Zeiss Joins µ4/3!

Thanks.

"All good things come in three, so after Schneider and Zeiss…who is next?"
I think Voigtlander was the first and now Zeiss is the third so I guess no more goodies for m4/3.

 

I hope for Rodenstock to join, you never know !

C U
Rafael

 

it only talks about video lenses in :43: unfortunately

 

this is still awesome news! i'm hoping the more m4/3 manufacturers that are out there, the more competitive it will get? (or is that never really the case for lenses?)

 

I think it will mean that manufacturers will be on notice to produce quality, value for money lenses or they will be bypassed by consumers.

 

I don't think that Zeiss will be offering any lenses in the "value" price range. They will most likely be very, very good as well as very, very exspensive.

 

Hopefully Schneider and Zeiss joining 4/3 will start to attract the likes of Sigma, Tamron and Tokina as well.

 

before we all get too excited - check out the prices on the lenses that Zeiss have said they are making micro 4/3 compatible

Zeiss Compact Primes :: Prime Lenses :: Film & Digital Cinema Lenses :: Lenses :: Lenses & Lens Accessories :: Equipment Sales :: Abel Cine Tech

suspect that schnieder may be going after the same market segment

K

 

Ooooh, the prices are buzz-kill!

 

I figure if you can sell a lens at $4k, that opens the door for a lot of people to make a ton of money selling similar focal length/aperture lenses for $1000 or so and helps the availability dramatically.

 

eh?.....don't get your point...

I am guessing that zeiss charge 4K for these lenses because being a niche market eg movie making, that this is the cost of making the lens with normal mark up for a profit.

cant see the correlation that because that particular market exists and that people in that market are willing/used to paying those prices, that someone else will come along and make a cheaper version.

These zeiss lenses are aimed at people buying professional movie making cameras of which Panasonic have a camera that is going up against cameras like the RED

Memory Card Camera Recorder | Panasonic

Maybe zeiss will make dedicated micro 4/3 lenses at some point... but I seriously doubt it... maybe they will do their Leica M lenses... but why should they - if you want one of those you just buy one and an adaptor.

K

 

What I'd really like Zeiss to do, is to take their Contax brand name, hook up with Kodak or Dalsa or Jenoptik or whatever company that can deliver the electronics, and produce a Contax DG-1 pro hybrid :43: rangefinder.  

 

That was my point about Sigma et al hopefully joining the fray when they see how serious m43 is becoming.

 

Mirrorless cameras present an interesting conundrum for third-party lens maufacturers. All their consumer grade DSLR lenses were designed around the APS-C sized sensor and then in Sigma's case they were adapted to 4/3 but the focal lengths weren't right for the format. If they commit to m4/3 the lenses may not be usable on the Sony NEX, Samsung NX and whatever else may follow. If they commit to designing around APS-C mirrorless and m4/3 is the dominant format they will not have the right product for the market.

 

good point Nic... it makes good business sense for the third party lens makers like tamron and sigma to develop for the largest market... which is APC sized sensors. The mirrorless market is still in its early days, and despite the success of micro 4/3, the two main players in cameras have not yet showed their hand.

Now if canon or nikon went for a 2x crop sensor then things would get interesting.. they may do that in order to put themselves in a position to sell into that high end p/s market while not totally alienating their existing userbase

i think both the schneider and the zeiss announcements are more to do with making available their existing expensive and highly regarded cinema lenses for the panasonic 4/3 pro video camera as opposed to them pledging to produce lenses for the general micro 4/3 community.


Of course Olympus marketing are taking advantage of the publicity these 'commitments' to the platform generate... but as I am sure Sony probably have pro level large sensor video cameras with the NEX E-Mount either announced or on the drawing board ( Sony and Panasonic are BIG rivals in the pro video arena) then i wouldn't be too surprised for zeiss and schnieder to both announce support for the Sony E-mount in the near future if they haven't already



just late night ramblings

K

 

I am inclined to agree, Kevin, the more I look at it. But one can hope.

 

My point is that some companies will enter what they think is a "niche" product from the high end, knowing they'll still make money on a small volume. Many times, these turn out to not be as "niche" as originally thought, and then a volume play comes out of the major manufacturers.

My theory is this is what Voigtlander did with the 25/.95, and why Panasonic was even remotely motivated to come out with the 25/1.4 when the 20/1.7 is so good already

 

I just discovered these lenses on B&H (Zeiss Cine lenses) - I wasn't aware they were also available for MFT mount. Here is the current lineup:

18/T3.6
21/T2.9
25/T2.9
28/T2.1
35/T2.1
50/T2.1 (there is a macro version too)
85/T2.1
100/T2.1

Nothing new to this thread unless the lineup has increased since last year.

 

Actually, iirc, the Contax and Yashica brands are owned by Kyocera, and Kyocera decided a while back not to pursue the digital camera game with them. (sigh).

I'd love it if Zeiss actually designed lenses for m43, rather than just slapping a different mount on the back of the M designs, but given that they're developing ZA lenses for Sony NEX and Sony Alpha, I can't really see them deciding they need to develop m43 lenses right now.