Carl Zeiss Camera Lens News Letter

jmarcus said:
Every time I get this letter, I hope that there is going to be a new M Lens. Is Zeiss ever going to introduce new or update its M lenses?

James
Click to expand...

Dear James,

Doubt it. At least, not for a while, because the SLR lenses are apparently selling a lot better. I'd not bet on more than one new ZM lens at photokina, if that, in a time of economic doom and gloom.

What had you in mind for 'updates'? I mean, what sort of improvements are you looking for, in which lenses?

Cheers,

R.
 
@Roger. I know its probably a long shot but I would love to see a 50mm f/1.4 and a 35mm f/1.4. I guess I'm just jealous to see all the SLR lenses released or written about, but not so much on the ZM lenses. The 35mm f/1.4 poll got my hopes up for a fast 35mm from Zeiss.
 
I think Zeiss's reluctance to put much R & D into new M mount lenses is mirrored by their disinterest in ever creating their own digital M mount platform. Something they've stated on numerous occasions they're not intending to do.
 
jmarcus said:
@Roger. I know its probably a long shot but I would love to see a 50mm f/1.4 and a 35mm f/1.4. I guess I'm just jealous to see all the SLR lenses released or written about, but not so much on the ZM lenses. The 35mm f/1.4 poll got my hopes up for a fast 35mm from Zeiss.
Click to expand...

Why would Cosina Voigtlander compete against their own 35/1.4, 35/1.2, and 50/1.1 offerings ? And what's wrong with those lenses, anyways ?
 
@ferider According to your logic why would Cosina Voigtlander build any lenses for Zeiss? It was my understanding that the coatings on the Zeiss lenses were superior to the ones on the Voigtlander lenses, I don't really know. I do know that I find my Zeiss 35 f/2 to be my most used and best lens. But I'm left wanting a 1.4 for both focal lengths from Zeiss.
 
Roger Hicks said:
............................... Doubt it. At least, not for a while, because the SLR lenses are apparently selling a lot better. I'd not bet on more than one new ZM lens at photokina, if that, in a time of economic doom and gloom.
What had you in mind for 'updates'? I mean, what sort of improvements are you looking for, in which lenses? ...........................
Click to expand...

I spoke with Zeiss USA yesterday about availability of M mount lenses (none available for sale). They told me that M mount lenses seemed to be the lowest priority of the mother ship because they could immediately sell everything they could make in Nikon and Canon mount to the DSLR folks in Japan and China.

As for "upgrades", Roger is right. Optical design does not progress like electronic design. There is no such thing as "Moores law" in optics. Zeiss in not releasing a 35mm f1.4 or 50mm f1.4 this year for the same reasons they did not release one 5 years ago. That is that competition, lens size, optical performance, manufacturing costs would result in a selling price and thus limited sales volume that they could not make a profit. While we all would like new lenses that were faster, no bigger, optically as good, and cost no more; it just is not realistic.
 
The Biogon 35mm design is already "pushed" down to 2.0 from the original 2.8. A 50mm Planar 1.4 would probably be more likely, it does exist in other mounts. I would be interested.
 
Apart from the 85/2.8, or maybe a cheaper made in Japan version of the 85/2, I think the ZM line up is perfect. I understand that we all would like to have larger apertures, but imho the focus shift that affects such lenses somewhat defeats the purpose.
 
We have two 35/1.4 in production now, one from Voigtlander and the other Leica, the later being about 10 times as expensive as the former. There is a gap to be filled here, and a $2000 ZM version would be just perfect!
 
85/2, to Zeiss' optical demands, will never be brought back. However, it sure would be nice to have *something* a bit faster than F4. I'd probably buy that.....
 
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