Best Secret Portrait Lens

I’m going to show you the best portrait lens that you probably never heard of: the Zeiss Otus 100mm. The Otus series for Zeiss is noteworthy because it’s one of only four lenses under the Otus umbrella. They have a 28mm, a 55mm, a 85mm, and the 100mm. After a single conversation with Zeiss, Otus relayed they wanted to make the best lenses possible, not concerned with a set, and to make them really slow.

So here, we have the 100mm for EF Mount (also available for Nikon), which lists for around $4,500. Not cheap, by any means. The barrel rotation is 315 degrees, and manual focus only. On paper, these factors make the lens easy to pass over, but when you use it and see the results, you’ll be pleasantly surprised!