 S Noct-Nikkor, to showcase the possibilities of the much wider Z-mount. This is not only a rare, expensive and quite unpractical lens, it is also the best f/0.95 lens ever made. In the manual Nikon even goes as far as calling it the “Ultimate Lens”. Is there any truth to that? Let’s have a closer look!
Continue reading Review: Nikon 58mm 0.95 Noct-Nikkor – The Ultimate Lens?