JonPB Offline Upload & Sell: Off
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To me, as a casual observer:
Touit 12 & 32 introduced in May, 2013, to conveniently cover needed focal lengths for strong primes around the Sony/Zeiss 24/1.8. Also offered for Fuji because, hey, why not? Zeiss aims to win the hearts and wallets of the premium-prime, APS-C, enthusiast market.
Sony a7 and a7R introduced in October, 2013. Zeiss looks at the Touit line and says, "oh crap." [Edit: "I've made a huge mistake."]
Zeiss puts its 12 & 32 lenses on firesale in June, 2014, through August, 2014, because their financial year ends in September and for this entire year (notice how the a7 came out in October?) the enthusiasts have either been buying into Sony's full-frame bandwagon or into Fuji's retro-chic bandwagon, neither of which the Touits fit into. This inventory stock needs to be sold or stockholders will express their displeasure.
Who wins? Well, most prominently, resellers like Adorama and BHPhoto, who likely looked at Zeiss' new (43mm image circle) mirrorless offerings and said, "yeah, the last time you tried that we bought a bunch of inventory and it is still in our warehouses. What makes you think that we'll invest in your new and unproven product?" Also any Fuji X or Sony E shooters who want native, premium, fixed focus, Zeiss-quality lenses...who haven't already bought the two Touit lenses.
Personally, if I had the free cash, I'd buy several sets with an eye toward selling them in the future. This is probably going to be a low water mark in terms of price for such high quality glass and I don't think mirrorless, APS-C cameras are going to disappear anytime soon. I'd bet that these will resell for $50 to $100 profit per, but I can't afford to make that bet because I could be horribly wrong.
As far as we're concerned: anyone who wanted the Touit lenses but couldn't afford them at ~$1000 each, but can afford them at ~$500 each, is probably pretty happy.
Cheers,
Jon
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