Zeiss Batis 18mm F/2.8 & Zen DP-200mm Dome

Phil Rudin · Issue 92, Sep/Oct 2016 · pp. 28–31

Products mentioned: Zeiss Batis 18mm F/2.8, Zen DP-200mm Fisheye Dome Port, Sony A7R II, Nauticam NA-A7RII housing, Nauticam N100 to N120 port adapter, Nauticam N120 20mm extension, Sony 16-35mm F/4 zoom, Inon Z-240 strobes, Metabones adapter

Zeiss the company founded by Carl Zeiss in the mid 1800s’ is among the most renowned of lens manufacturers. The company offers a wide range of optical products ranging from vision care and medical use to camera and cine lenses. Among the Zeiss products is a line of lenses for the Sony FE mount mirrorless cameras. The Zeiss “Batis” line of auto focus lenses recently expanded to include an 18 mm F/2.8 rectilinear lens of exceptional quality. For past issues of uwpmag.com I have reviewed both the Sony A7 II with the Nauticam NA-A7II housing (issue #86) and the A7R II with Ikelite A7R II housing (issue #90). In those reviews I pointed out that the Sony A7 lens line was a work in progress and that the system lacked a quality Fisheye lens and that wide angle prime lens offerings were mostly manual focus or non-Sony autofocus/ manual focus lenses using mount adapters like the Metabones. The Zei…