Comments on: Next great news! Zeiss announces three new lenses for the X system!

By: robertw

robertw — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 05:10:49 +0000

I’ve never shot with a lens as wide as the 12mm (19mm equivalent). Do lenses this wide produce convergence on vertical lines or other distortions? I’m excited that Zeiss lenses will be available, but am questioning why they chose to start with a 12mm as opposed to an 18 or 23mm which seem more generally useful.

By: dg

dg — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 13:21:34 +0000

Jc, go buy a full frame system then, plenty to choose from. Who’s to say these lenses won’t be usable on any future full frames anyway. Aren’t Nikon cropp lenses usable on their full frame bodies.

By: Lee

Lee — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 03:14:36 +0000

To JC:

So what?
The FF CSC will unlikely be as cheap as today’s X-Pro1 or X-E1 in two years. And APSC will continue to exist and be useful for a few years, let’s say at least 5 years. That’s enough for FF fanatics to switch.

By: Carlos Echenique

Carlos Echenique — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 00:33:40 +0000

Both models of lens will support manual focus. X-mount adds a manual aperture ring as well. NEX E-mount does not support aperture rings. Look at all of the E-mount lenses on the Sony site – no aperture rings.

By: Jean-Michel

Jean-Michel — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 20:09:43 +0000

Re-read the article. It’s clear : AF + MF on all lenses, and Aperture ring im X-mount lenses.

By: Markdphotoguy

Markdphotoguy — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 19:17:17 +0000

@hexx ZF.2 actually. The 25mm f/2.0 and 100mm f/2.0. They weigh more than the camera so I don’t use them too often on the XP1 but when I do they are eye poping. I’ll probably stop using the 25mm on the XP1 once the Fuji 23mm comes out the 100mm though gives me the ability to also use extension tubes for better than 1:2 life size.

By: Ty

Ty — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 19:15:49 +0000

They may or may not. Read the article here: http://blogs.zeiss.com/photo/en/?p=2864

Quote: “Will they be manual focus lenses like most other SLR lenses made by Carl Zeiss?

The new family of lenses will consist of autofocus lenses with support for all camera functions. The E-mount lenses for NEX cameras can also be focused manually. In addition to that, the lenses for the X-bayonet will come with a manual aperture setting.”

That could be interpreted as “on the x-mount, there will be a manual aperture ring as well as the manual focus ring” OR it could be interpreted as “E mount will be focused manually. Instead of manual focus on the x mount, we have included the manual aperture ring”. It really depends on whether or not Zeiss wants to limit the size of the lenses, because adding the aperture ring is going to increase the size of the lens if they keep the manual focus ring on it.

By: Nathan

Nathan — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 19:10:58 +0000

I’m seeing 2 rings, the one closest to the camera body looks to be the aperture ring so I can only conclude that the other one is for manual focus. I have to admit, it’s worded poorly, but I do think they’ll still have manual focus:

“The new family of lenses will consist of autofocus lenses with support for all camera functions. The E-mount lenses for NEX cameras can also be focused manually. In addition to that, the lenses for the X-bayonet will come with a manual aperture setting.”

By: Miserere

Miserere — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 18:00:01 +0000

Huh? Whatddya mean no manual focus? Of course they have manual focus!

By: JC

JC — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 17:25:26 +0000

How much will it cost? Around $1,000 ?

Two years from now, everyone (most of ) migrated to full frame, what you do with this useless system?

Remember, more full frame sensor is poping up, the cost of it will go down enough in two years.