Zeiss Milvus 35mm f/2 £935/$1120

A lens for manual mastery

Along with the Samyang lens on test, the Zeiss bucks the ‘automatic’ trend and makes focusing a manual affair. Zone focusing is made simple, thanks to a long-travel, silky-smooth focus ring that comes complete with a distance scale and depth of field markings for f/4, f/8, f/16 and f/22.

Even so, without microprism or split-screen focusing aids in modern SLRs, accurate manual focus can be tricky. Thankfully, the Milvus has built-in electronics, enabling the illumination of focus assist and confirmation lamps in the viewfinder. Furthermore, the manual aperture ring comes complete with a de-click option, for smooth aperture transitions when shooting movies.

Performance

Impeccable, weather-sealed construction is matched by excellent performance in terms of image quality. However, sharpness and contrast aren’t better than from most other lenses on test. It’s chunky and heavy for a 35mm f/2 lens as well, but still rather manageable and straightforward to use.