Fast Lenses on R-D1

Yeah, Zeiss, of course. I hope it's up the their QC.

Years ago I had a not-so-bright roomate who asked me whether I had seen his "grey plastic dish."

"What grey plastic dish, Dick?" I replied.

"You know. The one I cook in and eat out of."

He searched our kitchen and a few minutes later came out with a small disposable aluminum pie pan. "This is what I was talking about."

"But that's aluminum, Dick, not grey plastic."

"Aluminum, plastic, what's the difference," was the reply.
 
I've thought about including some old Canon RF lenses as well (since I like them so much). I'd want to get my hands on a 35/1.5 (preferably) or 35/1.8 and one of the fast Canon 50s. Maybe KevinCameras would do a loan.

Cheers,

Sean
 
I have just got back from the "Focus on Imaging" exhibition near Birmingham in the U.K. where one of the things I wanted to do was check out some of the Zeiss Ikon M mount lenses that Sean now hopes to include in his review of fast lenses for use on the R-D1. Despite having a large and well logoed part of the Hasselblad stand it turned out to be a fairly futile experience.

I think they had pretty much the whole of the present proposed M lens range from 15mm to 85mm but they were all in a glass display cabinet and when I asked to try some of them on my R-D1 the demonstrater wouldn not let me, claiming they were not "finalised" lenses. He was even reluctant to let me handle them at first but finally agreed to let me hold the 21mm f/2.8 and the 25mm f/2.8 the lenses that I am most interested in, but I was not allowed to fit them to my camera. Construction of these "not finalised" examples looked and felt pretty good with good positive aperture rings and a fairly good finish, especially the chrome. Smoothness of the focusing ring (while not attached to a camera) seem better than the VC lenses but not quite as good as my Leica cron's.

Despite the U.K. Price list saying that the 25mm & 35mm lenses were in the U.K from last November I was told that it would be at least a month now before any of range would be available in the U.K.

U.K. list prices are high and Hasselblad stuff doesn't usually see a significantly lower "street price" here.

21mm £875, 25mm £775, 35mm £699, 50mm £552, 85mm £1575 and the 15mm a mind blowing 😱 (at least to me) £2543 (Hologon priceing). Wow! the 15mm VC at £264 including viewfinder even at an f stop less seems an even bigger bargain now. 😀

These prices do not include the viewfinders which are £282 each and lens hoods at £56 each. Multiply all these prices by about 1.85x to get them in U.S. dollars but I expect as usual U.S. prices will be lower even with the weak dollar. At these U.K. prices a mint secondhand Leica 21mm or 25mm Asph including viewfinder (for 35mm not R-D1 use) will be a little cheaper so I look forward even more keenly to Sean's comparative review. Hope you at least get the finalised versions soon Sean!
 
Jim Watts said:
U.K. list prices are high and Hasselblad stuff doesn't usually see a significantly lower "street price" here.

21mm £875, 25mm £775, 35mm £699, 50mm £552, 85mm £1575 and the 15mm a mind blowing 😱 (at least to me) £2543 (Hologon priceing).
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Classic Connection shows the following US prices: 21mm $1307, 25mm $1152, 35mm $1042, 50mm $824, 85mm $2759, and 15mm $3796. All of these (except the 85mm) are between 75%-80% of their UK prices. Considering that, for example, Canon L lenses often go for £ = $ on pricing, Zeiss's pricing is actually not as bad as it could be in the UK. 😀

Still, once you add in the prices for the hoods (!) and the ready availability of second-hand Leica lenses, the Zeiss prices definitely seem awfully close. It'll be interesting to see how Sean's tests shake out!
 
Jim Watts said:
At these U.K. prices a mint secondhand Leica 21mm or 25mm Asph including viewfinder (for 35mm not R-D1 use) will be a little cheaper so I look forward even more keenly to Sean's comparative review. Hope you at least get the finalised versions soon Sean!
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Jim, thanks for the report. I think that many of us are looking forward to Sean's report. 🙂

At the USA prices quoted by DaShiv, the Zeiss lenses, new & warranteed, will still be considerably cheaper than prices that the aspherical versions of the Leica 21 & 24 have been commanding in recent ebay sales - with the caveat that few of these show up on ebay, so recent sales may not rule out still being able to get a good buy occasionally. Recent sales of the older, non-aspheric 21 have been similar to the Zeiss price.

None of this can be good news for Leica - in the midst of its recent financial woes. Whether the consumer opts for a new Zeiss or a used Leica, that's a "no sale" for Leica, Inc. 🙁

The wacky world of camera equipment pricing continues unabated. USA prices are cheaper than UK prices, while Japanese prices are cheaper than USA prices. 😕 Jim are the UK prices before or after VAT?
 
Peter,
The prices I quoted include U.K. VAT at 17.5%.
I have seen a dealer advertised 21mm Asph ex. Demo here for £1,100 and a mint S/H 24mm Asph at £950. New prices here are £1,700 and £1,400 but you are right that you don't see many on the second hand market.

Certainly the 'politics' of international camera pricing seem very strange even allowing for different taxation levels. It seems to be what the market will bear and the U.K. comes out pretty badly. We must be too willing to part with our money 😎 ? I have just heard that a friend has purchased an R-D1 in Hong Kong for £900 🙂 him 😡 me. I could have had a shooting trip there, picked one up and still seen change from £2K.
 
Jim Watts said:
I have just heard that a friend has purchased an R-D1 in Hong Kong for £900 🙂 him 😡 me. I could have had a shooting trip there, picked one up and still seen change from £2K.
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Is your friend willing to tell exactly where he bought the RD1 in Hongkong?
900 GBP is less than 1335 euros, and that makes the HongKong price only 45% of the price here in Holland.
I'm mightily tempted to book a flight to HongKong for a few hundred euros and buy the damn thing! 😱
 
RML said:
Is your friend willing to tell exactly where he bought the RD1 in Hongkong?
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I have only heard this via another mutual friend and perhaps he is trying to wind-me-up 😉 but as soon as I can contact my friend direct I'll report back.
 
Jim Watts said:
I have only heard this via another mutual friend and perhaps he is trying to wind-me-up 😉 but as soon as I can contact my friend direct I'll report back.
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Please do, Jim.
I seem to be able to get a 6-day trip (including 3* hotel) for 770 euros. With taxes, single-room surcharge, and some other cr*p that'll still be less than 1000 euros, making the RD1 still cheaper to buy in HongKong than here in the shop.

2350 euros and a 6 day trip to HongKong, or 3000 euros and a bus ride to the shop.... Hmmm... decisions, decisions. 😛
 
RML,

I have e-mailed my friend asking if the price quoted was correct and asking if he would mind telling me where in Hong Kong he got his R-D1. I have also pointed him to this forum, so we may gain another member? I will pass on any info as soon as I get a reply.
 
RML said:
2350 euros and a 6 day trip to HongKong, or 3000 euros and a bus ride to the shop.... Hmmm... decisions, decisions. 😛
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3000 euros in Holland? Thats £2058 at todays exchange rate. £59 more than in London. You might (just) be able to get a cheap flight here for that if you want a day out. 😉
 
Hmmm. More decisions....

What'll I choose?
2350 euros and a 6 day trip to HongKong, or
3000 euros and a bus ride to the shop, or
2058 pounds and a daytrip to London?

HongKong still sounds rather tempting! 😛
 
Leica lenses arrived yesterday. V-C lenses due today, Zeiss lenses due late this week.

The journey begins...
 
Wow you're in lens heaven! How long do you usualy take to conduct your tests? From what I can gather you have a very large selection!
 
Jeroen said:
Please *do* inform where you found this amazing offer!
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Jeroen, here is a Dutch-Chinese organisation, the Vereniging Nederland-China. They have a website: www.vnc.nl . They have a 6-day trip to HongKong for 770 euro (exclusing taxes and such, of course).

Are you planning to go? If so, would you be willing to bring me an R-D1? Please, please, pretty please? (I'm assuming here you live in Holland, considering your name 🙂 )
 
vincenzo said:
Wow you're in lens heaven! How long do you usualy take to conduct your tests? From what I can gather you have a very large selection!
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I am indeed entering lens heaven. All these CV lenses just arrived as well. And now for the new Zeiss lenses <huge grin>. As far as time, it takes weeks to do the tests because A) There's a lot of work to do B) I have to juggle around other professional responsibilities that pay better and put food on the table.

Cheers,

Sean
 
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