Carl Zeiss Milvus 85 mm f/1.4 review - Vignetting

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Carl Zeiss Milvus 85 mm f/1.4

30 December 2015

Arkadiusz Olech

8. Vignetting

First let’s check how the Milvus 1.4/85 performs on the small sensor of the Canon 50D in this category – the appropriate thumbnails are presented below.

Canon 50D, f/1.4	Canon 50D, f/2.0

You shouldn’t be very concerned here, not yet anyway. At the maximum relative aperture the vignetting amounts to 29% (−0.97 EV), and by f/2.0 it drops to 15% (−0.46 EV). By f/2.8 that aberration becomes imperceptible, reaching just 5% (−0.15 EV).

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Now let’s check how the situation changes when you progress to full frame.

Canon 5D III, f/1.4	Canon 5D III, f/2.0

Canon 5D III, f/2.8	Canon 5D III, f/4.0

In this case the problems are very pronounced. At the maximum relative aperture the vignetting reaches a huge level of 66% (−3.15 EV). It’s worth reminding that the Otus had a result of 56%, the faster Canon 1.2/85 II 43%, and a cheaper Sigma 1.4/85 HSM only 37% in this category. As you see the Milvus compares really unfavourably with its rivals.

By f/2.0 the vignetting still remains high, amounting to 48% (−1.89 EV). A moderate level can be reached only by f/2.8, where that aberration is 24% (−0.81 EV), and a low level starts by f/4.0, where we got 13% (−0.42 EV). The vignetting disappears almost completely only by f/5.6, where it reaches 9% (−0.26 EV).