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New Zeiss ZF lenses

no, not yet. But this was not an official announcement yet. Becaue of the typos, it seems that the site was done in a rush.

I think there should come still something for the Minolta/Sony mount - or Sony thinks they do not need it at the moment, which would be a big mistake IMHO.
 
Hi,

Dirk..Zeiss REALLY need to be smart and offer the 21/2.8 AND 28/2 for the Canon Full frame and Nikon film users..

cheers Steve.
 
I agree that this is probably not an official announcement. I found out by writing ZF in the search field of www.zeiss.de, and than several new ZF lenses popped up.
 
If you guys pay attention you will see that the page says "Photokina 2006" on top. So, my guess is this was supposed to become available with official announcement that Zeiss was going to make at Photokina.
 
I looked at the specifications of the new Zeiss ZF lenses and noticed that the 35/2 and 25/2.8 have lengths of more than 90mm. Can someone explain the reason that these wide angle lenses are so long.
 
I am answering Patrik for his last posting.

Zeiss wide angles are in two different forms. They are either small and compact like my C-Y 28 2.8 or large, long and bulky like my C-Y 21 2.8.

I had the same question in the past, why is my C-Y 21 2.8 so much longer and bigger than my Minolta 20 2.8 ?

I am no expert in the field of optics, I am only speaking with my experience in photography. Lenses with many elements tends to have less colour fringes, less distortion and excellent contrast. They also have the ability to focus in short distance. One of my friend also said many of the lens elements are there for the correction of problems like colour fringes.

For ZF 35 2, you would expect it to have good performance at f2 and close focusing. I believe for large bulky lenses, it is actually good news because you should see great performance. ZM 35 2 is excellent at f 2.5 and above but poor f2. It is Zeiss weak point at large aperture if you compare with Leica. I would expect to see good performance of ZF35 2 at f2.

C-Y 25 2.8 is compact with length 56mm. It has excellent resolution and contrast at the centre but performance quickly falls as you go to the corners. It can focus down to 0.25m. ZF 25 2.8 is big and long. I would expect it to have excellent performance even at the closest focusing distance. Its large size resembles my C-Y 21 2.8 which has a length more than 90mm.

I have to thank Patrik again for the discovery of the new ZF lenses. It would mean that once the ZF are officially announced, there will be a big drop in the prices of C-Y 21 and 25. So it is now the time to sale your old gear before the official announcement.
 
USD (and Euro) prices for the new lenses have been announced:
25mm $824 (699)
35mm $824 (699)
50mm Macro $1124 (899)
100mm Macro $1749 (1399)
Availability Q4 2006 for the wide angles, Q1 2007 for the macro lenses.
I believe this price level is in line with performance and expectations, do you agree?
 
What is left to hope for? Perhaps a 21mm, a telephoto zoom such as an 80-200mm/f4, or a 135mm/f1.8 (as for Sony Alpha/Minolta mount)? Most of all, we need a full-frame Nikon DSLR!
 
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