Graham,

I agree! Looks professional! Is the christmas pic from "lilla torg"?

marbrink wrote:
I agree! Looks professional! Is the christmas pic from "lilla torg"?

Thanks. It is the old town centre in Tallinn, Estonia.

Does anyone think there's a chance it will support autofocus?

The two cameras in one of the photos are FM3A and F6

it has to be af, if not why dont they just make contax-nikon adapters...

Hate to break it you you guys, But if you read the site it says Wednesday the 28th of December not Today!

Hi. Just want to join the "game".

New message on the page:
http://www.zeiss.com/C12567A8003B58B9?Open
More on Wednesday, December 28

I believe nobody noticed how is written the Z of the ZF graphic at the top. Looks like a E reversed for me
ZF "could be" EF

Do you really think the webmaster posted images (nikon) on the remote server accidentally? Maybe, maybe not.

And the Canon image maybe missing in the slideshow... Zeiss a new TAMRON?

I'm not sure if I'm excited or disappointed if they are only for Canon F mount.

On the one hand I may be able to afford some better Canon Glass. On the other hand I would LOVE to have some zeiss AF glass.

I'm pretty sure that even if it will be for nikon or canon (which already is using a adaptor) only maybe 10-15% of people here will have money to spend on Zeiss glass and from them about next 10-15% will see any difference between nikon's or canon's L glasess

When folks are spending 4000-8000 on a body - I expect they will somehow find the dough for the zeis. On the Nikon 15 percent may see the difference, on the canon if there is such a blessing to be had 85 percent will. But then 15 percent can't see the difference between a coke bottle and an "L" lens

What gets me, is why did they-in the waning days of film- come out with the Zeiss Ikon? I'm sure it's a nice camera and truthfully, I wouldn't mind having one, but I doubt I would ever buy any film for it. I like the control I have much more in digital. It's like people at Contax are in denial about digital or something, or they wish it would just go away and film would come back. I think the most intelligent move they could make, five years ago, would be to sell lenses for different mounts. Instead, they struggle, then release another film rangefinder. I don't get it.

When you look at all th pictures its clearly a Nikon mount camera. Hell, there are 2 Nikon cameras on the image and one has a planar lens on it. So, If it was going to be canon we would have seen a canon as well. So for canon owner, dont hold your breath. regardless you wont know the entire story for another 6 weeks when the big photo show opens. thats why they are releasing 1 banner per week until all announced at the end.

cactusclay wrote:
What gets me, is why did they-in the waning days of film- come out with the Zeiss Ikon? I'm sure it's a nice camera and truthfully, I wouldn't mind having one, but I doubt I would ever buy any film for it. I like the control I have much more in digital. It's like people at Contax are in denial about digital or something, or they wish it would just go away and film would come back. I think the most intelligent move they could make, five years ago, would be to sell lenses for different mounts. Instead, they struggle, then release another film rangefinder. I don't get it.

I am not sure where the contradiction is here, you can buy Zeiss Ikon lenses and fit them on the Epson RD-1 digital rangefinder.

The Nikon D200 even meter-couples to manual focus lenses such as the forthcoming Zeiss ZF. Or you can pick up a used Kodak Pro SLR/n for full frame digital, albeit without metering for manual focus lenses.

It is us who are in denial that such solutions exist.

helios4 wrote:
I believe nobody noticed how is written the Z of the ZF graphic at the top. Looks like a E reversed for me
ZF "could be" EF

We noticed, but (as you should know) it is just the way many people, especially Europeans, write "Z." Sorry to burst your bubble, but the ZF lenses are intended for Nikon only. But who knows what the future will bring?

I don't think CZ will release the full story next week.
Probably they will leak out another picture of a CZ lens in Canon EF mount.

It is just plain uneconomical to release lens to serve only Nikon bodies. Their strategy is probably to target the market consisting millions of Nikon and Canon users.

emmanuel amarg wrote:
and the last one
if they will show each of the images on the following wednesdays we could see the nikon-one(F6 on the left side)on january 25-06....

albundy wrote:
how much $$$ does that 21mm come down to if what we read comes true considering the 21 had an msrp of 1600.00 ? hmmmmm
i have found a 800 euro zeiss 21mm for jorge torralba some months ago. i am using rotapancams, so i dont use wideangles.
i could get a contax ax(af for almost all manual lenses) for only 60 chf. my next camera with be contax rts III with vaccum back. no more troubles with sharpness.

jjlphoto wrote:
If it's a line of Nikon F-mount lenses as speculated in the Rangefinder link, it is another marketing error. One of the reasons the Contax 35 line never became mainstream was their association with "B" grade Yashica. Quite frankly, I never heard of Contax until recently, or if I did, I don't remember because I never gave the name any heed. And I've been a photographer since 1973, and a pro since 1980. Sure, I had heard of Zeiss since the 1970's, but I only associated it with the Zeiss Ikon line and Hassy lenses.
because you didnt care. in 1972 i was coming from exacta(dont laugh)-they take also zeiss-lenses. then i had mamyia in mind, but motordrive/winder never came.i lumped on the new innovative olymous om-system until i have found out i had to test every new lens and a lot of them were cr...p. then i had the choice between canon a1/nikon fe/ contax rts. i used a systems-engineering called pointing-system. at the end, contax won, as i guessed, most probably with the availability of highspeed glass (35/1.4 and 85/1.4). tested rts with 85/1.4 using b+w-film at night.beforehand i was very satisfied with that 75-150 om-zoom. until i had zeiss in my hands. i started with 35/1.4. later 85/1.4 sensational quality. later with 35/2.8 pc-distagon(the best zeiss i have)- price was 1000 chf(normal price) only. i have recently seen an leica-auction list with famous angenieux 35-70(2.5-3.3)-comes in different mounts. it was listed with a ridiculous price of 8600 euro. i have comparision shot here with zeiss 35/1.4. the zoomshot does not have zeiss-resolution. i have a 35/2.8(works best on canon 5d i was told). this lens is not inferior to the speedier 1.4 one. i have bought it for less than 150 usd.


Edited by europanorama on Dec 22, 2005 at 11:51 PM GMT

beewee wrote:
Does anyone think there's a chance it will support autofocus?

The two cameras in one of the photos are FM3A and F6
zeiss has always produced the best. first the lenses will be manual focus.
then they develop a revolutionary camera-system(with nikon) with newest chip and best af-system. i am no technician, but maybe a dynamic chip(like the contax-ax-solution) is the clue for best image-results. see the problems with zeiss on canon 5d. if you need af now you dont need the best lenses. just use zooms.

helios4,
The Z with the line through the middle is written as such, so as not to be mistaken for the number 2.

Merry Christmas all,
Pete

I am not sure where the contradiction is here, you can buy Zeiss Ikon lenses and fit them on the Epson RD-1 digital rangefinder.

Yeah, at a 1.5 "crop factor"! The Epson R-D1 owner pays almost 3k for the digital rangerfinder body, then a whopping amount of cash for an ultra-wide Zeiss ... only to have it squashed by 50 percent with the tiny 6.3MP digital sensor.

The "contradiction" is ... the R-D1 may say "Epson" on it but it's a digital-ized Voigtlander Bessa body ... made by Cosina. Therefore, Zeiss (a.k.a. Cosina as far as Zeiss camera bodies go) doesn't "need" to make a digital rangefinder body to accept their lenses. They already have one!! And, by having someone else's name on it, let Epson take almost all of the sales / marketing "risks" .........

Voigtlander / Cosina / Zeiss rangerfinder group along with the Epson-badged R-D1 want to sell as many of their own "Voigtlander" and "Zeiss" optics as possible, of course, but they know that loyal Leica owners - champing at the bit for a digital rangerfinder body - have jumped the fence by the thousands. Both for the R-D1 body and the Zeiss optics on "M" series film bodies.

I'd say Leitz / Solms has their cojones in a vise ....

===============

My "snake in the woodpile" says the new Zeiss SLR-compatible optics are - at the present time anyway - for Nikons only.

It's pretty well known that the Epson R-D1 sensor is the same 6.3MP sensor used in Nikons digi-cams so a lot of engineering groundwork is already in place at Cosina as far as how Zeiss optical formulae work with this device. Do the math, folks .........

Some PMI (photo marketing industry) analysts also say Zeiss is reluctant to go head-to-head with Canon "L" optics - at any price point - especially in the wide angle designs. It's just too risky. If Zeiss threatens, Canon simply offers larger rebates and the balance scale is tipped against Zeiss even further.

Zeiss realize that unless a Canon mount is a dead-nuts, 100% EF match - both manual / autofocus, etc, - and somewhat in the same ball-park as far as cost - they would have a difficult time wooing loyal Canon owners away from those W.A. lenses with the red stripes.

Wednesday, 28 December and all will be revealed .........

Happy New Year, Nikon owners!

Rgds,

dont expect too much from zeiss-wideangles on canon 5d. you will never get the quality you need or wished. above all in the corners. forget it completely. it has been tested. see cotaxinfo.de(free forum)-in german.some adapters(sons) will not focus to infinity. btw: i have just acquired a nikon f2 photomic, ready for a new planar. i could find a 21mm for jorge torralba for 800 usd. i am relieved i did not start that adapter to canon-test. waste of time as we see. just be patient and dont buy every sh... if you really need a very good tele-lens,look for the angenieux 180/2.3 apo DEM(out of production) or one of the cosina-voigtlander lanthars.
it.

I don't understand why someone would be excited about putting great lenses like Zeiss on APS sensored Nikon DSLR's. There has to be more like Zeiss knowing Nikon's future plans on a FF camera. Other than that why would someone care?


Josef

ff chips are the future, even for nikon. picture quality between aps and ff chips are like night day. the bigger the chips the more dynamic range=better picture quality.

the bigger the chips the more dynamic range=better picture quality.

HUH?? Says who?? The more pixels, the bigger the file size, not necessarily a better picture quality or a more "dynamic range". That's in the digital processor and the settings.

The problem with full-frame digital sensors is like dropping a ball straight into a bucket vs. trying to throw it in from a sharp angle. Film is flat; a digital receptor is like a zillion "buckets" pointing in the same direction with light rays acting as "balls". On-axis, this is a straight shot into the bucket. At the extreme edges, some of the light "balls" are trying to hit a mere elliptical slit of a "bucket" opening.

(Hey, design a flexible receptor - one that cups more with a wide angle lens attached and gets flatter with a telephoto attached - and the problem is solved!)

Rgds,

ok i have been lurking on tis thread for awhile and now I think I'll make a few comments.

1. Nikon will not have a ff digicam any time soon. If you doubt me look at the comments made by the CEO about them not thinking anyone would buy a "10K USD FF pro body." they are right no one in their right mind would pay 10K for a full frame body nikon or not.

2. if zeiss wants to affect millions of slr users then why are they going after nikon? there are maybe a few thousand nikon users that would pay for zeiss optics and fewer still that would be able to notice the differance. I am, of course, joking, but seriously why not go after canon and minolta?

3. Has it occured to anyone else that maybe this whole digital thing has caused more problems than it has solved? when we were all shooting film these things were not as much of an issue. if you wanted razor sharp pics and great contrast you either shot leica, contax, hassy, or rollei. I get digital for press photogs and documentary work but for everyday use...? maybe we should all think about going back to our old leica m6's and shoot some good old velvia.

4. I would also like to point out that canon is screwing the pooch here. They should not be in a position of people champing (there you are Go4it, are you happy now? lol) at the bit to get non system glass. It should tell canon something if a good protion of it's users are willing to put up with stop down metering and adapters to get lenses to work. For that matter zeiss should be taking notice to. I am willing to bet most of you who already have zeiss glass would sell it to buy new zeiss af glass in an ef mount.

5. One thing zeiss may be doing is making lenses especially for the nikon 1.5 crop sensor. Kind of like the sigma DC lenses but way better quality. These lenses may would probably have corrected focal lengths for the 1.5 dx sensor.

flame on,
Riaz

Edited by TheBlindOne on Dec 23, 2005 at 06:29 PM GMT