Tech Tuesday: Zeiss Launches 50mm Macro Touit for Sony and Fuji Mirrorless Cameras

February 4, 2014

By Laura Brauer

touit Cropped

touit CroppedIt’s easy to fall in love with Zeiss lenses and although I haven’t yet had any hands-on time with the just-announced Touit 50mm, f/2.8 macro lens, my expectations are high.

The new lens is the third—and longest—lens in Zeiss’ E- and X-mount line for Sony and Fuji mirrorless cameras. Currently, the Touit line consists of the 50mm f/2.8 along with a 12mm, f/2.8 and 32mm, f/1.8 (all subject to the APS-C sensor’s 1.5x crop factor).
touit-lens1 With its 1.5x crop factor, the 50mm lens delivers a 75mm equivalent focal length, which is perfect for shooting portraits. But its macro designation is also attractive especially given the lens’ ability to focus as close as 0.93 inches and capture images at a 1:1 ratio. The lens utilizes Zeiss’ floating lens design to help minimize aberrations and features 14 elements in 11 groups, including two aspherical elements and two additional low dispersion elements. In addition, its 9-blade iris and fast, f/2.8 aperture promises lovely bokeh.

touit-lens2Unlike its 55mm Otus sibling, which weighs more than two pounds, the new Touit weighs a mere 0.64 pounds and measure 4.09 x 4.25 inches with the lens cap, but without the bundled lens shade. The new Touit supports autofocus on both Sony and Fuji ILCs and will be available in March for a relatively affordable price of $999.

For more information, visit the Zeiss website.