Conclusion

The Zeiss Otus 28mm f/1.4 APO Distagon T* is a superb wide-angle prime lens for landscape photographers looking for the ultimate in image quality. You’d expect sharpness to be high across both the frame and aperture range from such a premium optic, and it certainly doesn’t disappoint. In conjunction with the Canon EOS 5DS R full-frame DSLR camera shooting at 50 megapixel resolution, detail is exceptionally detailed and sharp. Shooting at the maximum f/1.4 aperture does reveal a very minor reduction in sharpness compared to the rest of the aperture range, but the image is already pin-sharp by f/1.8, and bokeh is very nice for a 28mm lens.

The Zeiss Otus 28mm f/1.4 APO Distagon T* is also a pleasure to use, thanks to its superb build quality and smooth focus ring. As this is a manual-focus only lens, you'd expect this aspect of the operation to be intuitive, and so it proved, although the Canon EOS 5DS R isn't really geared up for accurate manual focusing - we had a better experience using it on the Sony A7R II compact system camera via a Metabones adapter.

There are only really two drawbacks to the Zeiss Otus 28mm f/1.4 APO Distagon T* - the sheer weight/size and the sheer price. The Zeiss Otus 28mm f/1.4 APO Distagon T* is the heaviest and biggest of the three Otus lenses, weighing over 2kg when mounted on the Canon EOS 5DS R. In addition, £3630 / €3999 / $4999 is a huge amount of money to pay for any lens, even one as good as this. If you have deep enough pockets, though, and you can take the literal strain of the lens' weight, then the Zeiss Otus 28mm f/1.4 APO Distagon T* is another superb choice for full-frame DSLR owners that’s capable of some truly stunning results.

Ratings (out of 5)
Design	4.5
Features	4
Ease-of-use	4
Image quality	5
Value for money	4