Excellent Portrait Lens

I love being able to use this superb Carl Zeiss short telephoto lens on my Canon EOS digital bodies. When used on the cropped sensor of Canon's 10D, it works great as a portrait lens. With the maximum aperture of f/1.4, I can handhold in low light situations and the "bokeh" is beautiful.

I use the type of lens mount adapter with a "focus assist" chip installed on it (which I purchased on eBay) to help with the manual focus lens. As I turn the lens focus ring, the lights inside the viewfinder light up when in focus. There is also the focus assist beep function on the Canon DSLR cameras as well.

I've owned several Carl Zeiss lenses over the years and this one is as good as they get.

Expensive and heavy, but worth every penny and kilogram

Every aperture of this lens has its own character. This is a two-edged sword. It is a lot more fun to explore this lens and try out its different capabilities, but the downside is you have to spend time with it to use it effectively. I am still not quite there yet.

The lens is large (with 82mm filter) and heavy (almost 1kg). It is an improvement over the manual focus version in close-focusing performance. In my comments below on optical quality, I will focus on close-focusing performance. Autofocus is swift and noise level is moderate. Focusing ring is wide and smooth.

At f/1.4, there is some CA (chromatic abberation). This should not be a concern because you won't be able to find a lens which is perfect at f/1.4. Accurate focusing will mitigate CA as the CA is in the areas just so slightly out of focus. Of course, depth-of-field is razor thin. It is very difficult to focus on the right plane, but when you get it, the contrast between the single sharp point and blurredness in the rest of the frame immediately points the viewer's attention to the point of focus. The transition from in-focus to out-of-focus is gorgeous.

By f/2.0, the CA is almost gone. The sharpest aperture seems to be f/4.0, after which diffraction kicks in. If you test this lens with the "f/8 and be there" rule, you will find nothing special.

This lens is rightfully tuned for a lower contrast than the Makro Sonnar 100/2.8. For an apples-to-orange comparison, I preferred the Makro which I believe has a slight edge in optical performance, but I prefer the N Planar 85/1.4 for the much better AF and the ethereal effect at f/1.4. If I am allowed to have only one, it is a tough call, but I guess I will take the Makro.

Best 85mm Lens for low light! PERIOD!

FANTASTIC LENS! After many years using Nikkor Glass I decided to try out some Zeiss Tech. I was REMARKABLY IMPRESSED! Through my experiences of the 85mm Nikkors such as the 85mm 1.8, the 85mm 1.4, and now the Zeiss 85mm 1.4 MF; THe ZEISS is the clear winner. The bokeh is nothing short of INCREDIBLE! It gives a very creamy, smooth, u wanna eat it. . .texture! Phenomenal! The only downside of this lens is that it is MF and the focus rotation is pretty tuff to get used to. But getting this lens will surely improve your photography by A LONG SHOT... With this lens I feel as though I am making photos, instead of just pushing a button. Zeiss Glass allows me to take my time, look at what's in front of me, and nail a memory that will last through time. Fantastic piece of glass. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!

Creamy Dreamy!!! Superb!!! Excellent!!!

What can I say about this that hasn't already been said? EXCELLENT! SUPERB! Yes it is heavy and expensive (but so are all Zeiss lenses) so you just have to deal. The trade off is worth it. Initially I was very hesitant to purchase such an expensive lens but after I rented a set of Zeiss primes for a shoot, acidicmetabolics.com, I instantly became a convert. Whether its filmmaking or photography, they are all I use now and my 85mm has rounded out the set. CA is pretty ugly at certain f-stops, that I didn't expect to see, and I find it on my 35mm f/2 as well, so just do some testing and work around it. Shooting an event with Zeiss primes on my plasticky T3i next to a 5DmkII and supposedly superior Canon L glass there was no comparison, my footage definitely looked better especially when it came to handling reds. I know that's not a scientific comparison but wow, I was pretty shocked

Superb lens

I use the ZF nikon mount. If you don't need AF, this is the lens to get. The pictures are simply stunning. The rendering of the out of focus area is so beautiful. It is better than the famous Nikon 85 1.4 cream machine. There is this 3D quality that you must see yourself. But if AF is important for you, don't buy this lens.