Zeiss should make a mechanical body

[leobloom]

I cannot accept ZI because it cannot function without batteries.

But the rest of the ZI sounds really good.

Why don't ZI offer a mechanical equivalent. Like Leica MP, or Bessa M series.

 

[Spyro]

why? is it hard to find batteries where you are?

 

[back alley]

I cannot accept ZI because it cannot function without batteries.

But the rest of the ZI sounds really good.

Why don't ZI offer a mechanical equivalent. Like Leica MP, or Bessa M series.

do you drive a car
own a flashlight
use a cell phone

and maybe a hundred other things that involve stored energy?

 

[Rayt]

I can find batteries anywhere but film is another story. If you can plan ahead and have enough film for a trip then I can't see why you can't have an extra pack of batteries with you. 3v lithiums are very tiny.

 

[Dominum]

old argument is old

 

[tomalophicon]

Bllaaahhhhhh

 

[gavinlg]

I don't understand what is so hard about packing an extra tiny battery or two... they take up like 4mm of space, and the batteries last forever. I bought a Canon 1n 10 months ago and have taken it to Japan, 3 different states in Australia and have used it every week and it's still on the set of batteries that I bought with it, and still showing heaps of power left on the battery check function.

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

As others have said, from Barnacks to R4M, there'd be little market for a ZI without AE made these days...


Cheers,

Juan

 

[rxmd]

Pointless thread, bordering on trolling.
The OP has an M9 and a GXR in his signature, both not exactly battery-independent.

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

I guess the OP is right in one way: the ZI is beautiful, and has a great viewfinder... Maybe some people would have bought a non AE, mechanical version... And his digital cameras use batteries because there are no digital cameras able to work without electricity... I mean, his post was true to his feelings... Thinking it over, a ZI without electronics, for less cost, wouldn't be bad at all... 🙂

Cheers,

Juan

 

[rxmd]

Maybe some people would have bought a non AE, mechanical version... [...] Thinking it over, a ZI without electronics, for less cost, wouldn't be bad at all... 🙂

Being mechanical instead of electronic makes things more expensive, not cheaper.

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

Being mechanical instead of electronic makes things more expensive, not cheaper.

No. That depends on the company... MP and M7 are both $5000... Being Cosina made, and talking about a camera that doesn't exist, who knows... And I was thinking of a mechanical version without batteries as the OP wrote: without any meter... Yet the OP idea has some interest to me (YMMV), but as I said, it wouldn't sell a lot...


Cheers,

Juan

 

[rxmd]

No. That depends on the company... MP and M7 are both $5000...

That example is a bit of an exception, because most other companies haven't been spending the last 50 years building essentially the same camera over and over again, don't have all the tooling lying around, and don't have the trained personnel.

However, it's a fact that electronics in general are cheaper than mechanics. I'd take a bet that the M7 is still cheaper to make than the MP. You just don't see that in the end user price because of marketing decisions.

Zeiss might cannibalize on the existing RxM series by Cosina, but those aren't cheaper than their electronic equivalents either, and there'd still be extra R&D costs for redesigning the RxM into the Zeiss Ikon design; these would have to be tacked onto somewhere. I doubt Zeiss would seriously hope to recoup these by relying on the five people who are very vocal on the Internet about how they can't be bothered to remember taking two spare button cells.

 

[Spyro]

Being mechanical instead of electronic makes things more expensive, not cheaper.

Imagine the e-penis tho 🙂
woohoo my camera is mechanical look at me look at me
just like my gramma's sewing machine

 

[alan davus]

Whilst hiking in New Zealand last summer, my M6ttl which was in a waist bag, went under water for a short while when I got into trouble crossing a flooded creek. The end result, a completely non functioning camera. Cost as quoted to get a new circuit board for the metering system is more than the camera cost new. However I will be able to get the mechanical side repaired and still be able to use it albeit with something like the little CV meter. If it had been a M7 or a Zeiss Ikon (or even worse an M9) fair chance it would be in the bin by now. I've just replaced it with a Bessa R2M. If there had been a manual Ikon, I may had considered it. Not that I expect one ever to be built. I live in hope the Bessa will be a reasonable subsitute for the M6.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Why no mechanical ZI? Lack of demand. A niche of a niche of a niche.

Cheers,

R.

 

[leobloom]

ok ok cut me some slack i just bought one

 

[rxmd]

ok ok cut me some slack i just bought one

excellent idea - you're completely exonerated 😀

Seriously, if anything and you're afraid of ending up without a battery, you can tape a blister with two SR44s on the bottom of the camera, or use something like this battery holder that attaches to the camera strap. We had a dedicated thread once for these things.

 

[tlitody]

I think the electronic shutter would be far more reliable than a mechanical one. Those units have been developed over many many years and have proven reliability. If zeiss had to design a new system with shutter cocking and release it would have cost more to make.
Mind you contax made the S2 as one their last cameras.

 

[ulrich.von.lich]

I actually think it's a good idea. It shouldn't be too costly for Cosina, as every Bessa has a mechanical counterpart.

Comparing to mechanical Bessa's, the viewfinder of the Zeiss is unique in a good way; Comparing to the M7, its Shutter Speed dial turns in the right way (big deal for someone like me who use regularly mechanical Ms); And comparing to the MP, it'd probably be much cheaper.

For some, a mechanical camera doesn't only means the battery independence but also a different user experience. Of course, you can always simulate it by using an AE camera in manual mode, if you don't mind the absence of intermediate shutter speeds and sometimes a wrong shutter dial.