Name: Zeiss Milvus 50mm f/1.4 ZF.2 Lens for Nikon F
Brand: Zeiss
SKU: ZI5014MZF
Price: 1274.00 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.88 (8 reviews)

Zeiss Milvus 50mm f/1.4 ZF.2 Lens for Nikon F

Zeiss Milvus 50mm f/1.4

Zeiss

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Photography

Lenses

SLR Lenses

Zeiss SLR Lenses

Zeiss Milvus 50mm f/1.4 

Explore the Zeiss Milvus 50mm f/1.4 ZF.2 Lens for Nikon F. Superior image quality, f/1.4 aperture, and robust build. Shop now for exceptional optics!

 More than a standard lens This focal length is the ideal tool for imaging real-life situations - whether it is the hustle and bustle of a busy road, the intimacy of a portrait or the wonders of nature. It is always in quest of those real and unadulterated perspectives. The ZEISS Milvus 1.4/50 is a versatile focal length that meets even the highest standards.The redesigned ZEISS Milvus 1.4/50 corresponds to the perspective of the human eye on full-frame cameras and can therefore be used for many different purposes. In other words, it is a lens of many talents. Realistic imaging of three-dimensional objects is guaranteed at all times. Despite its high speed, the advanced ZEISS Distagon optical design ensures outstanding imagery across the entire image field - even at full aperture. Excellent imagery, even in difficult light conditions All lenses features a T antireflective coating from ZEISS. Outstanding stray light reduction is achieved by combining a number of optimally matched measures. In addition to the ZEISS T coating, all lens edges are provided with a special pitch-black lacquer in a complex manual process. Light traps in mechanical components and specially designed surfaces are integrated to prevent the occurrence of reflections. Each focal length has its own individual optical design with the use of special types of glass displaying anomalous partial dispersion. This reduces the occurrence of color fringes at high-contrast edges of subjects to an absolute minimum. Future-proof solution for high-resolution camera systems The excellent image performance of the ZEISS Milvus Lenses is sharply focused on the requirements of current and future high-performance digital cameras. Thanks to the low level of stray light allowed by the lens design, high-contrast images are also possible with increasing high dynamic ranges of the sensors (HDR). The minimization of coma, astigmatism and spherical aberrations enables constantly high resolution over the entire image field. The optics are designed to ensure full utilization of the performance provided by high-resolution camera systems. Regardless of what the future holds - with the Milvus Lenses from ZEISS you are optimally equipped any time, any place. Creative still and video photography through precise, manual focusing Manually focusing a lens means controlling and therefore actively composing an image gently and precisely from your fingertips. Here, a good ergonomic design makes all the difference. ZEISS Milvus Lenses feature a large rotation angle which enables pinpoint focusing. The top-quality focusing mechanism moves smoothly without backlash, optimally supporting the photographer's creative interplay with the focal plane of high-speed fixed focal lengths. Changes are immediately visible in the viewfinder or display. The engraving in meters and feet and the focus scale provide additional support for manual focusing. The silent, continuous aperture setting (de-click function with ZF.2 mount) and the long focusing range lay optimal conditions for video photography. Long-lasting product with protection against environmental influences An optimized ergonomic design enables fatigue-free photography and reduces camera shake. The all-metal housing makes every adjustment a haptic experience. The dynamic, precise barrel design sets new trends in the world of camera lenses. However, the ZEISS Milvus Lenses will impress you not only due to their visual and haptic excellence, but also thanks to their inner qualities. Special seals for protection against dust and splashes expand the photographer's creative potential by guaranteeing the system's functional reliability even in environmentally difficult situations. Stable image performance over the entire focusing range State-of-the-art camera systems and high-resolution digital image sensors are now demanding more and more performance from the lenses. The Floating Elements Design permits constantly high image performance in the focal plane - from the minimum object distance to infinity. This is accomplished by changing the axial distance between individual lens elements or element groups. The adjustment of the element spacing is coupled to the distance setting so that it always results in the right correction. The mechanical design of the ZEISS Milvus Lenses is highly complex and the workmanship must be extremely exact - both specialties of ZEISS. Lens Design Originally developed for SLR cameras requiring a long back focal distance for short focal lengths because of the mirror box (the distance between the back lens element and the film plane must be considerably longer than the focal length), the Distagon lenses (retrofocus design) are also ideal for mirrorless system cameras thanks to their optimized ray path. Even with longer focal lengths, the high-performance Distagon optical design enables consistently good correction all the way to the corners of the image and very low field curvature.

Very nice

Gorgeous.

This is a fantastic lens, and I'm very happy to have finally found a 50 that I love after trying two Nikons previously which did not meet my expectations. The build quality is excellent and is really refreshing in these times of lets-make-it-as-cheap-as-we-can. I love the focus feel and the long throw makes it fairly easy to nail your subject. As for the image quality, the color and contrast of this lens are wonderful. I find it to be more than reasonably sharp wide open, and incredibly sharp at f5.6 - 8. I am seeing very little vignetting, and that which I do see is easily remedied in post. Although some have mentioned an unacceptable level of chromatic aberration, I (as of yet) have not seen any. I'm looking forward to a long and pleasant relationship with my Zeiss 50.

I also have the excellent Milvus 135mm. You get this lens for one reason: image quality. It is sharper than any Nikon in the 50-60mm range - and sharpness is not the whole story. 

Even when you look through the viewfinder you will notice a heightened sense of clarity, more pleasing saturation and smooth transition between shadows and highlights. On a camera like the D800-850 series the detail rendered is something special. Transition from in focus areas to out of focus areas from f4 to wide open is creamy - but not as weird as the Nikon 58mm 1.4 G. It's a Distagon, not a Planar based design, so corner softness a non factor. 

If you are coming from late model Nikon lenses the Milvus is physically different...it is not optimized for light weight and lightning auto focus. Its not plastic on the outside...meaning it has a different, luxurious, heavy feel. It is metal all the way and that means it can dent & scratch more easily than a Nikon - but my guess is it will still function. The construction is superb. The focus is very long throw and easy. 

I picked the Milvus lenses over the Sigma Art line because of overall image rendering. I found the Zeiss lenses to be warmer. The images rendering is very close to from one focal length in the family to another.

Great Lens

Beautiful lens. Construction and optics. It's a Zeiss!

A real lens

I've never been completely satisfied with the 50mm prime options from either Canon or Nikon. I've owned or tested most if not all the Canon options as well as those from Nikon and found them lacking in many ways. The older Zeiss classic had it charms but honestly fell short on modern high resolution bodies in many ways as well. 

Enter the Milvus 50mm distagon...

Although I'm not particularly price sensitive the 55mm Otis is not an easy pill for anyone to swallow. It's a lot of investment that while might offer a few people an option that makes sense it really doesn't fit well for most. It's an immense amount of cash for superlative performance wide-open. The number of times that anyone needs "perfect" at f/1.4 is very narrow. The Milvus costs less than the Canon 50/1.2 which is an extremely overrated lens in my opinion. It's not particularly "good" wide open and worse it has an immense amount of focus shift when stopping down. So much so that I consider it useless between f/1.4 and f/5.6 where you really would like a sweet spot on a high-speed prime. On any high-megapixel body (or even lower pixel body) the procedure you must employ to get proper focus is insanely fiddly (live view with DOF preview engaged). On top of that the secondary lateral CA (purple/green fringing on slightly OOF areas) is horrendous. So sure the 50/1.2 L is very sharp at f/2-f/8 to bad you can't focus it and everything remotely close to being in focus is a horrible mess of purple and green.

The Milvus 50 1.4 is not completely free of distortion or secondary lateral CA but it's very well controlled and in my opinion offers 99.99% of Otus 55 performance at a price that has to be considered a great value compared to the competition. As an added bonus my personal taste puts this lens at the very top of the heap INCLUDING the Otus in terms of rendering and how the image looks. Given the choice between the Otus and the Milvus I would have to say I would probably choose the Milvus 50 even if the price was out of the equation as I would probably trade the very small incremental performance improvement at the very widest apertures for what I consider a better overall rendition but that's a very personal taste criteria.

Obviously the downside to the Milvus is no auto-focus so it's certainly not a do everything lens but I am no stranger to manual focus and in many of my uses I prefer it even handheld with people as subjects. For AF I have that covered at 50mm 6 ways from Sunday with very high quality zooms. When I am shooting close at large apertures I will use manual focus 99.9% of the time anyway and the Milvus delivers a far more precise and enjoyable manual focus than any AF lens hands down.

Reasonably priced super-premium optics

This is my third Zeiss lens this year and I am delighted with the lens.  The sharpness and focus are above reproach.  The richness of the colors are amazing.  i find that I almost use Zeiss exclusively now that is how happy I am with their lenses.   One of the features that I truly like about Zeiss lenses is that they focus so well through every aperture.  No matter what aperture I chose the photo will always be sharp and in focus.  Zeiss lenses are like the Rolls Royce of camera lenses they are just that good.

Zeiss makes amazing glass

I bought this lens for two reasons: 1.)  it is amazingly sharp, and 2.) the color and contrast transmission are superb.  If you drill down to a 1:1 crop of a photo in Lightroom, then you will see that the image is excellent.  This means that any image can cropped at will without loss of quality.  As for color, photos taken with a Zeiss lens just look different and better.

The biggest downside of this lens is that there is some minor purple fringing when it is wide open.  For example, if you shoot an object that is black with white lettering, then you will see it around the lettering. It is easily removed in Lightroom.  This was reported in reviews, but I went ahead with the purchase and I am not disappointed.  It is much less at f2 and gone by f3.2. 

Manual focus is not a big deal.  This is not a lens for action situations.  I use live view magnification to dial in focus for static situations.  Relying on the view finder (even with an upgraded focus screen) using 'focus confirmation' might not be precise enough.  The other thing that can done is to adjust aperture and depth of field. 

As I mentioned I love the sharpness and color.  At about ($) I consider this lens a great value compared to other lens in this price range.

Zeiss Milvus 50mm f/1.4 ZF.2 Lens for Nikon F

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