Zeiss Milvus 100mm f/2.0 Macro ZE Lens for Canon

This is an excellent lens for portraiture. My clients and I have been very impressed with the results. It is obviously not for photographers requiring autofocus. It is surprisingly small and lightweight for a 100mm lens. It is extremely well-built with smooth, precise focusing. Color and contrast are excellent and it produces very sharp images. This has become my go-to lens for headshots and portraits. I pair it with a Nikon 60mm Micro when autofocus is needed. I can't say enough positive things about the Milvus 100mm Makro (Carl Zeiss made in Japan). If price and manual focus is not a deal-breaker, give it a try. You'll wonder why you waiting so long to get it.

Zeiss Milvus 100mm Makro & Nikon D810 I began taking pictures in 1978 with a friend's camera. One of the things that I discovered early on was that his Contax RTS camera with Zeiss lenses looked as good or better than any 35mm camera system available at that time. It wasn't until I stepped up to the medium format Hasselblad with Zeiss lenses that I saw a big increase in output quality. By 2005 it became apparent that the film industry was being replaced by digital sensors and that Hasselblad did not have a reasonable digital back to replace film or to keep up with the advantages of digital 35mm cameras. I sold nearly 45K of Hasselblad and Sinar equipment in 2008 and went fully digital. I bought into the Canon system which over time included the 4Mp, (2) 8Mp, 16Mp, ... MoreZeiss Milvus 100mm Makro & Nikon D810 I began taking pictures in 1978 with a friend's camera. One of the things that I discovered early on was that his Contax RTS camera with Zeiss lenses looked as good or better than any 35mm camera system available at that time. It wasn't until I stepped up to the medium format Hasselblad with Zeiss lenses that I saw a big increase in output quality. By 2005 it became apparent that the film industry was being replaced by digital sensors and that Hasselblad did not have a reasonable digital back to replace film or to keep up with the advantages of digital 35mm cameras. I sold nearly 45K of Hasselblad and Sinar equipment in 2008 and went fully digital. I bought into the Canon system which over time included the 4Mp, (2) 8Mp, 16Mp, and finally the 21Mp camera bodies. The most discouraging discovery that became obvious when I purchased the 1DS Mark II was the fact that Canon's wide angle lenses could not produce a photo with sharp corners. My complaints to Chuck Westfall fell on deaf ears as his response, which was the second slap in the face, simply stated that the lenses were performing within spec. As of the fall of 2015, I sold all of my Canon equipment and have only missed the 1DS Mark III and 24mm TSE II lens which is an excellent lens. (Wake up Nikon ! you need to upgrade your PC lenses and add a super wide to your collection. At the very least offer a choice to buy the PC lenses already rotated in either direction without having to return a lens to the service department.) 2016 has become the year of the system rebuild. I am still spending many hours reading reviews and viewing samples, but my choice for a camera body was the Nikon D810. I was temped to stay with Canon when they brought out the 5DSR last year, but many respected equipment reviewers were discussing issues that I didn't want to deal with. These issues include, the more narrow dynamic range, the diffraction limited apertures, the lower acceptable ISO ranges, the need for a very obsessive compulsive shooting technique, and the postproduction requirements of the very large files. If I were going to deal with very large files, then I would rather use a medium format system. Using the Nikon was a strange experience at first. Lens attachment and removal felt bizarre. Button placement and menus have taken some time to get used to also. The warnings about needing a very good shot technique when doing technical work like architecture, macro and even landscapes should be heeded. I did find, however, that excellent results were generated when shooting two weddings with the D810. The lenses used were the Nikon 50mm f/1.4 G and 28mm f/2.8 AIS. They were hand-held at shutter speeds of 100 or higher. The large files allowed more than enough room for cropping to 8x10 at 300 dpi. I have not seen any moir with the D810 which was a concern mentioned in many of the reviews for the high mega pixel dslr cameras. The combination of the 36Mp sensor with the Zeiss 100mm Makro is the first camera and lens combination that feels like the Hasselblad-V experience. This, both in terms of the output quality of the image and the feel of the lens when focusing. My personal opinion, not necessarily a scientific one, is that the 36Mp size is the sweet spot for technical dslr work and the 21Mp range (like the Canon 1DS Mark III, 1DX Mark II, Leica SL, and the Nikon D5 full frame cameras) is the sweet spot for events, concerts, plays, operas, sports, weddings and even real estate. The speed of those cameras when shooting people-centric work outweighs the need for high mega pixel counts. Great expressions with less detail will out sell mediocre feelings with extreme detail any day of the week. More on the Zeiss 100mm Makro: The lens does display certain chromatic aberrations in certain specific situations, but then so do most lenses. No lens is perfect and even the Zeiss Otus receives a few complaints once in a while. I suspect that the higher the mega pixel count per square millimeter, the higher the probability of seeing more defects in a lens' performance. Conversely, when you get past the learning curve, the results from a very high quality lens like the 100mm Milvus really bring out the D810's full potential. One of the complaints levied against the 50mm and 100mm Makro lenses (both the Classic and Milvus versions) is that they are not true macro lenses. The reason for this false assertion is that these lenses only yield a 1:2 magnification ratio. A new urban legend has cropped up which states that only a lens that goes to 1:1 magnification is a true macro lens. Actually, while most macro lenses allow for close focusing, it is the design of the lens that defines the term macro. Macro lenses are flat field lenses and will reproduce flat objects totally sharp all the way out into the corners of the image. Hence they are great for copying old photos and artwork. As a matter of fact, I have already digitized some medium and large format negatives with the Zeiss Classic and Milvus makro lenses and the results were excellent. So excellent, that I sold the Nikon LS-8000-ED scanner. (On this topic: Remember too that the greater the magnification, the less depth of field you will have regardless of which lens you use. Put a 25mm wide angle lens on a 25mm extension tube and you will have 1:1 magnification, but you will not have a macro lens.) Another interesting complaint that I have read while searching these customer reviews and is one that I initially had too, was that the hard stop at infinity is slightly beyond infinity. I discovered this while shooting photos of the moon. The moon was sharp (and I got the camera's confirmation light on) when the focus was moved slightly back from the hard stop. When I took the time to go back and read the owners manual that came with the lens, Zeiss had already mentioned this. (Daah!) In conclusion, I am totally satisfied with the D810 and the Milvus 100mm lens. The shooting experience and the photographic results are the closest to my Hasselblad experience that I have come to since switching to all digital cameras. In fact, I must say that the detail rendered by this combination supersedes most of the Hasselblad's output, especially when I was shooting film at ASA's above 100. So there you have it: An obsessive compulsive type A personality who has lost a lot of money changing equipment is finally happy again!

This is Milvus lens is used on a Nikon D850. After having used this lens for a month now I feel compelled to write this review. This is not so much about the technical aspect of this lens as anyone considering this lens most likely has studied the specifications. The manual focusing of this lens should not be a deterrent as the long focus throw is simply as precise as it gets. I use this lens on a tripod for slow and deliberate photography. It is very satisfying to slow down and compose and have control of the situation. The color rendering is stunning. I cannot say enough superlatives about the Milvus 100m F/2. Without hesitance I say this lens is special in a way that's hard to describe. Please see my samples below. Thank you.