Classics Combined: The Leica SL2-S with Zeiss Otus Lenses
Leica SL2-S, Zeiss Otus 55mm f1.4
Okay, I don’t want this to turn into yet another lens review blog, but I had to write something about my experience using these lenses.
Zeiss and Leica make some of the best and most expensive lenses you can buy as a photographer, but I don’t often see them combined.
Around ten years ago, Zeiss brought out some of the best photography lenses ever made, the Otus lenses. Buying these lenses new is out of the question for most people, but as they’ve been out for a while now, they’ve significantly dropped in price on the used market, with the Otus 55mm f1.4 more in line with what a Leica Summilux 50mm f1.4 would go for.
Sometimes, cameras and lenses you buy can even increase in value over their original price, even when they aren’t worth it, simply due to user demand and hype.
I’m looking at you, X100V.
Leica SL2-S, Zeiss Otus 55mm f1.4
Why Zeiss, and not a Leica or cinema lens?
I’m normally a one camera, three lens kinda guy. I fell in love with the 50mm focal length ever since I started photography, but I’m also a huge fan of the intimacy that a 28mm brings, and the compression you get with an 85mm. If I could only pick one though, it’d be 50, or 55 in this case.
I love the anamorphic look, and also the distinct look from cinema lenses. As I’m currently taking a big leap into cinematography, it might have made more sense to start looking at cinema lenses, but there’s a HUGE caveat with that and it’s that each one would cost a house deposit.
Roger Deakins has always been a huge inspiration for me, and the Zeiss Otus are close enough for me to what he often uses on his films like Blade Runner 2049, the ARRI Master Primes. In fact, the Otus lenses are extremely similar to the Zeiss Supremes in optical design.
No Country For Old Men - Cinematography by Roger Deakins using Zeiss (ARRI) Master Primes
The only real issue I have with these lenses that doesn’t give them a perfect score is the sheer size of them.
The 55mm is big enough, but the 28mm is an absolute monster of a lens, and it’s extremely impractical to use, especially when you need to use it for close-up, intimate shots. There’s no hiding with these things if you’re a street photographer!
But that’s okay, because if 15 years of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu has given me anything other than debilitating neck pain, it’s grip-strength of destiny.
Westworld - Cinematography by Brendan Galvin using Zeiss Supreme Primes
Is there such thing as too perfect a lens?
This is the most subjective question. Some people are willing to sacrifice certain things when it comes to image quality, others aren’t. You can get lenses like these that are apochromatic, optically perfect and sharp across the WHOLE image, whilst maintaing a “character” which, in the case of these Zeiss lenses, comes in the form of a 3D pop that you don’t really see on anything else. The biggest con is that they’re a bit more difficult to handle if you’re using them in the street due to their size and weight, as well as the lack of autofocus motors.
Other lenses such as the aspherical Leica Summilux lenses have a similar 3D pop that separates the foreground from the background beautifully, except they’re compact, light, and a pleasure to use, but they aren’t optically perfect like the Zeiss. They are famous for their character, however.
The closest you’d come to the best of everything, I suppose, would be the Leica APO lenses, but they cost several thousand pounds, and for some, are so clinically sharp that they lose any sense of personality.
The same can be said with the Otus lenses and modern sensors. They’re almost too sharp and clean looking, but you can always dirty up a clean image using things like pro mist or glimmer glass filters, adding grain in post, and many other methods.
You can’t do the opposite.
Leica SL2-S, Zeiss Otus 55mm f1.4
Full of flaws, or rich with character?
Personally, I love the look of my old Contax Zeiss 50 f1.4 and 85mm f1.4 lenses that I’ve been using for my portraits before trying the Otus lenses.
They aren’t clinically sharp, especially wide open. They suffer with really bad purple fringing and ghosting, and they have a softness which makes them hard to use for commercial jobs.
These flaws, however, look incredible for more artistic portraits, especially with monochrome images where you can immediately hide the chromatic abberation. It’s kind of like you’ve got an in-built mist filter which makes them a great choice for lifestyle portraits and also for video work where you don’t want the actors pores to be super detailed. Retouching beauty shots in Photoshop is one thing, but try doing that as a low budget solo filmmaker on hundreds of frames. No thanks!
The edges of the image also suffer from a swirly distortion that again, I personally really enjoy.
Look at the image of actress Alanah Bloor below that really shows off these “flaws” when the Contax Zeiss are put on a larger sensor like the GFX. I absolutely love the resulting image, though, so I struggle to call them flaws, hence the term character.
Alanah Bloor, Fujifilm GFX50R, Contax Zeiss 50mm f1.4
What they cannot provide, until around f4, is a super sharp image, and as a commercial photographer, that’s not an acceptable outcome for me. The versions of the lens I have also has a very strange “ninja-star” effect on bokeh, which is a look that is prevalent only on a certain version of the lens not made in Germany. This was the main dealbreaker for me, as it’s not a look that I am a big fan of. I’m probably going to replace my copies of the lens with the MMJ version rather than the AE I currently own, which would fix that issue.
F2-F4 is unusable if there are any light sources in the background, which is a shame, as they’re some of my most frequently used apertures.
The Zeiss Otus however are pin-sharp across the aperture range, which is crazy, but it should be if you consider the FOUR THOUSAND pounds you need to part with to get a single lens.
At f1.4 you still get a beautiful softer look for portraits whilst maintaining sharpness, but when stopped down the whole image is sharp, which is probably great for landscapes (I wouldn’t know actually, sorry).
What is “character”?
I’ve always defined character in lenses as having their own personality. Vintage lenses have a distinct look that I like to describe as painterly.
I love using the Contax Zeiss lenses for that specific painterly look, they’re especially beautiful when printed. It’s as close to a film-look you’ll get using a digital camera, in my experience.
All lenses render in unique ways. The colours and background separation of the Contax Zeiss 50mm f1.4 are much different to the Leica Summilux 50mm f1.4, which to me has more vibrant and true-to-life colour than what the Contax Zeiss achieves.
Both lenses have a personality that’s unique to them, and that’s what people are drawn to.
Abbie Wood for Forte Sports Talent, Leica SL2-S, Contax Zeiss 50mm f1.4
Often you hear of the “Leica look,” to many sceptical photographers dismay, but I genuinely think it’s a thing, especially when the lenses are paired with the film-like sensor on the M10 and M10-R which have been replaced by the more clinical sensor on the M11.
Leica M10-R, 50mm Summilux-M F1.4 ASPH
On film it’s another kettle of fish, but I haven’t enough knowledge about that to speculate. All I know is that the combination of Joel Meyerowitz, vintage Leica glass, and slide film leads to absolutely fucking stunning results.
Joel Meyerowitz, Leica 35mm Summicron f2 (apparently) or Summaron f2.8 (maybe)
The same goes for the “Zeiss pop,” which is apparently caused by a specific micro-contrast and all that sort of thing that I won’t get into here, Google it if you care!
“Sharpness is a bourgeouis concept” - Henri Cartier-Bresson
Ike for Castore Sportswear - Fujifilm GFX50R, Fujinon GF 45mm f2.8
With all that being said, I LOVE what the Zeiss Otus achieves. It still has the beautiful character and “pop” that Carl Zeiss is famous for, yet it also has sharpness from corner to corner. It’s transformed my camera and the resulting images remind me of the look I get out of the Fujifilm GFX and 45mm f2.8 - Oh my god, I really need to try these lenses on that camera!
I was absolutely blown away when I first saw the images with the Zeiss Otus lenses on my screen. I’m unable to share the results from a recent film I shot stills on just yet, but the rendering of the colours, the background separation, and the sharpness of the images make me feel like I’m now able to get the look I want across the board.
I just wish they were bloody smaller (and cheaper)!
The follow up to this post will include lots of BTS shots and detailing my experience shooting on film sets, but I’m having to wait until I’m allowed to release any images.
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