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What happened to the “surprise” Zeiss ZM Lens


wlaidlaw

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The two Loxia lenses have already been presented and below is the Otus 85/1.4.

 

But the one on the right is probably an M-mount lens and not a small one, maybe it is the 35mm f/1.4 that was rumored for some time. It will turn out in a few days anyway...

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From the Zeiss Blog:

 

What about the new ZM lens that was announced in 2012?

Will it be there finally? I need something to feed my Leica M (240)!

 

------------------------oooooooooo------------------------

ZEISS Camera Lenses

Post author 1. September 2014 at 11:10

We are sorry not to be able to provide you with any news at the moment, please have some more patience. We will give you an update as soon as possible.

Best regards

ZEISS Lenses Team

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maybe it is the 35mm f/1.4 that was rumored for some time. It will turn out in a few days anyway...

 

There are already too many good 35mm lenses for M mount, and unless it utterly bashes the 35 FLE (which is unlikely), or it is a f/1 lens, I won't buy.

 

There is already a relatively cheap alternative to the Leica lens, and this is the Nokton 35/1.2 (great lens).

If Zeiss wants a big piece of the 35mm cake, it must be as small as the 35 FLE, and as good&cheap as the Nokton (great lens... did I say that already ?).

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There are already too many good 35mm lenses for M mount, and unless it utterly bashes the 35 FLE (which is unlikely), or it is a f/1 lens, I won't buy.

 

There is already a relatively cheap alternative to the Leica lens, and this is the Nokton 35/1.2 (great lens).

If Zeiss wants a big piece of the 35mm cake, it must be as small as the 35 FLE, and as good&cheap as the Nokton (great lens... did I say that already ?).

 

It does not need to be as good as the Lux if it costs much less.

 

The Zeiss lenses just have a different look to them which some prefer. In fact all 35mm lenses have a different character so another one is welcome.

 

For me the 35mm 1.4 Distagon has the most pleasing image rendition, the only problem is its massive weight and size.

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Maybe it will also not suffer the purple fringing that many of the 35 FLE lenses seem to have. A friend has given up and gone back to a 35/1.4 ASPH because of the fringing, which two visits to Solms did not cure.

 

If it does come out, I would guess a very different image look to the fairly low contrast CV 35/1.2. The ZM lenses I sometimes feel, have too much contrast. It is exactly the same with the Contax 28-85 Vario Sonnar I use on the M240. I am turning down the saturation and contrast on quite a few images taken with it but it is better to be doing that than artificially boosting it.

 

Wilson

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Peter,

 

Just thinking about the example Joerg quoted, the Zeiss 50mm/f2 ZM Planar, as being a non-retrofocal or “conventional” design (and what a great design it is too, with one well known pundit saying he could detect little to no difference between images taken with it and the vastly more expensive new 50mm APO Summicron). In the past I have also had the 50mm Contax Planar in f1.7, f1.4 and f1.2 guises. Now the design of these have similarities to the ZM Planar but obviously something has changed to alter the flange focal distance from Leica M, 28.8mm to the 45.5mm of the Contax CX/Y mount. Would I be correct in saying therefore, that the Contax Planars are a retrofocal design? This is because the rear elements of the optical configuration have been specifically set up to move the focal plane backwards.

 

Wilson

 

My apologies for the delay - I've been away from home without internet access.

 

I have no knowledge of the Zeiss designs so I can't comment

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Where do you see the picture :confused:

 

Just guessing from the teaser, looks a bit bigger than the Loxia lenses so about 60mm x 70mm

It will turn out soon anyway, the price is more interesting and I don't think it is going to be cheaper than its SLR relative, so over 1800$

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I'd expect it to be significantly bulkier but i may be wrong.

 

Me too. If it is a Distagon, it is a retrofocus design rather than conventional, so it is going to be quite long. If I think back to the size of my Contax 35/f1.4 APO-Distagon, I would not be surprised to see a lens getting on for the CV 35/1.2 in size but we shall see. It makes you see what an amazingly compact lens the old 35 Summilux II (11870) was.

 

Picture of APO-Distagon 35/f1.4 below to illustrate the bulk, it weighed a hefty 600+ grams.

 

Wilson

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For M users - wonder what the focus shift is like ; will it be a floating element design ?

 

I would guess it depends on precision of manufacture, barrel, elements etc, where on past performance, Zeiss have had few problems in this area. Lack of aperture shift, resolution and flare resistance have been the three prime objectives of Zeiss ZM lens design over the last few years. Zeiss have consistently designed lenses which were within their abilities to manufacture to a high standard. Zeiss’ technical expertise has never been in doubt. It is their management and marketing decisions I have my doubts over.

 

Leica told me during a visit to Solms some years ago that the aperture shift and sample variation in many of the 35 ASPH Summiluxes was mainly due to the fact that the design demanded manufacture and assembly tolerance requirements that were at or beyond the limits of their abilities. Hence you can get 35 ASPH Luxes which are like the one I was lucky enough to find (after trying 9 of them), which has minimal aperture shift and other ones, like a forum member had two of, which aperture shifted right out of the DOF.

 

Wilson

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