FS7: Zeiss Milvus

Liam Hall

Liam Hall

Veteran
If anyone is shooting with the Zeiss Milvus lenses on their FS7 I'd love to hear some feedback as I'm thinking of picking up a set of these bad boys.

Cheers.
 
Yes, I'm looking at them too and would like to see some footage particularly on the FS7 or F5 etc.

I'm going to get the 21, 50 and 85. Not sure which 50 to go for as I've heard the F2 is the better one.

Just over £3k for them which seems like a terrific price.
 
I've owned most of the ZE/ZF iterations of them except for the couple of new designs (50 and 85 I believe) and they were really pretty spesh. The 21mm in particular is wonderful, as was/is the 85mm. You could shoot a whole feature just on the 35mm.

Been shooting the last two days solid with my new Otus 55mm which has blown my tiny mind. I THINK the Milvus has the same coatings as the Otus which are spectacular in trying conditions at retaining contrast and refusing to flare nastily and having great micro contrast.


The rehouse plus upgrades in coatings and some fresh designs mean they are a really great upgrade on most stills glass in terms of mechanics, while sharpness and 'Zeiss' characteristics are all there in abundance. As I bankrupt myself to get the other Otus lenses I will be filling out the missing focal lengths with Milvus as they are said to cut very well together. Also, they will retain their value a lot more than Canon/Nikon glass.


If you buy them, make sure to buy the Zeiss focus gears which are bloody brilliant and easy to move from one to another super quick.
 
As I understand it, they're basically the ZF.2s in a new housing with but with new lens designs for the 50mm and 85mm (both of which are supposed to be quite lovely). Is there any added value to them for motion shooting over the ZF.2s?
 
I'm especially interested in the 50mm 1.4. It's true the Zeiss F2 has always been more praised, but I like the speed and the 50mm f1.4 zeiss was previously the weakest wide open. The Rockinon isn't good wide open either , so the Milvus looks like the ticket for a sharp relatively inexpensive fast 50mm. (Don't need the macro om f2 as much as saving the money!) The wider lenses aren't supposed to be much different from the ZF, ZE's and I'm already happy with the quality of the 85mm f1.4 even wide open.
 
Aside from the rehouse and improved mechanics, the new coatings make a big difference. Has a huge impact on contrast/flaring and that Zeiss 'pop'.
 
Ben Scott said:
As I bankrupt myself to get the other Otus lenses I will be filling out the missing focal lengths with Milvus as they are said to cut very well together. Also, they will retain their value a lot more than Canon/Nikon glass.

If you buy them, make sure to buy the Zeiss focus gears which are bloody brilliant and easy to move from one to another super quick.
Click to expand...

Ooh, consider me very jealous! From everything I've seen of the Otuses, they have all the loveliness (contrast, resolution, imperviousness to CA and three-dimensionality) of the Zeiss cine glass I'm using (CZ.2 zooms) but they open up to f/1.4! I'd love to be able to have a set to compliment the zooms when I need the extra stop (or two, rather).

Do you know if anyone's made a PL adaption for them yet? Bit of a pain that you need to go the EF mount in order to get them focussing in the right direction, but then that loses you manual control of your iris.

I wish Zeiss would hurry up and put them in a CP.2 housing already. Then if they could just bring out a 21mm and 35mm (both at f/1.4) to round out the set, we could all bankrupt ourselves for the best of reasons.
 
Sorry Liam for going tangentially off-topic...

A chap on Reduser summed them up perfectly for me 'They are Master Primes you can own'. And they are full frame. And cover 8k.

I know it sounds weird but I think the mechanics in the Otus are better than CP2s. They have clearly been built with motion in mind and focus is great and breathing very well controlled. When these get a Cine rehouse I'd expect them to be circa £10,000 per lens as opposed to the £3,500 per lens for a CP2.


In fact they may well be the first outing of what will eventually form the basis of the next Master Prime.

Some quick grabs from today's shoot - no grading or sharpening and these are moving shots. Full size on flickr

FS7 Screengrab 3 by Ben Scott, on Flickr

FS7 screengrab by Ben Scott, on Flickr

Dolly Shot screengrab by Ben Scott, on Flickr


EDIT: Just remembered the 2 pub shots may have had a 1/8 Black Pro Mist on them...
 
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Bit of head scratcher why Zeiss put an electronically controlled aperture in the EF-mount Otus, & Milvus, especially as the Loxia series are purely manual. Perhaps to protect their cine lineup.
 
It's what they have always done. The e-mount glass is different and based on different designs.

ANooying though yes..
 
Milvus or Otus are my next set of lenses as well. The Otus in particular are indeed "master primes at a bargain." The de-clicking on the Milvus is a great feature...add the lens gears and you have a set of affordable cinema primes.

The Otus you can have declicked by Duclos. Hardest part is having to choose between Nikon or Canon. Reverse focus direction doesn't bother me too much. But the other thing is that some follow focus units let you reverse the direction, which solves that issue.
 
Ben Scott said:
Sorry Liam for going tangentially off-topic...
Click to expand...

That's OK Ben, you know I like a bit of lens porn.... I saw your Otus pics on Twitter, but couldn't think of a suitably pithy one-liner!

Re Milvus, I've seen the stills boys do their write ups, but I'd like to know if anyone has used them on an FS7, specifically, did they suffer internal flares with the adapter. Also, what is the communication like with the camera? Do they breathe etc?
 
The Milvuses/Milvii do breathe but it's relatively controlled compared to most stills lenses. Certainly not a dealbreaker and a damn sight better than my Contax Zeiss lenses. Nice focus throws and a great focusing action is a huge plus in their corner ahead of say the Sigmas or Canons.
 
I'm definitely getting the 50mm, just deciding on getting the full set. Don't ever let me try your Otus though!
 
Stupid brexit added £500 to the price of the 85 overnight :(

Waiting to pounce on a 28mm if one comes up for a steal but I find it very hard to pay the RRP on them.

Would love to hear your thoughts on the 50mm.
 
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