Carl Zeiss Otus 28 mm f/1.4 review - Coma, astigmatism and bokeh

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Carl Zeiss Otus 28 mm f/1.4

14 August 2016

Arkadiusz Olech

7. Coma, astigmatism and bokeh

Both the Otus 55 and the Otus 85 mm didn’t manage to correct the coma in a perfect way. The Otus 1.4/28 repeats that and the corners of full frame are the proof. In fact, out of these three lenses the model with the shortest focal lengths fares the worst. We don’t have any reservations only about the corners of the APS-C/DX sensor but on full frame a better performance would be expected.

Center, f/1.4	Corner APS-C, f/1.4	Corner FF, f/1.4

Center, f/2.0	Corner APS-C, f/2.0	Corner FF, f/2.0

The astigmatism, understood as an average difference between horizontal and vertical MTF50 function values amounted to 11%. It is not a low value, influenced mainly by the results of the maximum relative aperture where the astigmatism level is distinct. Still that aberration disappears completely on stopping down the aperture to near f/2.8.

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When it comes to the appearance of out-of-focus areas we have no reservations whatsoever. The light spread in the circles is even, without any rims or local extremes. One thing makes us worried: the distinct truncation of circles in the frame corners which is a symptom of strong mechanical vignetting. We didn’t expect anything like that in a lens of such dimensions.

Center, f/1.4	Corner APS-C, f/1.4	Corner FF, f/1.4

Center, f/2.0	Corner APS-C, f/2.0	Corner FF, f/2.0

Center, f/2.8	Corner APS-C, f/2.8	Corner FF, f/2.8