Deliveries of ZI have begun (10/28/05)

Huck Finn said:
They're actually being shipped from Sweden. Cosina is the distributor only in Japan; Hasselblad is the distributor for the rest of the world, so if they posted that it means they have been received in Sweden, which is good news.
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Now that's weird. They are trans-shipping the entire production of a Japanese-produced camera to Sweden, and thence from Sweden to everywhere else in the world?

If the entire initial run did go to Oberkochen for QC evaluation, it would make sense... otherwise, it seems like a huge inefficiency.
 
Transport is cheap! I once had a friend who was a truck driver. In the late 80's I accompanied him on interesting tours. One was a nice one week drive through france. We picked up refined casein coming from New Zealand in Bremerhaven, drove that to france and in france we picked up unrefined casein and brought that to Bremerhaven so it coud be shipped to New Zealand :)

With all the export subsidies it was cheaper to export the raw stuff to Oz and buy refined casein from there!
 
jlw said:
Now that's weird. They are trans-shipping the entire production of a Japanese-produced camera to Sweden, and thence from Sweden to everywhere else in the world?

If the entire initial run did go to Oberkochen for QC evaluation, it would make sense... otherwise, it seems like a huge inefficiency.
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For all I know, they could be doing QC in Sweden before it's shipped out . . . although I doubt it. I assume that they are doing that in Japan.

Anyway, nothing weird about it. Hasselblad is the distributor & is doing what distributors do . . . distribute. They control & account for inventory, they handle marketing, they maintain records, they respond to requests to supply product, etc. Cosina was contracted to manufacture the product in partnership with & under the supervision of Carl Zeiss AG, but their agreement only designated Cosina as distributor in Japan, so Cosina must supply the cameras & lenses it was contracted to produce to Zeiss. and Zeiss has requested that they be sent to Hasselblad. Apparently, Zeiss liked Hasselblad's world-wide distribution network better than Cosina's . . . for better or for worse.

Huck
 
Still doesn't make sense

Still doesn't make sense

Socke said:
Transport is cheap! I once had a friend who was a truck driver. In the late 80's I accompanied him on interesting tours.
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What's the price for a barrel of oil back then? :p

Anyway, nothing weird about it. Hasselblad is the distributor & is doing what distributors do . . . distribute.
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That would be the case if Hasselblad has no offices outside Sweden. Why not ship from Japan or Germany to local Hassey branches? :confused:
 
That would be the case if Hasselblad has no offices outside Sweden. Why not ship from Japan or Germany to local Hassey branches?
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That makes sense to you and me, but mayby not to Hasselblad (and/or Zeiss or Cosina). Untill the beginning of this year I was working for a logistical company (one of the few big names in the field) and we handled the logistics for one of the major manufacturers of telecom equipment. It happened more than once that equipment form the plants in China was flown to the Central Distribution Center in Belgium, unloaded, combined with some other stuff and reshipped to Taiwan, Australia,... and even China (admittedly the last was really exceptional). I'm not talking about 1 or 2 small items, but about full truck loads. The logic? Probably some financial interests (customs,...), some organisational interests (the guy managing the supply chain designed the logic and he was responsible for the good results of the system), and probably also to avoid Murphy's laws (complicating the operation increases the risc of something going wrong). Transport was still only a small factor in the total price of the product.

All this just to say that I'm not surprised by the concept of a central distribution center in Sweden.

Wim
 
I received an e-mail this morning from Dr. Joseph Yao (joseph@yao.com) that he is now selling the Zeiss Ikon at a price of $1395 with Zeiss international warranty, administered by Hasselblad. These are not grey market, although whether the local Hasselblad distributor - for example, HasselbladUSA - will service a warranty bought from outside their country or marketplace remains a question for them to answer.

Huck
 
Re: "...selling the Zeiss Ikon at a price of $1395 with Zeiss international warranty, administered by Hasselblad...."

$1395 USD for the new Ikon? :eek:
 
Frank Granovski said:
Re: "...selling the Zeiss Ikon at a price of $1395 with Zeiss international warranty, administered by Hasselblad...."

$1395 USD for the new Ikon? :eek:
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Yes, Frank, USD . . . & grey market prices will undoubtedly be lower than that.

Huck
 
I think Mazurka nailed it on the head. THe Ikon will be competing with used Leica gear, at least till they get a track record. I'm saving up for the digital version, if it ever comes.
 
isn't that the whole point? as they say, leica's biggest competitor has been its own used bodies.
 
It's hard to believe, I know, but it's possible that some people might actually prefer a Carl Zeiss camera over a Leica. Myself, I'm very impressed with the quality of construction of a Leica IIIf, but when it comes to picking the camera to take with me, it's almost always a Contax IIa.

I'm also not a fan of the word "minty," especially as how it's applied deceptively to eBay gear.
 
I wonder if B&H will be offering a gray market version. They usually do will a lot of their photo gear; which is a good thing for cheap bast_rds like me. :cool:
 
Frank Granovski said:
I wonder if B&H will be offering a gray market version. They usually do will a lot of their photo gear; which is a good thing for cheap bast_rds like me. :cool:
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I don't know either, Frank, but CameraQuest & Popflash both will. And both are reputable dealers.

Huck
 
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