Yes Matt, i think we are pretty much on the same page here.
A GRD V with APS-C - a no brainer for me. Me like. I would make that purchase on faith alone.
A GXR successor however, must evolve if I am to invest. Doesn't take all that much but it needs to be at least on par with the competition when it comes to handling speed.
In the mean time my VC15 is glued to the GXR M mount as well though I sometimes pry it off to fit the CZ 60 Makro Planar.
uscmatt99 wrote:
In all of the testing I did, I found that my ZM 35mm C-Biogon had lost some dampening in the focus helicoid through most of the range, but got tight at infinity and MFD. It was still under warranty, and I sent it into Zeiss. I figured they'd just relube it, but instead they're just sending me a new one. Awesome service, took 1 day for them to decide. But it does make me wonder what they found under the hood.
I doubt there is anything seriously wrong with the lens. Rather, it's a matter of it being easier, cheaper and faster to replace the lens on the spot from inventory already in the USA, rather than ship it to Germany and get it serviced on their own coin. And realistically, for a roughly $800 lens, their cost is probably ridiculously low, to the point where service labour could easily be higher.
FWIW, a friend here is a Zeiss dealer and he says this is fairly typical - that they'll replace rather than repair.
It's quite possible they stockpile the returned lenses and at some point have them overhauled in order to resell as refurbs or use as demo stock.
Here are some images from Cuba.
I used the Sigma DP2m and the Ricoh M mount with the VC 15, Zeiss Biogon 25, Leica Summicron 50/2 and Elmarit 90/2.8 on this trip. For each camera 2 batterys and a small tripod. All fitted well in an old low profile camera bag.
My wife and I are thinking of heading there before the inevitable modernization takes over. With the Castro brothers both retiring who knows what follows next.
Hello and Thanks Kosmokatten and Michael!
I hope change doesn't come to fast because that would create a mess. As long they stick to not selling any land, they are halfway. And always nice weather, so nice! (Apart from the occasional hurricanes)
Thanks for bringing some photos back to the images thread Great photos of Cuba, a place I've always wanted to visit. The color pallet reminds me of Curacao.
Quick question for those who haven't glued or welded a lens to your M module. How often do you find you have to clean the sensor since it lacks any dust reduction system? Does the module allow for user-cleaning?
A couple of color shots with the GXR-M. First is a four-shot, portrait-oriented pano with the Elmarit-M 24 at f/5.6 hand held . Second is Fred, the goose, who really likes to have his picture taken and really didn't like it when I wasn't paying attention. It's with the Summarit 75 wide open.
My generic L bracket got here late today, along with a remote. Thanks to Kit's advice in the "No love for the GXR" thread a year ago, I'm ready to drill into the RSS L so it fits.
And some B&Ws. First was with the Tele-Elmarit 135 (oh, to have a longer lens with me) wide open. Second is the Elmarit 24 wide open, last is the Summarit 75 at f/4.
