Camera lenses typically come with some form of marking on them. This is to indicate focal length and in some cases, it will also be able to indicate its aperture as well. However it seems that Zeiss thinks that such display methods are a bit old fashion as the company has recently unveiled their new Zeiss Batis lenses for Sony’s mirrorless cameras.
The lenses itself are pretty standard fare, but the twist is that these lenses will come with OLED screens which will allow the lens to display information such as depth of field, distance of the focal plane, and more. Zeiss has described the display as an “absolute highlight — an innovation that is currently unparalleled in camera lenses,” and we have to admit that it is rather interesting.
However the question is whether such displays are necessary, or if they are simply there for the sake of technology. Will photographers be able to appreciate such features? It remains to be seen, but like we said it’s an interesting take to an otherwise old school approach. The lenses itself come in two varieties.
There is the 25mm f/2.0 wide-angle lens and there is also an 85mm f/1.8 portrait lens. They will be released this July and will play nicely with Sony’s mirrorless cameras, although they are said to work best on the A7 II, A7R, and the A7S. Pricing has yet to be determined but given that Zeiss lenses don’t come cheap to begin with, we don’t see why these lenses will be any different.