Within the last month I owned two new Zeiss Ikon RF cameras and two new 50mm f/2 ZM Planar lenses. One black body and lens and one silver body and lens. Both sets were returned for a full refund as they were, in my opinion, not meant for taking pictures but meant for body jewelry. Just a comment or two for reference. The film advance in both cameras felt like a meat grinder, or should I say a cheap Ricoh SLR camera. I know because I own a cheap Ricoh SLR camera and for a $120 camera and lens I accept that. The so called quality ZM lenses are a total farce. When holding the cameras in the horizontal plane both lenses focused smoothly. However when holding the cameras in the vertical plane both lenses exhibited a rough uneven focus feel similar to unscrewing a cap on a jar of mayonnaise. More so with the shutter release towards the ground. I think because the lens barrel is overly heavy, attempting to give a quality feeling with weight rather than a good ergonomic feel. The overly coated optics are too contrasty to say the least. Lens flare was not a problem without a hood but so what. Using a lens without a hood is asking for crappy pictures anyway. What was troubling was taking pictures under high contrast situations. Empty shadows with blowout highlights. Hey, let's go digital.
Oh yeah, and that big bad bright viewfinder. I guess that's OK if your eyes are shot (bad) but if you have normal vision it's a big bad drag. In reality the big bad viewfinder takes longer to view the entire scene because one has to scan the scene within the framelines while being distracted with all the useless space outside the frame. Oh yeah, one really gets hung-up eyeballing the big bad window while forgetting to snap the shutter... cool eye-candy though. Bigger and brighter is not better.
I won't go into the meter or the rest of the minutia. It's just... oh so boring.
My rating... a total zero for $2000. Use a Leica kit or a Konica Auto S2.
Best,
George
Packing my bags and moving to Vancouver... maybe.
