Carl Zeiss add lens bundle for NAB show

Pre NAB Show, Las Vegas, and Carl Zeiss has announced a special bundled kit of five of their DSLR lenses; 21mm f2.8, 28mm f2, 35mm f2, 50mm f1.4 and 85mm f1.4. Available in Canon or Nikon fit, the set will be available for Eur 4,562 ($6063) ex VAT starting in May.

Press release:

NAB Show 2011 in Las Vegas: New SLR lens set with custom-made suitcase

Attractive offer for filmmakers and filming photographers in entry-level HD video segment

OBERKOCHEN/Germany, 05.04.2011.
During the NAB Show in Las Vegas from April 9-14, 2011, Carl Zeiss will introduce an attractive bundled lens set offer for its SLR lenses. The set contains the following lenses with F (ZF.2) or EF bayonet (ZE): Distagon T* 2,8/21, Distagon T* 2/28, Distagon T* 2/35, Planar T* 1,4/50 and Planar T* 1,4/85. This offer is a response to the strong demand from the HD Video segment for lenses with precise manual focus. With this offer Carl Zeiss supports filmmakers and still photographers entering the booming HD video market with the right equipment that meets their needs.

“Many production budgets don’t justify investing in a set of cinematography lenses right away, like our Compact Prime CP.2 lenses. Our SLR lenses with their precise manual focus are a reasonable alternative for getting started in HD video,” said Michael Schiehlen, Director of Sales for the Camera Lens Division of Carl Zeiss AG. Schiehlen stressed the benefit of these lenses for videography over lenses with autofocus. “Our SLR lenses feature an outstanding manual focus mechanism, so the precision when focusing is far higher than with a manually operated auto-focus.” In addition, SLR lenses by Carl Zeiss are robust, offer a high aperture speed, and feature an especially harmonious rendering of the bokeh (the out-of-focus area).

The five lenses come in a special waterproof case (IP67), custom-made for this set and feature openings for six lenses. As common for photography lenses, each Carl Zeiss SLR lens has a different size and weight. Therefore a special inlay ensures that each lens fits perfectly inside the suitcase and protects the lenses from shock and vibration. The new SLR lens set will be offered at a recommended retail price of Eur 4562 ($6063), excluding VAT, and will be available starting May.

For more information please click here.

Zeiss launch 35mm f/1.4 for Nikon and Canon

Carl Zeiss has introduced a super-fast, manual focus 35mm prime with a maximum aperture of f/1.4, for Nikon and Canon EOS users. Recommended retail is £1275, 1386 Euros, plus tax, and will be available for sale early 2011.

The image above shows the Canon ZE version, the Nikon ZF.2 has a manual aperture ring.

Sample photo

OBERKOCHEN/Germany, 01.09.2010.
A woman is sitting at the bar of a dimly-lit cafe. Lost in thoughts, she doesn’t notice the glass of wine the bartender places before her. From a distance, a photographer tries to capture her mood. He brings her face, which is leaning toward her phone, into focus. Everything around her becomes a blur, and the lights in the background coalesce into a wild “dance” of diffuse shapes.

This shot will only work with a fast lens with short focal length and harmonious bokeh. Carl Zeiss introduces a new lens for just such images: the Distagon T* 1,4/35.

By introducing the Distagon T* 1,4/35, Carl Zeiss is complementing the Planar T*1,4/50 and T*1,4/85 lenses with a wide-angle lens that shares the same high speed. Crisp, sharp images work every time, whether at dusk or in the weak lighting conditions of a café, and without the need for a tripod. With its 35-mm, the Distagon T* 1,4/35 matches the classic and versatile standard focal lengths when used on cameras with APS-C sensor formats.

Due to the special bokeh effects in both the foreground and background areas, the Distagon T*1,4/35 opens up new creative possibilities, giving photographers more options to ‘play’ with focus. Thanks to its large focus ring, photographers can also create highly accurate, sharp pictures, even at maximum aperture opening. In addition, the optical construction of the lens guarantees high image quality across the entire image range. Furthermore, with one step less than the full aperture opening, the light fall-off toward the edges is just one f-stop.

With the ZEISS T*‘s anti-reflective coating, its sophisticated stray light reduction and the excellent flare control the new Distagon also takes pictures of bright light sources without artifacts. The Distagon T*1,4/35’s extremely long-lasting and robust all-metal precision mechanics, for which Carl Zeiss is known, make this lens perfect for use on-the-go and for photo reports.

The Distagon T* 1,4/35 will be available in first quarter of 2011 at a recommended retail price of 1385.71 euros (excluding VAT)*.

Sample close-up

Excellent differential focus (bokeh) and colour rendition of the new Distagon 35mm f/1.4

 

Follow the link here for the official UK distributor, Robert White in Poole, Dorset.

Buy from our affiliate, Adorama in NYC: Nikon, Canon.

If you run both Canon and Nikon systems as I do (and Olympus as well), then buy the Nikon version and use a high-quality lens adapter such as this one as the Canon has the shorter flange focal distance (FFD)* of the two systems. It costs a little more than the standard version but allows mounting of AI-S and G-series Nikkor lenses. Metering is unaffected, as Canon cameras meter and operate in stopped down mode, and focusing is unaffected (it's a MF lens afterall).

*Most third-party manufacturers design the Nikon version first due to the maker's longer FFD, as it's easier to compensate for Canon, Pentax, Sony and the rest with their shorter registers.

 

 

Carl Zeiss Lens News July

copyright, Shoot Studio

This month's CZ lens newsletter is online now, and features some intriguing street shots of New York City taken with the Distagon T* 21mm f/2.8 (or 2.8/21 in Zeiss speak). The 2.8/21 is one of the more recent additions to the expanding range of full-frame manual focus Zeiss lenses, made under license by Cosina in Japan.

It's available in Nikon (ZF) and soon to come Pentax (ZK) and Canon (ZE) mounts but the Distagon T* 2.8/21 is not for the faint-hearted, after all it has a front filter diameter of 87mm and weighs in at a trifling 600g (21.6 oz).

Needless to say all that hefty teutonic glass and T* coating is capable of delivering the finest color and that legendary Zeiss high contrast rendering. Just look here for the T* coating's intolerance of flare and ghosting.

What a brute, and what a contrast to the diminutive Cosina Voigtlander 20mm f/3.5 Color Skopar. Still, as they say, 'you pays your money...'

Links (and credits):

Carl Zeiss Lens News, July '09

Shoot Studio