Fast Aperture Wide Angle Announced – ZEISS Milvus 25mm f/1.4

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by Tim FokOctober 18^th, 2017

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ZEISS has expanded the Milvus collection with the announcement of a new fast-aperture wide lens. The ZEISS Milvus 25mm f/1.4 is the eleventh lens in the hybrid line, trumping its preceding model by one stop.

It’s all been about the fast apertures of late with the Milvus line. Previous to this, the last announcement was the 35mm f/1.4; now, the 25mm f/1.4 joins the family.

ZEISS Milvus has been a combination of updating legacy ZE/ZF lenses and all-new optical design lenses; the 25mm f/1.4 sits in the latter.

Following the previous ZE/ZF line, it has sometimes been predictable as to what Milvus lens to expect next, but it’s great to see ZEISS breaking the mould slightly, taking an existing focal length but improving its aperture by one stop.

The ZEISS Milvus 25mm f/1.4 has almost Otus-like proportions and, like it’s same aperture 35mm brother, the lens is long. You can see it below compared to the existing 21mm f/2.8.

ZEISS Milvus 25mm next to the 1.4/35 and 2.8/21

The lens is constructed from 15 elements in 13 groups, has a 82mm front thread and broad-in-class 172-degree focus rotation.

I’ve had this lens to use alongside my existing Milvus lenses for a couple of months now, and it’s a lovely lens. Sub 35mm lenses take some convincing from me, but this lens finds itself on my camera quite a bit.

I feel the size is great for handheld filming. It has a lovely weight to it and the focus barrel is a good length with or without a follow focus. Lenses with a pedigree in stills often leave things a little short when it comes to focus throw, but the 25mm f/1.4 will impress here.

As a stills lens it’s chunky, and I can’t see it being a casual leave-on-the-body type lens. The size and weight will attract only a certain bracket of dedicated stills photographers.

Regarding price, suggested retail is €2399 incl. tax or $2399.

I recently completed a documentary project that uses the Milvus line exclusively. The release of this will go into this lens in more detail.

For now, here are the specifications:

Focal Length: 25mm
Aperture Range: f/1.4-16
Lens Elements/Groups: 15/13
Focusing Range: 0.252 m (9.93″) – ∞
Full Frame 35 Angular field (diag. / horiz. / vert.):  81.2° / 70.8° / 50.4°
Diameter of Image Field: 43 mm (1.69″)
ZEISS Lens Gear Size: Medium
Image Ratio at MOD: 1 : 4.6
Filter Thread: M82 X 0.75
Rotation angle of focussing ring: 172°
Diameter of Focussing ring: ZF.2: 82.5 mm (3.25″)/ ZE: 82.5 mm (3.25″)
Length (without cap): ZF.2: 123.3 mm (4.85″)/ ZE: 122.5 mm (4.82″)
Weight: ZF.2: 1171 g (41.3 oz) ZE: 1225 g (43.2 oz)

Like all Milvus lenses, the 25mm f/1.4 will be available in ZE (Canon EF) and ZF (Nikon F) mount. The ZE has electronic-only aperture, while the ZF has a manual aperture ring but a reversed focus barrel.

Availability is expected from early November.

Are you a Milvus shooter? Let us know about your experiences with this line in the comments section below