tripsy76 Loc: Northshore, MA

Hello!

I have the Zeiss Loxia lenses, and love using them when I want to shoot in manual. I’ve also been eyeing the Zeiss Batis 25, 40, and 85.

Has anyone shot with both series? I’ve watched plenty of videos, and don’t have the budget (or mainly the time) to just go out and rent at the moment. I would love to hear anyone that shoots with them and specifically how the images that they render hold up compared to the older Loxia’s. Are they still worth the investment today?

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

I am a lover of manual focus lenses. I use several Voigtländer lenses regularly.

While I have never used those Zeiss lenses myself, an article I read about Zeiss MF lenses in general several months ago suggested that the quality of lenses from Canon, Nikon, Sigma and others has improved so dramatically over the last 8-10 years, that the great Zeiss MF glass is no longer as significantly "superior" to the latest breed of top of the line autofocus lenses as it once was. Of course, these manual focus lenses may still have a distinctive character that makes them more desirable. I would suggest, if you have not already done so, to try and find current reviews to see how they still stack up.

By the way, I was under the impression that the Loxia series was optimized for video recording. Is that how you are using yours?

tripsy76 Loc: Northshore, MA

Thank you for responding. Yeah! I do realize that they are older. And the biggest thing I look for is character in a lens. I have most of the GM lenses and they are for the most part awesome! I do have a set of Voigtlander Nocs which are amazing MF lenses.

If you haven’t tried the Loxia lineup, I find them to be pretty special. They have a filmic quality and the color rendering has an interesting modern/vintage look to it. Kind of contrasty but beautiful. I’ve seen a bunch of samples and videos of the Batis line and they do look interesting, but I like this community and have read, heard, and seen more accurate reviews here than some of my other sources that use optimal lighting or other things that really bring out the lenses qualities. So it’s always nice to get real world opinions from people who aren’t sponsored.

And to your point, while I do shoot a LOT of photography, my primary profession is film and broadcast (specifically VFX work). So I have a fairly full lens room for various sets of cine, photo, vintage and manual sets of primes that I pull from to get new looks or to blend with whatever the look of the footage is. It gives me plenty of options and safety nets when compositing.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey