CZ are very likely anticipating the future sensors coming from the usual suspect, their sometimes partner Sony. And CZ have no doubt seen the rise and rise of used prices for high end legacy lenses, Leica Rs and their own stock.
The latest Distagons are amazingly good, and the patience required for the 15mm to appear is well appreciated. What is intriguing, besides the use of a Distagon to replace the 50mm designs, so poor wide open as Mr Dilworth points out (with no negative feedback, no less!), is that this is a new *range* being announced...I think they might have made a breakthrough. And *the family* is due in a little over 12 months time.
The price to performance ratio and sales curves probably demand prices of not much more than $3000 for non-exotica. It's great news and may take price pressure off the other high end lenses out there.
PS hiep, all my Contaxes have finely calibrated damping on the focus rings but the 21mm is the lightest touch of them all. Supposedly they did a much better job with the 15mm.
Makten wrote:
One thought... What if the 55/1.4 is designed for the Leica S2 and Pentax 645D larger sensor size, and they just announce it for FF for now?
That makes sense to me. The Distagon 55 sounds more like a wide angle for medium format. It will produce outstanding sharpness on 24x36 because of the sweet spot/crop factor. So this new über-collection could very well be meant for medium format with available mounts in other formats.
The best Zeiss has managed in the wide angle/medium format area is a 50/2.8, so I sincerely doubt that this lens will be able to get all the way to f/1.4, cover medium format, and still be affordable. I do believe it has a larger than FF image circle, but for corner quality and distortion reasons, not to cover medium format. The Distagon name just means that it is a retrofocal design, i.e. it is further from the sensor than the old Planar designs.
Makten wrote:
One thought... What if the 55/1.4 is designed for the Leica S2 and Pentax 645D larger sensor size, and they just announce it for FF for now?
A design dedicated to a model (S2) that's sold like 1000 copies*?
*pure speculation, but they can't be that many, right?
Maybe the 55 is aimed to deliver Leica's M Summilux 50 performance on 135 SLRs? Although really, the "Distagon" is weird. A retrofocus design is always more complicated, and at 55mm it's not even necessary - except on medium format.
Let's wait for Photokina, hopefully they will give more details then.
And 55mm, as if 50mm isn't awkward enough. Most people tend to go 85 or 35 I believe, and if they use the 50 they still wish it was just a little shorter. I don't think I'd appreciate the fov much.
Is 55mm for some reason a length that lends itself well for optical design for this sensor/film size? I thought 45 was the "true" normal at the length easiest to design for.
Rodluvan wrote:
And 55mm, as if 50mm isn't awkward enough. Most people tend to go 85 or 35 I believe, and if they use the 50 they still wish it was just a little shorter. I don't think I'd appreciate the fov much.
Is 55mm for some reason a length that lends itself well for optical design for this sensor/film size? I thought 45 was the "true" normal at the length easiest to design for.
55mm is easier to design for SLRs because of the backfocus distance that is needed to clear the mirror box. It's the reason why there are so many old lenses in the 55-58mm range.
Maktens idea regarding Leica S and Pentax 645D was in my mind since the moment I saw this 55mm monster. It might not cover the hole 645mm format, but why not make it cover those "crop medium format" sensors to sell a few copies more. I think the image circle has to be much bigger than 45mm for this lens to be really extraordinary on 24x36.
Just another idea: there are those rumors of canon maybe coming with a sensor a little bigger than 24x36. I NEVER thought they would do that, because their biggest selling factor, the huge lens lineup, would be missing. But if such a camera should really come, Zeiss had a lens for it...
Interesting...no mention of the 50/1.2 ZA that is supposedly in the works, makes you wonder... I also hope the fast zm is an 85mm replacement. A new CSC collection... Not sure what that is. It can't be NEX, as they already have that... Making it FF wouldn't make it 'new' IMO. Can't be anything like a digital ikon, as that would simply be zm. So, for Canon perhaps? I don't know, who ever it is, it'll be a serious challenge for Sony, as up to now they'd been the only AF Zeiss system.
ricardovaste wrote:
Interesting...no mention of the 50/1.2 ZA that is supposedly in the works, makes you wonder... I also hope the fast zm is an 85mm replacement. A new CSC collection... Not sure what that is. It can't be NEX, as they already have that... Making it FF wouldn't make it 'new' IMO. Can't be anything like a digital ikon, as that would simply be zm. So, for Canon perhaps? I don't know, who ever it is, it'll be a serious challenge for Sony, as up to now they'd been the only AF Zeiss system.
Zeiss are not allowed to announce ZA lenses, this is Sony's privilege
However, it seems Zeiss is now allowed to make lenses for the E mount independently. This will take some of the pressure off Sony.
carstenw wrote:
The best Zeiss has managed in the wide angle/medium format area is a 50/2.8, so I sincerely doubt that this lens will be able to get all the way to f/1.4, cover medium format, and still be affordable. I do believe it has a larger than FF image circle, but for corner quality and distortion reasons, not to cover medium format. The Distagon name just means that it is a retrofocal design, i.e. it is further from the sensor than the old Planar designs.
Well, the Distagon 50/2.8 is for 56x56 mm and the Leica S2 and Pentax 645D both have much smaller sensors. Plus, the 50/2.8 came out decades ago.
Rodluvan wrote:
A design dedicated to a model (S2) that's sold like 1000 copies*?
No, but perhaps a design that allows them to adapt it to whatever mount that sports a slightly larger than 24x36 sensor.
Makten wrote:
Well, the Distagon 50/2.8 is for 56x56 mm and the Leica S2 and Pentax 645D both have much smaller sensors. Plus, the 50/2.8 came out decades ago.
It is possible, but I still doubt it. The 50/2.8 was massive, 1.5kg and huge. I had one. The Rolleiflex leaf shutter version is probably even larger. The new 55/1.4 is large, but not huge like that. And it is two stops faster.
A new line... interesting.
I'm curious how the results will look, what the other lenses will be and how they'll be priced.
They'll surely won't be cheap!
That focus ring looks like a rubber one. I like metal ones, because rubber often starts to look ugly after some time.
potz wrote:
55mm is easier to design for SLRs because of the backfocus distance that is needed to clear the mirror box. It's the reason why there are so many old lenses in the 55-58mm range.
But that's an argument against a Distagon design, not for it. 55mm could just be a Planar design.
