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As you know two years ago Zeiss launched a [shoplink 53857 ebay]Touit lens series for Fuji X and Sony E-mount system[/shoplink]. Zeiss always said they would not offer those lenses for the MFT system. Well it looks like we didn’t miss anything because according to latest SAR rumor Zeiss “freezed” the Touit lens development. And it’s very likely Zeiss will completely kill the lens line. The reasons are two:
– Fuji X mount sales where sloppy because Fuji offers same quality (or better quality) X lenses for less money
– Sony is now focusing on Full Frame
In short: We didn’t miss anything. That said, it’s still pity to not have Zeiss on the MTF board.
46 Responses
the Superb Zeiss optics is a waste of money on a M43 sensor.
Admin, those are some amazing lenses. I switched to SONY because of these lenses. Never Regreted. Now moving to Loxia…
Don’t see why it’s a pity that we do not have Zeiss lenses. In the normal price range Zeiss is nothing special(few exceptions maybe) compared to Pana an Oly native lenses(kinda same issue for Zeiss as for Fuji X mount).
Zeiss repuposed the Touit project resources /apparatus and moved them to the Batis and Loxia projects. They are committed to FF and Sony FE, and thereby halted touit for aps-c in place of the others. There is no reason to think they would at anytime soon allocate resources to begin a M4/3rds lens line.
M43 has gaps at the ultra wide, and tele ends. Zeiss could own those spots.
M43 is missing weather sealed ultra fast AF primes. They could own that.
I don’t think m43 needs Otus: at some point, size does matter. But they could own that.
Not releasing the same focal lengths at the same speeds and build as Panny and Oly already have covered is wise. Ignoring a hungry M43 audience is not.
Is Zeiss known for it’s 400mm f4 lenses, 8mm f2.8s, or tilt-shifts? Because those are just about the only 3 lenses that M4/3 really lacks.
Unless people are really desperate for an AF ultra-fast normal like an 18mm/f1.0. But I don’t think people are actually willing to pay for what such a lens will cost, or trade-off the size and weight required. They’re probably better off with another system in such a circumstance…
I thought schneider was all over that? ?
Apparently fast prime lenses are Olympus’s next move, but don’t expect to see anything this year.
Yep. They seem to be about a year from announcement to shipping. Worth the wait tho!
And this is m4/3rds news why?
I have two Touits and they are simply great lenses, now they will be larger and called Batis for FF, but they are not going on M4/3 cams.
Batis 85mm sounds great
If you can afford it i spose
Very slow news day, that’s why.
And why we missed those from m4/3 when Olympus offers better quality for less money too? (And so does Panasonic.)
Zeiss is one of the most over-hyped brands in photography history. Just like a Leica.
Thought experiment. Would the M43 system miss the departure of Veydra from M43 more than it would gain by the entrance of Zeiss?
I think the Veydra’s are just about the best thing to come along. I would love to have a full set of Veydra’s. Zeiss prices just don’t fit in with the whole MFT system. Heck, the prices don’t fit with hardly anyone except for rental houses.
The Touits were oddballs to start with. They are plastic designs that don’t match Zeiss’s standards of optical performance or build. Furthermore, they are the only APS-C lenses Zeiss has ever made and the first ones ever to be equipped with autofocus. In other words, they are Zeiss’s equivalents of kit zooms in a way: perfectly adequate for most uses, but not the best in their respective classes. Zeiss has to offer significant discounts in order to move them, which must be difficult (if not shameful) to its management. It is no wonder they decided that genug ist genug.
As I long time film shooter, I love Zeiss lenses (especially the ‘look’); but I have to say, when they’re off, they’re off. I had a terrible 50mm for the ‘blad (early CF), that was so soft compared to my previous 50mm C, that I sent it in to them for repair, and they said it was “within specs”, then proceeded to redesign it twice with floating elements. I had beautiful lenses for my Contax RTS 35mm tho, and many of the wide angles were better than what I used to using from Canon and Nikon. But like I said, when they’re off, they’re off…
What was wrong with Touit? Almost what everyone on here is saying. Every time I looked at the specs, they were NOT good performers! Relatively soft compared to a lot of others. Not really good lens line placement, and not a ‘package’ of lenses to buy as a set. They should have made an equivalent to 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, and at about half the cost or less, and all delivered within a 6 month period or so…
thought experiment: perhaps Zeiss betted on the wrong horse.
Fuji undercutting them and Sony losing interest in their own system – all the while M43 is alive and kicking and there is room for lens developers yet…
Zeiss has been trying to avoid direct competition (except in the case of the Touit series) in order to establish a perception of superiority. This is why the vast majority of their lenses is manual focus (so softness is attributed to user error).
The situation in Micro 4/3 is prohibitive to Zeiss, especially with Cosina (Voigtlander) offering a very solid and reasonably-priced MF series. I suspect this is one of the reasons why also Schneider seems reluctant to join the system despite its pre-announcement of three lenses.
Touts are “Made in Japan”, i.e. Cosina.
Well, if they decide to join us, I’m sure we would welcome them with wide-open arms.
The 32/1.8 was up-ended by the Sony 35/1.8 (cheaper, had OSS, softer but better bokeh) and the Fuji 35/1.4 (cheaper, faster aperture, also better bokeh). The 12/2.8 was expensive compared to the Sony 10-18 and Fuji 10-24 and much more expensive than the Samyang 12/2.8.
the Sammy is f/2
I liked the Touit 32mm much more than the Sony 35m. I got mine for like $500 and it was worth every penny. The color is much nicer (to me) than the Sony, images really pop.
That said one of my favorite lenses of all time is the Fuji 35mm XF 1.4.
why it’s a pitty not to have Zeiss Lenses with mft Mount? If Fuji offers better lenses, that cost less, than what can expect somebody that owns already zuiko lenses?
Poor strategy or late strategy with Fuji but on the Sony A6000s or the NEX’s they really shined, very different rendering too, The Touit 32mm on say an A6000 is an outstanding combination. But hey I’m a person who used old Cooke Lenses on my GH4
Of the three, the 50 makro is really the only one worth owning. As others have pointed out the disappointing performance of the plastic fantastic Touit’s combined with their high price relative to the competition made them non-starters. Fuji has better/cheaper lenses for the X-mount and advanced E-mount shooters (the target for expensive primes) have migrated to FF with the various A7’s.
It would be nice if Zeiss did m43 lenses, but just swapping a m43 mount onto the existing Touit’s would not move the needle at all.
I think people who are not photographers were disappointed by the touits, i love mine.
They aren’t bad lenses, but Sony and Fuji has lenses as good or better, there really wasn’t a compelling reason to buy unless you wanted the Zeiss name. They don’t have the typical Zeiss sharpness and contrast, and the AF is slower than comparable Sony and Fuji lenses.
Plus they cover the same focal lenght of existing and actually excellent Fuji lenses. If Zeiss had dared to produce less obvous lenses, now the situation would be different.
APS-C E-mount similarly has 35/1.8 which is smaller and has OIS, and Samyang 12/2 which is a full stop faster than the Zeiss.
Samyang is not in the same class, being manual everything and quite heavy. 12/2.8 is very useful on APS-C (of course would be totally useless on m43 against Oly 12/2 and now 7-14/2.8).
both Sammy and Zeiss are 260 grams… or course the Oly is lighter because it has less metals and worse IQ
Oly 12/2 is full metal, has mechanical MF if needed, and of course has better IQ at f/2 than the Zeiss which does not have f/2 at all. 🙂 At f/2.8 it is at least an equal (hard to say though given different systems, so not same camera to test on).
None of the Touit lenses would have been any good on M4/3 (they fall down in direct comparison to all the native options), so it’s not really surprising that they didn’t come to this system.
Missing Zeiss? What…more primes? mFts = prima galore…I do not miss Zeiss one single bit.
FAQ Zeiss I want my Nokton and I want it NOW!
That’s a bummer, because every troll knows that equivalency dictates that MFT lenses are slower by a factor of 2x because of the sensor crop factor, so if you mounted a f1.8 Touit on a FF a7 it would be 1.6x as fast!
/s
Zeiss hate Leica and Leica make MFT lenses for/with Panasonic, and Leica hate Zeiss. It’s so not going to happen.
Excellent lenses, ridiculous prices. that is zeiss for ya. But having owned many zeiss lenses and Rx1 been my go to walk around, Zeiss does have a very unique pop. It s a good cure for Leica lust.
Zeiss and Sony are greedy – that’s why they made FE system and slowly abandoning/not developing the former E system (APS-C). It may be good news for m4/3 and Fuji X systems.
You are missing batis but your little sensor cannot even output anything decent so why bother selling something expensive for cheap people.
Well maybe if they invested a day or two more in m43 mount development they would have sold a few thousand more of them…
Well, their 32/1.8 now sells for $499, which is not the same outrageous price they wanted for it at first, and quite close to Oly 25/1.8 while being better made and filling up the hole between 25 and 45.
Always found Zeiss over rated, they might have made a name making medium format lenses back in the 70’s but you can always get better glass now at lower price from other manufacturers, fuji, oly, panasonic etc.