BEST IN CLASS
Zeiss Batis Prime Lenses Are these the best prime lenses on the planet for D-SLRs or mirrorless cameras with full-35mm size sensors? Many glowing reviews and a large collection of design awards say ‘yes’.
Designed to deliver exceptional image quality with Sony’s full-35mm format E-mount mirrorless cameras – including the 43.6 megapixels A7R III – Zeiss’s Batis series lenses now comprises ve models from an 18mm f2.8 ultra-wide to a 135mm f2.8 medium telephoto. A recent addition to the range is the 40mm f2.0 CF, an all-purpose lens that o ers outstanding imaging quality.
These lenses make optimal use of the camera sensors, capturing every last detail with impressive contrast and high resolution. As well as offering fast and reliable autofocusing via linear motors, the Batis lenses also support manual focusing, allowing users to choose the best option for each individual situation. The sleek and modern external styling with smooth surfaces emphasises the superior quality of this lens family and gives each model an unmistakable look and feel. More practically, the barrels are sealed against the intrusion of dust or moisture, allowing the Batis lenses to be used in bad weather or extreme environments.
A unique feature is an OLED-type display which provides a digital read-out of the focusing distance. Easy to read even in low light, these displays show the exact distance between the camera and the focal plane as well as the depth-of-field. The Batis lenses have a ‘floating element’ optical design which compensates for aberrations at different distance settings. They also all employ Zeiss’s advanced T* anti-reflective multi-coating to effectively minimise ghosting and flare.
The Zeiss Batis 18mm f2.8 ultra-wide gives a diagonal angle-of-view of 99 degrees, and its Distagon retrofocus optical design employs 11 elements in ten groups, including four aspherical types and five with anomalous partial dispersion characteristics. These special elements ensure a high level of correction for distortion and the effective correction of optical aberrations, making this lens ideally suited to applications such as landscape, astrophotography and architectural photography.
The Zeiss Batis 25mm f2.0 wide-angle lens’s optical construction comprises ten elements in eight groups. This includes four double-sided aspherical elements and five made from special types of optical glass to ensure a consistently high image quality across the whole image field and a sharpness that extends right to the corners of the frame.
The Zeiss Batis 40mm f2.0 CF is a lightweight design with exceptional close-up focusing performance (‘CF’ stands for ‘Close Focusing’). The minimum focusing distance of 24 centimetres delivers a useful magnification reproduction ratio of 1:3.3. The nine-element construction includes aspherical and low dispersion types (including one which is both) to provide effective correction for distortion and optical aberrations. Weighing just 361 grams, the 40mm f2.0 CF perfectly complements the compact Sony A series mirrorless camera bodies.
The Zeiss Batis 85mm f1.8 short telephoto has an 11-element optical construction in the Zeiss Sonnar design. These elements are made from various types of special glass designed to deliver superior image quality, including a high level of correction for chromatic aberrations. This model incorporates optical image stabilisation to enable hand-held shooting in a wider selection of lighting situations.
The Zeiss Batis 135mm f2.8 employs an Apo-Sonnar optical design employing 14 elements in 11 groups – including eight with anomalous partial dispersion characteristics
– to give a very high level of correction for chromatic aberrations. It incorporates optical image stabilisation to give extended low-light shooting capabilities without the need to resort to higher ISO settings. Its minimum focusing distance of 87 centimetres gives a maximum reproduction ratio of 1:5.3. The shallow depthof-field obtained at f2.8 with this focal length provides increased scope for exploiting the creativity of selective focusing.