upcoming zeiss lenses for fuji

[david6785]

Anyone looking forward to the Zeiss lenses coming out in April. I'm really interested in the 32mm 1.8 and how it compares to the legendary 35.

 

[cosmonaut]

If they are the right focal length. I have a couple of Carl Zeiss lenses. One Nikon and one A mount. I think my A mount 24-70mm may be the best lens on the planet right now. If you ever buy a CZ you will wish all your lenses were as good.

But with that I am very happy with the two X lenses I have. I think Fuji has the best lenses for the compacts. No contest with the others.

 

[Combatmedic870]

david6785 wrote:

Anyone looking forward to the Zeiss lenses coming out in April. I'm really interested in the 32mm 1.8 and how it compares to the legendary 35.

I would be very interested in the 50mm if it was F2, but it being 2.8 kinda of kills that for me. 2.8 on a crop is boring and not worth the grand, for a dedicated macro id just go for the 60mm, faster and longer.

 

[Daniel from Bavaria]

Hmm, most of the recently announced Zeiss primes are kind of siblings of the the already existing Fuji primes. Not the cleverest move from my point of view.



At the moment only the 12mm is really interesting for some people.



A really clever move would have been to bring out a 1.4 23mm lens this spring. That would have been a lens many people wait desperately for an Fuji will not provide it before 2014 (at least it seems to be so).

I would have bought it, and some people I know also. So I see more metoo lenses from Zeiss and I am not so much interested (some maybe are).



Regards,

Daniel

 

[MonteCarlo67]

The 12mm interests me. Kind of why I am holding off on the 14mm for now. Just want to wait a bit and see how good the 12mm reviews look. Also, it will be interesting to see how good (or bad) the AF is on the Zeiss lenses.

 

[JasperD]

Sadly enough, the clutch on the XF 14/2.8 has much tempered my enthusiasm for it, to the point I have now canceled ordering this lens, will wait to see how the Zeiss 12/2.8 performs and especially, how AF behaves. Once compared, I´ll make up my mind.

I know, there is quite a difference in those 2mm on an UWA, but not important enough for me. If it allows AF like the previous XF primes do, it will be the Zeiss and not the Fujifilm on this one. Have a bit of a bad feeling too for the future XF 23/1.4, as it might come with the same ´feature´. I sure hope not. :-(

 

[Imagefoundry]

same here. Will buy it in a flash!

 

[Astrophotographer 10]

What's wrong with the Fuji 14mm clutch mechanism? I thought it was being well received.

Greg.

 

[JasperD]

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/post/50801139

In short, unlike the other XF primes, you need to use the lens mechanism to have manual focus. However, if you do, you lose focusing with the AE-L / AF-L back button. If you set the camera to manual focus but not the lens, you will be able to use the button, but not manually fine tune whatever focus it may choose to lock on. I had such lenses before, it´s a pain, besides a potential weakest link (you can break the lens mechanism if too heavy handed). More of an issue with longer focals of course, but all the same. So I temporarily put it in the fridge, until I know what Zeiss does with its 12/2.8 and I can really compare.

 

[105012]

At first I thought the crazy refocusing when switching between AF and MF using the clutch was really going to be a problem. I can understand why Fuji did it this way, but they could have solved the problem by having the focus distance on a ring that the AF and MF rotate as required. However, now that I have been using it for a while, I find I only use hyper focal range based focusing anyway, i.e. for my purposes this is a MF lens --- and I love it, both the images and the usage of the lens. And it is so relaxing to not struggle with AF!

The other thing I notice is that strangely the aperture ring is loose forward and backwards and way too easy to turn. The other primes have no wobble, and the 60mm has a beautiful torque to the aperture ring that feels just perfect. Fuji --- no wobbles please and more torque please!

Nevertheless I love the 14mm and it is absolutely a keeper for me. Beautiful feel to the manual focus ring, must have DoF scale, compact and light and wonderful images (see examples on the net).

 

[JasperD]

What you are saying though, is it does not work in a uniform manner, so it is potentially confusing. Hyperfocal for street is not always desired either, maybe you meant pre-focus? I´m sure for me it will be an issue - it already was much earlier.

There´s no doubt in my mind though, Zeiss´ lenses will provide the same IQ, if not better. Would be surprising and disappointing if otherwise. If they deliver according to reputation, I´d rather not have the mechanical linkage, but it is of course a personal choice; which I will only be able to make once I can hold both in my hands. Shouldn´t be that long, only a few more months to wait.

 

[WT Jones]

The 12 MM is what I am looking at. I too am holding off on the 14MM fuji until the 12mm arrives n scene.

 

[simon]

+1

 

[Albert Valentino]

Same here, if it is not too expensive. I will sell my Nikon 10-24 to help pay for it.

What I really want is the fuji 10-24 stabilized zoom but that is a full year away since fuji admits it might be early 2014, which often means a little longer than best estimates. I will be impressed if the Zeiss 12mm is actually in stores by April. I can wait 2 months to see what's what.

 

[Tom Ames]

Only looking for the 12mm. Was set to buy the Fuji 14mm, but must say it was a bit more pricey than I hoped it should be. While I still keep my Nikon system, I feel it is too much to pay for the 14mm. Yes, the 12mm Zeiss will probably cost approx. the same but it will be 12mm not 14mm and more worth it to me and my planned use for it.

 

[Albert Valentino]

Tom Ames wrote:

Only looking for the 12mm. Was set to buy the Fuji 14mm, but must say it was a bit more pricey than I hoped it should be. While I still keep my Nikon system, I feel it is too much to pay for the 14mm. Yes, the 12mm Zeiss will probably cost approx. the same but it will be 12mm not 14mm and more worth it to me and my planned use for it.

you might be optimistic about the Zeiss being approximately the same cost. If it is then its a no brainer, at least for me. If the Zeiss is around 40% more than the Fuji 14mm then decisions get tricky.

 

[Tom Ames]

In my country the Fuji 14mm is about 1240 USD.
This is 20-40% higher than any other Fuji lens:

18mm is 870 USD
35mm is 870 USD
60mm is 960 USD
18-55mm is 1040 USD

Is the 14mm this high priced in other countries too compared to the other Fuji lenses?

This pricing indicates for me that the Zeiss 12mm can't be launched at that much higher price compared to the Fuji 14mm.

 

[Albert Valentino]

Tom Ames wrote:

In my country the Fuji 14mm is about 1240 USD.
This is 20-40% higher than any other Fuji lens:

18mm is 870 USD
35mm is 870 USD
60mm is 960 USD
18-55mm is 1040 USD

Is the 14mm this high priced in other countries too compared to the other Fuji lenses?

This pricing indicates for me that the Zeiss 12mm can't be launched at that much higher price compared to the Fuji 14mm.

In the US the prices are:

18mm $599

35mm $599

60mm $649

18-55mm $699

14mm $899

Zeiss 12mm unknown but likely $999 minimum and $1,299 max with guess of the higher most likely.

If you are in a country that charges what you write above perhaps the Zeiss would be close to the same price as 14mm in that country. What country are you referring to? Your profile states Alaska, USA

 

[dengx]

Tom Ames wrote:

Is the 14mm this high priced in other countries too compared to the other Fuji lenses?

Yes, the 14mm being an UWA is a much more complicated lens when compared to the other X lenses.

Very high quality optics corrected as much as they could maintaining the size and reasonable price, for the distortion, CA and sharp from corner to corner.

XF14mm includes 2 aspherical and 3 low dispersion glass elements (where usually the LD elements drive the price to the roof).

For example the zoom and XF18 have high barrel distortion that is corrected in camera's software.

I fully expect Zeiss to sell at a higher price.

Regards

 

[JasperD]

Al Valentino wrote:

Tom Ames wrote:

Only looking for the 12mm. Was set to buy the Fuji 14mm, but must say it was a bit more pricey than I hoped it should be. While I still keep my Nikon system, I feel it is too much to pay for the 14mm. Yes, the 12mm Zeiss will probably cost approx. the same but it will be 12mm not 14mm and more worth it to me and my planned use for it.

you might be optimistic about the Zeiss being approximately the same cost. If it is then its a no brainer, at least for me. If the Zeiss is around 40% more than the Fuji 14mm then decisions get tricky.

Zeiss´ blog has an initial rough estimate around €1,000 each, that´s about $1,350 by today´s rate. It is not set in stone though, although there is also mention of the existing Zeiss for the NEX being ´a good yardstick´. Nothing about what lens to consider with that yardstick. Price in euros should include sales tax usually, but given the different ratings in Europe, could only be giving a broad indication, in fact leaving all doors open: http://blogs.zeiss.com/photo/en/?p=2864

The XF 14/2.8 is available at my usual retailer for about $1,125 (converted from Swiss Francs), but then definitely includes local VAT at 8%.