Category: Product News

New Zeiss lenses announced: ZF (Nikon F mount) and ZS (M42 mount)

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Zeiss announced their new range of ZF lenses a day early in issue 23/Jan 2006 of Camera Lens News.

Highlights:

  • As previously hinted, they will indeed be in Nikon F mounts. They will all be primes.
  • Announced are a 50mm Planar T* (7 elements in 6 groups) and an 85mm T* Planar (6 elements in 5 groups). Both are f/1.4 – f/16, click-stopped in half-stop increments. There’s a technical data sheet here. They’re expected to be available in early summer 2006.
  • They will have "round" irises but the number of blades wasn’t mentioned.
  • As a surprise, the same lenses will be issued in parallel as the ZS range with identical optics but with M42 mounts, with the idea that they be used with adpater rings, which will make this range useable on, among other systems, Canon EOS and FD bodies as well. I didn’t see any mention about whether the lenses will be shorter to compensate for the thickness of the adapter ring or not, so infinity focussing ability for the ZS range is currently unknown [to me].
  • The lenses will be made by Cosina.
  • Zeiss will be setting up a new distribution network to replace? in addition to? their normal distributors. Details will be announced at www.zeiss.com/photo

There’s also a Q&A about the range with Dr. Winfried Scherle, VP & General Manager, Camera Lens Division and Kornelius Mueller, Marketing Manager of Zeiss.

Polaroid to discontinue 85 pos/neg film, 55 unaffected

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The 85 product info page at Polaroid says:

"Please be advised that Polaroid will be discontinuing 85 film within the first 3 months of 2006 due to the phasing out of components used in the production of this film.

"The discontinuation of 85 does not impact the supply or manufacture of 55 film, an alternative to 85. For information on 55 film and the equipment needed to use it, please click here."

(85 and 55 are unique peel-apart instant films in that you can get either a positive or a negative whereas other instant films only give you positives. 85 is a medium format version, perfect for use in the Holgaroid Polaroid film back for Holgas; 55 is 4×5.)

Unconfirmed rumor: Hasselblad discontinue XPan II panoramic rangefinder

Nicolai Grossman 1 Comment

According to this post on photo.net, Hasselblad have discontinued the XPan II and have limited stock on hand. I will call Hasselblad on Monday, 16 January 2006 and attempt to confirm with them directly.

While I think it’s a damn shame, I’m not surprised, either. While I haven’t used the XPan II, I have and love the original. It’s built like a brick shithouse, the controls are perfectly laid out for me (except the panoramic/normal 24×36 selecter, which is a pain, but it should be considering what it does), has modern film loading, winds the entire roll out when it loads and rewinds exposed film into the cartridge (why the hell doesn’t every camera do this? If the back opens, I’d much rather lose blank film rather than frames I’ve already shot!), and has the best in-camera meter I’ve ever used.

But! The lenses, the lenses! Only three, slow, expensive lenses (the 30mm weighs in at a hefty US $3000). (30mm f/5.6 (slower with the required center filter), 45mm f/4, and 90mm f/4.) By Leica (yes, I’m going there) standards, the 45 and 90 are reasonably priced at $594 and $730, respectively (pricing from B&H). It seems that Hasselblad missed an opportunity to take a bite out of Leica’s ass with this system. I’m its perfect target market: I shoot film, dig manual focus rangefinders, want aperture priority AE, and belive that if I’m going to spend that kind of money, I should get post stone-age film loading and a shutter with accuracy of greater than 1/3 stop and would have happily bought faster lenses were they available. I think there are more of us out there.

And while I’m perfectly willing to push film to 128000, f/4 is still slow. Even putting aside the obscene price of the 30mm, the required center filter brings it down to almost f/11. I don’t think Hasselblad considered the possibility that anyone would want to use the camera indoors, which is a shame. Until I got into the Contax G2 system (which I love but wouldn’t have done had I had faster lenses to choose from!), it was my take-everywhere, joined-at-the-hip, disappeared-in-my-hands camera, and I loved it. Except the low light thing. (Well then why the hell did I get into the system in the first place? I inherited it.)

Anyway, I’m sad to see it go. It’s a great camera. Almost everyone I know who’s actually spent some time with one loves it. Bye bye, XPan!

Nikon discontinue manufacture of most film equipment

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According to this press release from Nikon UK, Nikon are discontinuing production of most film equipment, including their range of large format lenses.

The flagship pro SLR F6 and the manual SLR FM10 stay, as well as the following manual lenses:

Nikkor 20mm f/2.8
Nikkor 24mm f/2.8
Nikkor 28mm f/2.8
Nikkor 35mm f/1.4
Nikkor 50mm f/1.2
Nikkor 50mm f/1.4
Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/2.8
Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8
PC Micro-Nikkor 85mm f/2.8D

Everything else is gone in favor of digital.

I wonder if Zeiss knew about this as they appear to be launching a range of Nikon F-mount lenses (see previous post). I suppose the implications could go either way for Zeiss… there are an awful lot of Nikon bodies out there.

Read the press release at Nikon UK

Adobe Lightroom: Adobe’s answer to Aperture, free public beta for MacOS X

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Today Adobe announced Lightroom, their answer to Apple’s Aperture, a soup-to-nuts RAW workflow program (keywording & metadata, cataloging, RAW conversion, and presentation). Looks like it’ll work with TIFFs and JPGs as well, which will make it dead useful for film photographers who scan their work and need a better way to manage it.

From the Lightroom Page:

"Lightroom Beta lets you view, zoom in, and compare photographs quickly and easily. Precise, photography-specific adjustments allow you to fine tune your images while maintaining the highest level of image quality from capture through output. And best of all, it runs on most commonly used computers, even notebook computers used on location. Initially available as a beta for Macintosh, Lightroom will later support both the Windows and Macintosh platforms."

You can download a free public beta (build 1) for MacOS X 10.4 (Tiger) from Adobe Labs.

Michael Reichmann has written a First Look and Primer on Luminous Landscape. You can also read the PDF press release from Adobe UK and the FAQ (via PhotographyBLOG, who have copied the FAQ out of the not-directly-linkable version on Adobe’s site).

I’m about to give it a go. I’ve been demoing every media manager I can get my hands on and haven’t found anything I like so far. I really hope that Adobe have nailed this one.

Another quasi-update on the new Zeiss lenses

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Zeiss’ Camera/Cine Lenses page says that they’re releasing new lenses for SLRs (see previous posts 1 and 2). After a few hints over the last few weeks, it now says, "The solution will be revealed on 01/18/06. Until then, you will find out a little more each week from our images.".

So far, they’ve said "ZF", so they’re likely in Nikon F mount, and there’s now a picture of a lens labeled "Planar 1.4/50".

Quasi-update: Zeiss lenses in new SLR mounts? Lookin’ like Nikon!

Nicolai Grossman 2 Comments

Zeiss promised “More” today about the “Millions of SLR Photographers Will Soon Discover a New Dimension in Photography” hint on their Camera/Cine Lenses page (see previous post). Teases that they are, all they’ve done is say “Carl Zeiss Presents ZF!” and cover the previous message with a “Top Secret” folder. Which is to say that they’ve told us a lot: it’s likely a line of Zeiss lenses with Nikon F mounts. Yay for Nikon shooters!

More info is promised for Wednesday, 28 December 2005.

Zeiss lenses in new SLR mounts?

Nicolai Grossman 1 Comment

The main Zeiss Camera/Cine Lenses page has an image that says “Millions of SLR Photographers Will Soon Discover a New Dimension in Photography”. Innnnteresting!

Is the excellent Zeiss 45mm for Contax G too much to hope for in an EF mount with FTM (Full-Time Manual focus)? (Both of Canon’s 50mm offerings exhibit severe barrel distortion are are useless for me in full frame.) While they’re at it, adapt the Contax G 28mm Biogon for use as a normal lens on APS-C digital sensors.

The Zeiss page says that more info will be available tomorrow, 21 December 2005.