The Zeiss Milvus line was apparently on sale until the week I made this video. The 35mm was sitting at $1,300 but now has gone back up to $2,000. Unfortunate timing. But what lens was your favorite??
I have the full set (25,35,50,85 f.1.4 Ef) and 18mm 2.8 and my fav workhorse is the 25mm on8 s35 then comes 18mm and 35. But all the lenses are really great love them on BM 6k. Soon on canon c300mk3. So thanks for the video! Looked great on Komodo Waiting for some narative stuff Milvus line
Liked the milvus 35! Looks great and has that lovely warm flare! I have a ze set for my Komodo and they’re very underrated lenses. The 21mm and 35 are my favs. The 50mm is quite different from the others which are actually much more like the milvus line!
We have a full set of Milvus ZF lenses modded by duclos and love them on the c500ii. The declicked aperture is pretty loose though and has no room for gearing. Still nice to have that precise control. We have the milvus ef 35mm f2 that I really like for smaller setups. It’s great pared with the r5c in full frame. The weird thing about the milvus set is that the difference between f and t stops is very apparent. If you set multiple lenses to the same aperture no two will give you the exact same exposure. That might be why they changed the CPs to be T2 across the set.
Thanks for that kind of Video. That's the one that are so usefull and great to see. Such an effort as well. Would have love to see some backlit situation (aberation / flare). The Zeiss Look feels like it has a polarizer with those muted skin tones. That super dope !
I've had the 35/1.4 Milvus for years, probably used more than any other I own. Just a superb lens, and a pleasure to use. Lucky purchase for anyone who got it for only $1300!
The Classics(ZE/ZF) are so underrated. Love my ZE set. I also have Sigma art lenses for corporate/event work, they are great for that, but gosh are they bland and characterless for more creative work.
Same here mate. Got a 5 lens set of the Zeiss ZEs. The infamous 3D pop is for real. Love them on my FX6. Which one is your favorite? For me it´s the 28/F2. Cheers.
When I had my EF-mount UMP G1, I collected a set of used Zeiss ZE lenses (Planar & Distagon), which are specific to EF. Such a good bang for the buck. While the aperture isn't de-clicked on those, I never had the need to do a smooth pull of the iris in the middle of a shot. The benefit I had though was being able to change the electronic aperture on them by using a thumb wheel on the UMP's handle. It came in super handy and suited my needs, so I could focus on... focusing hah. Anyway, great review of these lenses you tested!
The Milvus is the only one of these that I would use for narrative. Looks good. I use the Zeiss Contax all the time - even more vintage than the ZF. Thanks for the tests!
The image shift on the Zeiss was crazy. Always puts me off vintage lenses that aren’t rehoused since i first noticed it, I can’t un-see it now! Bokeh is so nice though
Actually I think the Sigma looks incredibly sharp! Well I was toying with the idea of purchasing one Zeiss Supreme lens, because I wanted a real cinema lens (vs the Milvus). But the Sigma looks really clean and sharp, and the Tokina(not here) seems very good too
Great comparison Spenser! Love the look of the Milvus over the Sigmas cause of the magenta shift and sharpness. Milvus has better color imo, not overly sharp and they are soooo clean. Got the 25mm and 50 Nikon mounts. Have a nikkor ai set with fuji to Nikon speedbooster so was an easy decision for me. Would love to try out the 35mm and 100mm macro.
I have one of and really like the look of the Canon EF 50 1.2. It's always just a touch too tight on S35 sensors. I'd totally use it more often if not for that.
Great video comparing the different options. I had a set of CP.2, sold them for a set of 28/55/85 Otus lenses that I purchased from Lensrentals when they were having a sale. I think that I paid just under $2k per lens and I have been really happy with them. I ended up with the Nikon versions which has been great and Duclos has a set of adapters that converts the fronts to all 95mm... I would highly recommend them, especially if you can snag a set used!
jeez, how long ago was that? i've had my eye on em, particularly the F mount versions, but never see em on sale. wonder if it'll more or less likely now that Zeiss stopped making anything. prob will eventually go up in value.
Sigma Art 40mm f1.4 is a beast in mtf charts & image quality. Almost zero distortion & bright & super sharp, practically zero chroma. Affordable perhaps at £650 or £450 used. Big & heavy but worth it.
Want to point out that Milvus F mount lenses are able to be de-clicked easily, but aperture locks at f22 and needs to be released via a button on the aperture ring. Sounds minor, but I ended up returning them because of this.
That sigma is really good for commercial work, but the roll off on the zeiss gives it the edge for narrative. On the sigma there's a clear distinction with the shadows on his face, whereas on the zeiss it looks a lot more graduated. Just my opinion though 🤷♂️
Definitely would recommend giving the Otus 55 a try if you can get your hands on one! I’ve shot it on Fuji GFX & X mount cameras and a Nikon FM3a, absolutely stellar performance. Especially on the GFX pushing it past its intended format size, the character this lens exudes is like no other and was the first time a digital set-up wowed me the way initially trying medium format film did. And here’s the kicker - most would consider it the weakest performing Otus technically! 🤣
When you think you are original and creative, the internet shows that someone has thought of it! I am a professional photographer and during the pandemic I switched to video. When I bought the Milvus 50, just as you say! It changed my life, I thought how could I live without this? I wanted all of Milvus but I'm not rich. I bought it specifically for a Canon 5 DSR, which takes advantage of the quality. When I started with video with a lot of pain, I switched it to a BMPCC 6K. I must say that I also bought almost all the Tiffen diffusion filters and during the lockdown I tried them. So when I saw your video it seemed to me that there were too many coincidences and that the collective unconscious floats beyond geography. I pass the Milvus 50 link with Black 1/8. Greetings ! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-eX7CwFETsfc.html
The ridiculous trend of youtubers hand holding a wireless lav mic. So annoying to watch as it looks awkward and it defeats the whole point of a lav mic in the first place.
@@spensersakuraiI create content for others and I know exactly what you mean. Therefore I also know that putting the lav on properly doesn’t take up much time and looks much better. Little effort, great results. Food for thought 😉
I love these videos where you compare lenses, but you need to show more sides by sides, like with the older video, I am going to have to download the video the compare them myself
Agreed. It would be much more useful if lenses of the same focal length were compared side by side, using split screen or at least one after the other. This way you could actually see the differences in rendering between the Canon 50mm 1.2 and the Zeiss 50mm 1.4, for instance.
Some of the Spenser topics - The lenses that changed my mind, Being a stupid filmmaker, I am selling all my camera gear, I was wrong about cheap camera lenses, Don't be fooled by your lenses :D Looks like every lenses messes with Spenser mind :D
I do also like the newer Sigma Art lenses (28, 40 & 85mm), but there's just something magical in Zeiss lenses which always gets me. That beautiful combination of great color rendition, high microcontrast and smooth focus rolloff! Still wish they'd offer a 40mm Milvus or Otus tho...
Microcontrast! The coveted lenses aren’t as sharp but render mor microcontrast aiding the reality of the image. The 3D effect that places objects in their unique position. Why most coveted lenses are older designs. Less glass in less groups.
When you talk about the canon L 50mm F1.2 you say - you cant put a cinegear on it because its an autofocus lens and there are no hard stops so you wouldn't have it in your kit. What do you mean by this? That you cant adjust the aperture on the outside of the lens you have to do it internally in the camera? If so why does that matter? Thanks!
Yeah so you could put a gear on it but you wouldn't be able to auto calibrate a remote follow focus cuz there are no hard stops. You could do it manually or use the gear with a manual follow focus no problem but i almost never do that personally. then yes its electronic aperture as well so you cant do iris pulls or be able to manually. not the end of the world but i wouldnt do it personally.
