New Zeiss Ikon

M

mfs

Guest
I just contacted Hasselblad U.S.A. to get some availability info, and the marketing person, that I spoke with, had absolutely no idea what I was talking about!!

It seems that Zeiss has not told any U.S. personnel at Hasselblad that they will be the fortunate importers of this new system in the U.S. Perhaps the upper management knows about this, but it has not been disseminated to the actual workers.

I realize that the camera was just officially announced yesterday, but I would have thought that Hasselblad U.S.A. would have been aware of this new product before the Photokina.

The ZeissIkon website seems to indicate that some of the lenses (and the body???) will be available shortly, but that some of the more exotic lenses will be available next year. Also, there was mention of a release of the body in May, 2005. I'm confused about the true availability of both the lenses, and the body.

I hope that the "ZeissIkon" system will be more successful than the Rollei 35 RF which is now available only on special order at B&H. I guess a rebadged RF2 was a hard sell at the high price that Rollei wanted.

Lets hope that the ZeissIkon body, and lenses will not be too pricey.

Stay tuned.

Martin
 
The announcement was that four of the lenses, all made by Cosina, will be available shortly after Photokina. The body is expected to arrive in May '05, they said. Two of the remaining three lenses are to be made in Germany, the third by Cosina,a and I assume these also arrive next May.

I'm pretty interested in that camera AND the lenses, darn it! It will test my resolve that I don't need any more gear... 2.8/21mm Biogon, gee...
 
Feedback from someone who visited the ZI stand at Photokina is that expected RRP is 1500-1800 Euros, but that may change. The RRP of the Bessa R3a is 699 - less than half.

A bessa it is then...

David
 
I'm keen to get one when they arrive here in the UK/EU. I've already placed my name on their website as a potential customer. I'm assuming this body will take the same lenses as my Contax G2, if so that will cut the costs as I share them between the two, else time to dig a little deeper.
 
Ooops, SirAlien; incorrect assumption; plan to dig deeper! The Zeiss Ikon camera has an M-Leica lens mount. Amazingly, it appears that none of the lenses are the same as for the Contax G series, and they don't even come from the same Zeiss lens facility in Japan.

Word is that this Zeiss lens factory in Japan, located in the old Tomioka facility, has now been closed. End of the Japanese-made Contax 35 & MF lenses? Seems so!

Also word that Zeiss has not been completely happy with the way Kyocera has marketed Contax cameras. With no new lenses being made, what is the fate of all Contax cameras?

So now Zeiss-branded lenses will be shortly coming out of the Cosina facilities! Four of the 7 announced lenses will be available soon. Quoting the Zeiss press release:

"Four lenses – 50mm Planar f/2 ZM, 35mm Biogon f/2 ZM, 28mm Biogon f/2.8 ZM and 25mm Biogon f/2.8 ZM – will be available after Photokina 2004. The actual camera will be in stores in early 2005 followed by three additional lenses which will round out the line: Biogon 2.8/21 ZM, Distagon 2.8/15 ZM and Sonnar 2/85 ZM."

Elsewhere they said that the 15mm Distagon and 85mm Sonnar will be made in Germany, while the 21 Biogon will be made by Cosina.

Yet another word is that pricing will be similar to Konica Hexar RF gear. That should be bearable... :)
 
That's a great shame. The G2 is nice camera. To be limited this way by a possible lack of future lenses is sad. I wonder if anyone else will take up the option of building more lenses for it if Zeiss will only be concentrating on this new toy instead?
 
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