Photographer Christian Dandyk has somehow managed to spend seven month with Zeiss Batis lenses for the Sony a7 system and he’s got quite a lot to say about them. The german photographer was brought into Zeiss’s design and advertising campaign “at an early stage” so has been a part of the process of designing and tweaking these lenses. As he says in this article, they’re lenses he no longer wants to do without.
Dandyk has a few interesting notes about the lenses, including this about the weatherproofing on the Batis lenses.
The Batis lenses are protected ideally against dust and moisture. Gaskets are positioned toward the bayonet and there is also no chance for moisture to get in through the focus ring. As it turned out, there were no complaints with the lenses. My Sony A7M2 on the other hand was no match for the rain and the display quickly gave out. Luckily, I always have two cameras on hand and was able to continue my work. The weak link was quickly identified. If any moisture hits the flash shoe, it short circuits the display. My otherwise unwavering trust in the camera took a few hits that day, but the Batis lenses really impressed me with their robustness.
He also mentions that the OLED display isn’t always active, and can be tweaked to be displayed at all times. It’s not a naturally feeling to work with the OLED, but that changes.
I quickly became accustomed to working with the OLED display. The overview of focus expansion is clearly more reliable than that provided by the working aperture. A short check of the distance supplies me with the data I need for a razor-sharp photo – even with portraits. In addition to the DeClick function on the Loxia lenses, this OLED display is one of the most innovative properties that I have seen on lenses. This display really simplifies the photographic work and leads to reliable reference values prior to taking a picture. At the very least, the Batis lenses eliminate the need for focus tables and apps to calculate the depth of field and hyperfocal distance. According to ZEISS, using the OLED display does not use up any more energy. And I also did not notice any effect on battery life. In most cases, I therefore leave it on in all modes.
About the choice between the 25mm and 85mm lenses, he essentially says that both are necessary because they’re such different focal lengths. The 25mm is an all-around lens while the 85mm is a portrait lens that’s “almost” the Otus.
This of course points at the fact that the Batis line is likely to grow—the 25mm and 85mm aren’t going to be the only lenses we see in this lineup, and the focal length choices are to cover the wide and long ends of the spectrum.
We posted to Dandyk’s work before when the first Batis advertisement ran—Dandyk is the subject of that commercial.
You can find his Batis 85mm 1.8 samples on Flickr here.
You can find his Batis 25mm 2.0 samples on Flickr here.
Our favorite of his Batis work is on Flickr here.
Lenses
| Product | Ship Date | Price | B&H | Amazon |
| Sony Distagon T* FE 35mm f/1.4 ZA Lens E-Mount | Available Now |
$1598.00 |
Buy at B&H | Buy at Amazon |
| Sony FE 90mm f.2.8 Macro G OSS E-Mount |
June 30, 2015 |
$1098.00 |
Preorder at B&H | Preorder at Amazon |
| Sony FE28mm f/2 E-Mount | Available Now |
$448.00 |
Buy at B&H | Buy at Amazon |
| Sony 24-240mm f/3.5-6.3 OSS E-Mount | Available Now |
$998.00 |
Buy at B&H | Buy at Amazon |
| Zeiss Batis 85mm f/1.8 E-Mount | Date Not Set |
$1199.00 |
Preorder at B&H | Not available for preorder. |
| Zeiss Batis 25m f/2 E-Mount | Date Not Set |
$1299.00 |
Preorder at B&H | Not available for preorder |
| Zeiss 24-70mm f/2.8mm ZA SSM II A-Mount | Available Now |
$2098.00 |
Buy at B&H | Buy at Amazon |
| Zeiss 16-35mm f/2.8 ZA SSMII A-Mount | Available Now |
$1998.00 |
Buy at B&H | Buy at Amazon |
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