Want to start a flame war?

[Huck Finn]

I laughed my a** off when I read this one on the B&H website. Try posting it on your favorite Leica forum & see what happens: 😱 😀

(Re the Zeis Ikon) "Because it features an M-mount, you can use existing Leica or Voigtlander M-mount lenses, or upgrade to Carl Zeiss lenses over time." 😛

Sometimes Zeiss marketing goes over the top these days. 🙄

 

[MP Guy]

O dont know about going over the top. After all, Zeiss does make a lens for Leica which gets rebranded with Leica 🙂

 

[aizan]

they do? pray tell!

 

[Doug]

I believe that wording is right out of the Zeiss press release!

 

[phototone]

they do? pray tell!

Well, that would be the 15mm Biogon, I think, a fixed f8 aperture ultra wide angle that was sold by Leica for the M system in the 70's, I think. (not real sure about the time frame).

 

[jlw]

(Re the Zeis Ikon) "Because it features an M-mount, you can use existing Leica or Voigtlander M-mount lenses, or upgrade to Carl Zeiss lenses over time."

I don't think it's so over-the-top.

If your existing Leica lens is one of the early 1950s models, the current Carl Zeiss lenses almost certainly would be an upgrade.

Among current examples, from what little I've seen in the way of sample photos, I suspect that a comparison probably would come down more to what type of imaging you prefer than a simple win/lose judgement.

 

[former member]

I'm still dissappointed that they did not stick to the original Contax mount. Talk about caving in. I guess that they had to say something like that to save face. How would it have sounded if they announced:
"Zeiss is abandoning those loyal few who have stayed the course with the mount that made Contax famous and is adopting the Leica M-Mount. It's just better. Sorry all you finger-focussers." Now what will I use the right-hand middle finger for!

 

[Huck Finn]

Brian, it this lens line sells well, I wonder if they might do at least a limited release in the original Contax mount. Given that Cosina is the OEM & that they already have the tooling for the Contax mount, it would be pretty easy for them to do it.

 

[kbg32]

I worked at Camera Barn in New York for a few years, late 70s - early 80s, and to my knowledge, and I have handled a couple of them, Leica never did "rebrand" the Zeiss Hologon made in M mount with their name.

Cheers.

 

[jan normandale]

Just a thought but could it be as simple as a lens manufacturer deciding to make money by making a lens that fits an awfully large base of cameras floating around the world. Like maybe Leica?

Sounds like business that's all. Everyone knows that Leica is the best, right? And it's the most affordable right?

So maybe the second best is going to sell lenses at a price point that cost a little less and would satisfy a lot of Leica camera owners. How many you might ask. My guess .... over a gazillion.

Check the math. Thats probably what Zeiss did.

Jan

 

[phototone]

Zeiss Hologon in M mount.

Zeiss Hologon in M mount.

I worked at Camera Barn in New York for a few years, late 70s - early 80s, and to my knowledge, and I have handled a couple of them, Leica never did "rebrand" the Zeiss Hologon made in M mount with their name.

Cheers.

OK, but at that time the M mount was still in patent protection, so wasn't Leitz the sole distributor of the lens in M mount?

Was that lens available in ANY other mount? There were zero other options in the West for high quality readily available interchangeable lens focal plane shutter RFDR cameras at that time, if I recall, since the Contax had been discontinued years ago,
and the Russian RFDR cameras were not widely available, at least in the USA and had a bad reputation for quality control.

Of course Leica also sold a Super Angulon (from Schneider) at this time. 21mm.

 

[kbg32]

http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/speciallenses/contax_hologon.htm

From the above link:

"The lens optical formulation of Hologon was designed by a German, Dr Erhard Glatzel. And it remains as a master piece of optical design. Zeiss produced one which was approved by Leitz for sale with the Leica -M rangefinder cameras around 1972-1976 (Believe me, you might make a fortune if you still have one in your disgarded store room or wherever..), the Zeiss Hologon 15mm f8 - is one of the most sourced after lens of Leica by collectors worldwide. The original Zeiss design for Leica was consisted only THREE complex elements."

The above should clear up any confusion.

 

[kbg32]

Here's more.

http://www.zeisshistorica.org/Glatzel.html

"Dr. Glatzel developed an incredible new lens in the late 1960s. This new lens enabled extreme wide angle pictures in a 15mm lens with a 110° field of view with virtually no distortion in the picture. This allowed near panoramic picture in a normal sized camera. A special Contarex camera was designed to accommodate this lens. The camera shared the name "Hologon" with the camera.


When Zeiss Ikon went out of business in 1972, the Leitz approached Carl Zeiss to purchase the remaining stock of Hologon lenses for use on their Leica M series of cameras. Several hundred of these lenses were so adapted.


Both the Leica and Zeiss Hologon are prized items today and worth several times the purchase price in the 1970s."