Finally and official statement by Zeiss on the 85/4

why bother when you can snag a 90mm Elmarit-M, a stop faster and sharp, for circa $700 on the pre-owned market?

This is about what I paid for my mint 90mm EM, complete box, leather case and all. and it has the slide out hood which is really nifty.
 
joachim said:
But how about the 35mm? There is a Zeiss 2.8 and 2.0 lens. They are extremely close in price.
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I had a different reply, as I was looking at your question incorrectly. That was my fault.

Now, regarding the two versions of the 35mm lens. If you notice the price, they are separated by just 200 euros. So, the buyer decides, speed or money. The difference in price is worth considering for the would-be buyer.

But with the 85mm lens, the difference in price is about 1,800 euros between the f/2.0 Sonnar and the f/4.0 Tele-Tessar. And again, it's speed vs. money (quite a bit of money).

Sure, Zeiss could design an f/2.8 85mm Sonnar to be made in Japan. And certainly, the cost would probably significantly less than the German-made version. Let's say it costs 1,000 euros.

That would seriously cannibalize the sales of the German Sonnar. Who here would buy the f/2.0 Sonnar when you could buy an f/2.8 version and save yourself 1,600 euros? Very few.

It doesn't make good business sense to do this. It's a simple concept to understand.

An f/4.0 85mm Tele-Tessar does make good business sense. You decide if you want a very fast lens for a premium price or a slower lens with a much smaller price tag.

Now, this doesn't mean that in the future, Zeiss halts production of the German-made Sonnar and creates a less-expensive Japanese-made f/2.8 version. Might happen. Might never happen.

In the meantime, there is now a choice in that focal length. Not a bad thing at all.
 
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35mmdelux said:
why bother when you can snag a 90mm Elmarit-M, a stop faster and sharp, for circa $700 on the pre-owned market?

This is about what I paid for my mint 90mm EM, complete box, leather case and all. and it has the slide out hood which is really nifty.
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Not everyone wants Leica glass. Not everyone wants to buy used.
 
it's like the 21, 2.8 or 4.5, for me it was size or speed more than speed or price.
the 21/4.5 is a small jewel and there is no contest, for me, between the 35/2.8 and the 2.

and like zeiss fan says, i don't care for used lenses and i like the renderings of zeiss lenses and i have no need for leica lenses.

i plan to get the new zm 85.
 
I will be very interested to hear how it performs and it should be somewhat smaller than the elmarit M as well as about 150g lighter (which after all is the entire weight of my 21 CV P) so this is not irrelevant. Although the Leica sliding hoods are great, I have not needed hoods on any of my Zeiss glass yet. I have rarely used my Elmarit M and suspect that a 75 would be more useful to me as a replacement for the 50mm FL, which I am not a great fan of. 35mm and 75mm is more my thing I think. Just as I am glad Leica is producing hugely expensive ultra fast ultrawides (which I wont every own) I am glad Zeiss is gradually cornering leica's orginal market of small street type lenses and they are doing so with decent prices. Just looking at some old shots off the ZMs reminds me of how breathtaking those lenses really are ... and how I still want the 21 4.5...and a 0.58MP and... :O
 
At zeiss they could have gone the easy road by turning a G sonnar into a M mount 82mm f2.8 And they would have a fantastic complementary 85mm lens. Very LOGICAL AND EASY
 
Just a personnal guess, I predict that the f4 85mm will sell as well as the Mamiya 7 210mm f8 lens, which was produced to be a light weight small(ish) telephoto for the M7.

Mamiya should have made it a rangefinder coupled f5.6, and Zeiss should have made a f2.8. Will the next lens from be a f4 25mm to go against the new leica 24mm f3.8? Yours in a state of mild confussion.
 
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