Along with the tour of the production plant, that actually gave me the priceless chance to visit the Zeiss Cine and Photo lenses assembly line, I got the opportunity to spend an entire afternoon testing some of the finest 35mm lenses in production at the time.
The testing ground was the Mercedes Benz Museum, in Stuttgart; a fairly straightforward location.
Upon arrival we were met by a gentleman driving a O321H Mercedes Benz bus from 1961. Her name was Sonja.
Sonja the bus
The O321H bus, built from 1954 to 1970, was a very reliable and versatile coach. It was powered by a 5.1 liters straight six diesel engine, producing 110 hp coupled with a 5 speed maual gearbox.
Once at the Museum, we were shortly briefed by a team of Zeiss guys, carrying big Pelican boxes, usually meaning that something very exciting is about to take place. And exciting it was. We were offered to choose among a selction of Zeiss primes suitable for Canon, Nikon and Fuji mount.
Soon the situation got the “South-Sudan-once-a-year-water-delivery” mood. I somehow managed to grab one of my dream lenses, the magnificent Otus Apo Distagon 55mm f1.4,
Using the Otus is a genuine pleasure, despite its size and weight (though coping well with the bulkiness of the Eos1 body). Focusing is not a big deal, thanks to either the confirmation “bip” or a stealthier green dot on the screen.
The lens is so damn bright though that any aid is most of the time useless. Even in dark surroundings, such as this
Black&white with a fast, apo chromatic 55mm is a joy; even though the color rendition is superb, rich, sharp and solemn like a lutheran church, the smoothness and richness of the gray scale this beast is able to deploy is simply stunning.
Not to mention the bokeh. Obviously.
A couple of hours into the visit, I decided to change the lens and have a go with the Otus Apo Planar 85mm f/1.4.
I’m preatty used to fast, medium telephoto lenses; in this range I have the Canon 85 f1.2 and the Leica 100 Apo Macro Elmarit. Both deliver stunning image quality, color rendition, sharpness and a peculiar, “magic touch”. The Canon thanks to its extreme aperture and the Leica for its astonishing sharpness and apochrmatic correction.
The 85 Otus combines these attitudes in a bulky, sturdy, heavy metal barrel filled with chunky glass.
Sharp beyond believe even wide open, the Apo Planar is aslo very smooth when it comes to colours, out of focus transition and tridimensional look.
Take a look at this one, shot at F/1.4
Again, despite the longer focal lenght, no problem when focusing. The ring is smooth and firm at the same time.
The combo
This is what a Canon 1 Series and an Otus (with lens hood) look like.
Cumbersome, ridiculously heavy.
The outcome though is absolutely worth every ounce and inch.
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