What's coming on Dec 21?

Wouldn't it be fun if Zeiss introduced a partnered (Cosina?) SLR with F mount to go with the new lenses? (Pure fantasy on my part -- haven't seen this rumoured)

Gene
 
I don't know how soon Contax will return....

Unfortunately as we all know, film bodies are not the most profitable thing to invest in these days, Contax or not.

They would probablly have to develop the whole line, because from what I've read, basically everything but the lenses, and even then..was developed buy Kyocera.

As such, they would have to recoup the costs, or sell at a loss of the development costs. These days, there's just not enough pure film demand. Partnering with Nikon is an excellent move. (or at least providing lenses for F-mount)

Eventually somebody will come out with a full frame sensor line, or at least a very good sensor line that is independant of Canon, Nikon, etc. When that happens, and it could be relatively soon, I think we will see Contax reborn not long after.

It's also possible that Kyocera has decided to clutch their knuckles onto the remaining years of their contract, simply out of spite. It's certainly not the honorable thing to do, but as we know many companies in this world do not function on principles of honor. Zeiss would have no choice in that case, and would simply have to bite the bullet and find another way. Which brings me back to why they won't be bringing out a new Contax until they can sell digi digi digi.
 
Hrmf. Looks like I'll need to get a F-EOS adaptor when I buy that EOS-5 body I'm planning on getting sometime.

William
 
GeneW said:
Perfect timing on my acquisition of a Nikon F3 HP ...

Gene
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To that point you may want to check out eBay. Last night there were a number of F3's at very reasonable BINs (under $200 for at least two of them) being offered by a well-known and reputable e-tailer. Looked like he was "clearing out" a lot of Nikon inventory.

Won't mention who seller is here but send PM if you want that info.

I was tempted myself to get one as a "spare" but fought off the GAS pains. :D
 
copake_ham said:
To that point you may want to check out eBay. Last night there were a number of F3's at very reasonable BINs (under $200 for at least two of them) being offered by a well-known and reputable e-tailer. Looked like he was "clearing out" a lot of Nikon inventory.

Won't mention who seller is here but send PM if you want that info.

I was tempted myself to get one as a "spare" but fought off the GAS pains. :D
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Thanks, but my F3HP arrived last week and, for now, I'll be content with one body. Gotta save some GAS for 2006 :D

Gene
 
I still have my tried-and-true F2A plus my FE from 1980. I replaced light seals on both last year, and aside from that, they're in great shape.

Regarding the EOS mount, I don't know what licensing is involved, and it seems that the problems people experience with third party lenses and the need to re-chip, etc., make it not worth the bother.

A Pentax K mount also would be a simple thing to do. Pure manual mount with none of electronic connections to confound things.

I suppose that once the agreement with Kyocera expires, perhaps we'll see another Contax camera, but whether it continues with the mount is unknown. I would think it could be a legal issue and not a mechanical one.

Edit: After giving this some more thought, I would like to say that I suppose you could do a manual-focus EOS mount. That might confuse some Canon users, who expect all lenses to be autofocus. Does Canon make any manual focus-only lenses?
 
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Well, it will be Wednesday in Germany in less than 5 hours.
There was some speculation on DP review that Zeiss might have some new lenses for Nikons. Could this be payback time?
It wouldn't surprise me if Cosina was making Zeiss branded lenses in Nikon F mount. I wonder when the patent expires for Nikon's F mount? :confused:

R.J.
 
Cosina makes AI-S compatible lenses for some time now. Some pretty intersting stuff under the Voigtlaender brand like the 40/2 pancake, probably a Tessar design.

I think Zeiss doesn't want their lenses to be mounted on a FF Canon natively. As we could see from their statements about a digital ZI rangefinder they don't think digital is good enough for their lenses, yet. So they probably don't want a lens showing issues with a Canon 5D or Canon 1Ds body and choose a mount where , nearly, no 24x36 sensor is available.
I'm waiting for reports from Kodak DCS Pro 14/n users, I know one who'll jump on a 85 Planar to mount on his Kodak :)
 
Socke said:
Cosina makes AI-S compatible lenses for some time now. Some pretty intersting stuff under the Voigtlaender brand like the 40/2 pancake, probably a Tessar design.

I think Zeiss doesn't want their lenses to be mounted on a FF Canon natively. As we could see from their statements about a digital ZI rangefinder they don't think digital is good enough for their lenses, yet. So they probably don't want a lens showing issues with a Canon 5D or Canon 1Ds body and choose a mount where , nearly, no 24x36 sensor is available.
I'm waiting for reports from Kodak DCS Pro 14/n users, I know one who'll jump on a 85 Planar to mount on his Kodak :)
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Volker,

Before Cosina started making cameras with the Voigtlander name, wasn't the Voigtlander name used on key rings and other small products in Germany? I'm thinking that this was probably 10 or 15 years ago?

R.J.
 
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RJBender said:
Volker,

Before Cosina started making cameras with the Voigtlander name, wasn't the Voigtlander name used on key rings and other small products in Germany? I'm thinking that this was probably 10 or 15 years ago?

R.J.
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Possible, the history of Voigtlaender is a long one.

As far as I know the name belongs to the german "Ring Foto" which is a group of photo dealers.
 
Volker,

Have you ever tried Voigtländer film?

B0000D81QC.03.LZZZZZZZ.jpg


R.J.
 
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Probably :)
but under a different brand:
foto_universal.jpg


and Porst, which belongs to Ringfoto, offers the same stuff as Color X.
I think they are both Ferania Solaris.

BTW, Photo Porst and the german voigtlaender page are on the same IP address.
 
Remember the Contarex

Remember the Contarex

It had interchangeable film magazine backs. Maybe Zeiss is thinking of a twofer, as
with the Leica R...
 
Well, I don't see this as too surprising (using hindsight of course). Zeiss is no longer selling as many camera lenses as they used to. Contax is dead, and Hasselblad has gone to Fuji, and Rollei is a shadow of its former self, which was not that formidable in the first place. They needed to reestablish themselves in the pro / expensive enthusiast lens category, and so they are doing it with the Ikon and with aftermarket lenses for a major manufacturer. Since they are not competing with themselves (they have no native SLR/lens system in 35mm or MF now that contax is gone), it makes perfect sense for them to try to piggyback on another system's lens mount. They are selling M mount lenses (and a body) for the simple reason that they don't need to create a market. They can just undercut Leica prices with lenses that are approximately equal in quality and expect to sell a lot of lenses. With Nikon, it is a slightly different model, but still very similar. They can sell lenses that will be perceived as better than Nikon for a higher price and try to take the top of the market away from Nikon. Competition's a bitch. It is the good/bad of sticking with the old lens mounts: on the one hand you make the customers happy because they can use their old lenses, but on the other you open yourself up to competition when the patents expire...
 
StuartR said:
Well, I don't see this as too surprising (using hindsight of course). Zeiss is no longer selling as many camera lenses as they used to. Contax is dead, and Hasselblad has gone to Fuji, and Rollei is a shadow of its former self, which was not that formidable in the first place. They needed to reestablish themselves in the pro / expensive enthusiast lens category, and so they are doing it with the Ikon and with aftermarket lenses for a major manufacturer. Since they are not competing with themselves (they have no native SLR/lens system in 35mm or MF now that contax is gone), it makes perfect sense for them to try to piggyback on another system's lens mount. They are selling M mount lenses (and a body) for the simple reason that they don't need to create a market. They can just undercut Leica prices with lenses that are approximately equal in quality and expect to sell a lot of lenses. With Nikon, it is a slightly different model, but still very similar. They can sell lenses that will be perceived as better than Nikon for a higher price and try to take the top of the market away from Nikon. Competition's a bitch. It is the good/bad of sticking with the old lens mounts: on the one hand you make the customers happy because they can use their old lenses, but on the other you open yourself up to competition when the patents expire...
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Further, you may recall that in announcing the new Nikon D-200 they made it fully backwardly compatible to ALL prior Nikkor lenses. Thus Zeiss suddenly has an "entry" in the DSLR prosumer market!
 
well, as a D70 owner, I can safely say that if the Zeiss lenses are remotely affordable, they will be very welcome in my camera bag.. I've stopped using my Nikon gear mostly because the Nikkor glass generally sucks compared to most RF gear.. and to my knowledge there isn't an adapter for the Nikon mount like there is for the EOS system

once I see the prices I'll decide if I'll be keeping my Nikon DSLR after all
 
You may be in for an ugly surprise, I think they'll make non-CPU AI-S lenses which won't be of much use on anything below a D2h, D2x or D200 and the older or current high end film bodies.
 
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