Zeiss announce Nikon mount lenses, and more

df cardwell · Jan 17, 2006

http://www.zeiss.de/de/photo/home_e.nsf

Here are links to updated Zeiss designs for:

Nikon F mount;

M-42 mount;

a new camera from Braun using C/Y mount.

And, an article about Zeiss and film.

Good news, children !

d

Mongo · Jan 17, 2006

Just looking at those lenses had me drooling. I want to know what the Distagon that's in the pictures is...they did a nice job of hiding what the other two lenses are other than showing enough to know that one's a Distagon and the other's a Makro-Planar. The 50/1.4 and 85/1.4 both look gorgeous though.

I was surprised that they mentioned the M42 mount lenses in the interview as being a good option for Canon shooters...Nikon F mount lenses are very easy to mount on Canon EOS bodies. But it looks like, for now at least, no native Canon lens mounts.

Still...I haven't been this excited about new equipment in a long time. I'm sure I won't be able to afford any of it, but it's nice to know the options will be there.

Interesting article on film too...worth the read.

Be well.
Dave

David A. Goldfarb · Jan 17, 2006

M42 will work on my Canon FD bodies too. There was a Nikon F mount adapter for FD, but it's pretty hard to find, while M42 adapters are common and cheap. I've got a few of them.

df cardwell · Jan 17, 2006

And from years of experience, this Zeiss glass is generally better than its reputation.

This is a big win for Nikon shooters.. like me ( having bagged my Contax SLRs out of frustration with getting service ! ).

I think I'll start with a 50/1.4.

With fries and a cherry coke.

.

bjorke · Jan 17, 2006

Tellingly, the verbiage in Zeiss's Camera News article talks about the Contax incarnations of the 50 f/1.4 and the 85 f/1.4 -- both stupendous lenses and I'll bet they are essentailly the same lenses re-fit for N mount. Different in the barrel only.

So the Contax lenses I use on my Canon are still up to date

Richard Wasserman · Jan 18, 2006

This is very interesting and welcome news. As a reaction to all the doom and gloom about film I just bought a Nikon F2AS and was wondering what lenses to get for it. I also shoot Leica M's and was concerned that I might be dissapointed by older Nikkor lenses. (or is that just Leicaist hype?) It's going to be a bit hard to wait for summer for these to be available.

Richard Wasserman

Robert Budding · Jan 18, 2006

bjorke said:
Tellingly, the verbiage in Zeiss's Camera News article talks about the Contax incarnations of the 50 f/1.4 and the 85 f/1.4 -- both stupendous lenses and I'll bet they are essentailly the same lenses re-fit for N mount. Different in the barrel only.

So the Contax lenses I use on my Canon are still up to date

Except they are changing the shape of the aperture blades - no more hexagons and such! They'll be round, just like my Zeiss rangefinder lenses from the 1950's!

mikebarger · Jan 18, 2006

This is great news, the sea water had leaked out of my 105mm.

Uncle Bill · Jan 18, 2006

Big question from the cheap seats,

Will these lenses work with the Non AI F mount as all my Nikons are vintage. I am thinking of building some lenses for my eye level prism F so I don't have to worry about the whole metering issue.

Bill

Helen B · Jan 18, 2006

Bill,

They should work with pre-AI (pin and yoke) cameras with no metering, or using stopped-down metering. I suspect that you could put a yoke on if you wanted one. www.aiconversions.com is a useful resource for this kind of thing.

Best,
Helen

Vincent DiPietro · Jan 18, 2006

I can't seem to locate the link for the Braun camera. Can someone help me out here?

Magnus W · Jan 18, 2006

http://www.braun-phototechnik.de/E/Products/Cameras/Default.htm

-- MW

Vincent DiPietro · Jan 18, 2006

Thanks Magnus W. This Braun looks like another Cosina made camera like the old Yashica FX3 Super 2000 or the Nikon fm 2000.

Shawn Rahman · Jan 18, 2006

This is indeed great news, but are there yet any indications as to cost? I hope Zeiss doesn't price themselves out of the market when the tons of superb, existing Nikon glass can be had rather cheap.

I would be willing to pay extra for Zeiss glass, say, $400-$500 for the 50/1.4, but beyond that I can't see myself justifying it.

titrisol · Jan 18, 2006

I heard they'll also come with M42 mounted glass???
More Bessaflexes coming? If it was true.. yipeee!!!

I just hope the sticker-shock will not give me a stroke :LOL:

Rolfe Tessem · Jan 18, 2006

Uncle Bill said:
Big question from the cheap seats,

Will these lenses work with the Non AI F mount as all my Nikons are vintage. I am thinking of building some lenses for my eye level prism F so I don't have to worry about the whole metering issue.

Bill

The pictures on the Zeiss website show a prong mounted on each lens, so I think there would be no problem with vintage Nikons.

celluloidpropaganda · Jan 18, 2006

Stephen Gandy said on the CVUG list that the 50/1.4 will retail for $500 in Japan.

roteague · Jan 18, 2006

Unfortunately, it also looks like these are all manual focus lenses. Also, lacking is Nikon's D chip. A day late, a dollar short.....

Funny, they would show these lenses mounted on a Nikon F6. http://www.zeiss.de/C12567A8003B8B6F/GraphikTitelIntern/03/$File/03.jpg

sanderx1 · Jan 18, 2006

Its certainly slightly sub-optimal if they make just AI-S, not AI-P versions of the lens thus restricting them to F6, F100 and FM3A in recent camera body models. Hopefully they will contain the P chip ... It would make them so much more widely useable than just AI-S

Mark Layne · Jan 18, 2006

df cardwell said:
And from years of experience, this Zeiss glass is generally better than its reputation.

This is a big win for Nikon shooters.. like me ( having bagged my Contax SLRs out of frustration with getting service ! ).

I think I'll start with a 50/1.4.

With fries and a cherry coke.

.

Have you considered Glen Breton?

df cardwell · Jan 18, 2006

No D chip ? Like a Jaguar without a cigarette lighter.

For me, manual focus is no loss at all... since AF is at best close, but never exact.

Uncle Bill · Jan 18, 2006

Helen B said:
Bill,

They should work with pre-AI (pin and yoke) cameras with no metering, or using stopped-down metering. I suspect that you could put a yoke on if you wanted one. www.aiconversions.com is a useful resource for this kind of thing.

Best,
Helen

Thank you Helen! That is what I want to hear as the camera I had in mind for the Planner is my eye level prism F that belonged to my dad. No meter on board, no worries, I like this news even better.

Bill

roteague · Jan 18, 2006

df cardwell said:
No D chip ? Like a Jaguar without a cigarette lighter.

For me, manual focus is no loss at all... since AF is at best close, but never exact.

When I want manual, I'll stick with the Toyo. Otherwise, I want the autofocus.

df cardwell · Jan 18, 2006

roteague said:
When I want manual, I'll stick with the Toyo. Otherwise, I want the autofocus.

Fair enough !

And there ARE always uses for a cigarette lighter in a Jag

Mongo · Jan 18, 2006

Interesting question: Do we know that the lenses aren't chipped? Even if they're manual focus it probably wouldn't take much to reverse-engineer the chip. I can't see enough of the mounts on the Zeiss sites to rule out P-style lenses...perhaps somone who's more familiar with Nikons newer lenses can tell...but something tells me they're probably Ai-s.

I think Zeiss took a look at all of the people paying big money for C/Y mount Zeiss glass to mount on their DSLRs and figured they might be able to get into that market. I doubt that they'll reach a reasonable enough price point for many, but I'm sure they'll sell a few. The only questions is whether or not it will be enough. If real world tests show that the Zeiss lenses completely blow away the Nikkor lenses (unlikely, methinks, given that the 50/1.4 and 85/1.4 are well respected lenses in the Nikkor lineup), would people be willing to pay 50% more for the Zeiss? Double?

The lenses that Cosina is making for the Zeiss Ikon rangefinder are getting stellar reviews, so we know Cosina can make good lenses if they have the right people standing behind them telling them what to do...but my fear is that the prices will be closer to the Zeiss Ikon prices than to the old Contax G prices. Time will tell...pricing in Japan might not have much to do with pricing here...or it might be a very good indicator. Given that the prices are supposed to be competative to high-end Nikkor glass, and that the Nikkor 50/1.4 sells on the street for US$270, I suspect that the price for the ZF lenses will have to be closer to the old G lenses than to the new M mount lenses. (The 50/2 in M mount goes for well over $800...hardly comparable to the price of the Nikkor.) With Zeiss distributing these lenses themselves, at least you won't have to pay Hasselblad to move them around.

I hope I can save up my pennies for when these lenses hit the market. I've always loved the look of the G lenses...if the bodies had been more of my style (I'm just not an auto-anything kind of guy) I'd probably shoot little other than the G. The image quality from those lenses is breathtaking. But then I think...I own all of this fantastick Nikon glass...I could live my entire life without buying another lens and I could be very happy. I feel a bout of GAS coming on...

Zeiss announce Nikon mount lenses, and more

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