I just got off the phone with Adam at skgrimes and said no big deal, cost about $50 to remove the hood, cut the petals off and replace hood. Needless to say, my lens will be on the way to Rhode Island very soon!!!
Wow, that is insanely reasonable. But one has to weigh that against a probably voided warranty and the need to figure out a hood solution. (I realize that this is a personal decision as some people might find those things important, while others may not.) On the flip side you can use a plethora of filter solutions.
I think we all would probably agree that even if Zeiss provides a factory mod for lenses already in the wild, it won't be cheap. But you probably get to keep the warranty and they'll have some removable hood solution (another assumption.)
I have been looking at the Lucroit system for a while now for my Nikon 14-24. I really like how simple the mounting system is. Unfortunately, it seems to only take the 165mm/6.5" x200mm/8" filters from Hitech/Formatt, which are even larger than the Lee SW150 filters.
Does anyone have any experience with their filters? I haven't really heard a lot of positive comments...
I was really looking for a smaller solution i.e. holding a flat filter up to the lens, either with a cpl screwed on, or not.
I use Lucroit system for my Sigma 8-16 and I am so happy with the quality of the filters (Hitech) as well with the designed of the holder.
Still people don't know Hitech Filters has improved a lot, I see amazig shots taken with Lucroit and filters Hitech. (not really mine, but I am woriking on it . You can see in the links below. click here
What I've heard is IR filter ND 10 Pro Stop gives better results than Lee Big Stopper, you see the dominants in this pic. I think this will clear any doubts.. this pic
Yesterday I talked to some Zeiss guys at a local photography exhibition / trade fair about the removal of the hood / sunshade of the 15mm.
He told me that they are at the final step of the design validation process. At the moment they are testing the modified construction in climatic tests and assume to be ready for production (if nothing fails in these tests) in about 6 weeks.
They don't cut off the hood, instead they have designed a completely new front housing without a hood that can be exchanged against the current one. They plan to offer both, a modification of already sold lenses and selling new modified lenses. He gave no information about the price (although I tried hard).
I also had the chance to briefly test the new 1.4/55mm lens. The construction looked pretty nice and the sample images (prints shot at f/1.4)) they had there were really impressive.
It was interessing to see that this lens had a 77mm filter thread and an apperture ring (Nikon version), while other prototypes of this lens had a 82mm filter thread an no apperture ring.
That is interesting... it seems to me that, other than creating a removable lens hood like all their other lenses, the only thing to do is remove the petals... The Zeiss guy I talked to said the front of the lens has to be a hardened material to have a removable lens hood (the shiny part on all their other lenses).
My 15 should arrive at SKGrimes today, although Adam said they are backlogged by a couple of weeks...
rill wrote:
That is interesting... it seems to me that, other than creating a removable lens hood like all their other lenses, the only thing to do is remove the petals... The Zeiss guy I talked to said the front of the lens has to be a hardened material to have a removable lens hood (the shiny part on all their other lenses).
My 15 should arrive at SKGrimes today, although Adam said they are backlogged by a couple of weeks...
Adam and SK Grimes is pretty much are always backlogged, but they do excellent work. I have used their services on and off for years even from the time that Steve was still alive.
I will be going to Iceland here soon and my wide angle I will be taking is the Zeiss 20 2.8 Flektogon to get some wide shots. I will be there for two weeks. Now I am second guessing myself and wondering if I should rent the Zeiss 15 mm for my full frame 6D. I dont think there is much difference in 15 to 20mm. But I wanted some viewpoints on this difference. Should I or shouldn't I rent the 15 since I have a 20mm. I guess the 15mm could be rented for about 250$ for two weeks. I am just not really sure if it would be worth the rental or not. I would appreciate input.
I have a Zeiss 21mm ZE and it's a great all around landscape lens. Love my 15mm too, but it is so wide that it doesn't lend itself to as many situations as the 21. At least in my experience.
I'm definitely interested in the modded version of the lens as well. I've been looking at the Zeiss 15 for a while, but the lens hood deal has kept me from pulling the trigger. Can't wait to see what they come up with.
Bobu wrote:
I also had the chance to briefly test the new 1.4/55mm lens. The construction looked pretty nice and the sample images (prints shot at f/1.4)) they had there were really impressive.
It was interessing to see that this lens had a 77mm filter thread and an apperture ring (Nikon version), while other prototypes of this lens had a 82mm filter thread an no apperture ring.
Did you get an idea about the approximate weight of this lens?
Looking at all the heavy Zeiss FF lenses of recent years, they centre around the 900-1100 gram range. Start a program of arm curls now, to avoid disappointment. Actually the philoposhy seems to be 'if you want great, you get heavy'. Fair enough.
