The type of photography that you are planning to use is an important decision factor. Here we have evaluated the Lensbaby Velvet 56 and the Zeiss Otus 1.4/55 for their suitability to various photography scenarios:
Size and Weight Comparison
Size of a lens is an important deciding factor when comparing two lenses.Zeiss Otus 1.4/55 is the longer of the two lenses at 141mm. The Lensbaby Velvet 56 with a length of 86mm is 55mm shorter. Besides being longer, the Zeiss Otus 1.4/55 also has a larger diameter of 92mm compared to Lensbaby Velvet 56's 72mm diameter.
Weight of a lens is as important as its external dimensions, especially if you are planning to hand hold your camera and lens combination for longer periods. Lensbaby Velvet 56 weighs 400g, which means it is 570g (58%) lighter than the Zeiss Otus 1.4/55 which has a weight of 970g.
Below you can find the dimension and weight table of the 'Standard Prime Lenses in Nikon F (FX) Mount for size comparison purposes.
Standard Prime Lenses in Nikon F (FX) Mount for Size Comparison
Lens Mounts
Both Lensbaby Velvet 56 and Zeiss Otus 1.4/55 has the same Nikon F (FX) lens mount. Some of the latest released cameras that are compatible with the Nikon F (FX) lenses are Nikon D6, Nikon D780 and Nikon D3500.
Lensbaby Velvet 56 is also available in Canon EF , Fujifilm X, Micro Four Thirds, Pentax KAF3, Samsung NX, Sony Alpha and Sony E mounts.
Zeiss Otus 1.4/55 is also available in Canon EF mount.
Focal Range
Lensbaby Velvet 56 is a prime lens with fixed focal lenght of 56mm. When it is mounted on an APS-C sensor camera with 1.5x crop, it provides an 35mm (FF) equivalent of 84mm.
Zeiss Otus 1.4/55 is a prime lens with fixed focal lenght of 55mm. When it is mounted on an APS-C sensor camera with 1.5x crop, it provides an 35mm (FF) equivalent of 82.5mm.