The show of lenses continues at IBC 2016, this time with some new additions to the Zeiss Milvus full-frame line — 15mm f/2.8, 18mm f/2.8, and 135mm f/2. The Milvus manual focus still lenses are newer versions of the previous Zeiss ZF and ZE line, with a few receiving new internal designs, like the 50mm and 85mm.
While the 15mm f/2.8 and 135mm f/2 seem very similar to their predecessors, the 18mm f/2.8 is definitely a newer design, as the previous lens was an f/3.5. Though Zeiss made a Batis lens in E-mount that’s an 18mm f/2.8, they didn’t have anything in this range this fast for the longer flange lens mounts, like Canon and Nikon. According to their press release, they’ve worked hard to pull as much distortion out of the lens as they can, which should be nice for those of us shooting video.
These three lenses will come in Canon EF or Nikon F mount, and the F mount lenses will have the unique de-click feature that lets you have a clickless aperture non-permanently.
The $2699 15mm has a 95mm filter and weighs in at 2.08 lb (947 g), the $2,299 18mm has a 77mm filter and weighs 1.59 lb (721 g), and finally the $2,100 135mm has a 77mm filter thread and comes in at 2.47 lb (1123 g). There’s no question these are a little pricey for regular stills glass, but there aren’t many other super-wides that perform at this level.
The Milvus line now has lenses from 15mm to 135mm, giving you a truly full set. It will be interesting to see if any of these models or designs to make it into the next version of the CP.2 lenses.
All of these lenses are available for pre-order and should be shipping in October. You can read more about them over at the Zeiss site.
