Zeiss published the official Loxia leaflets and you can download it in English (Click here) or German (Click here) language. UPDATE: Zeiss now removed the leaflet and the links lead to an error page.
I have been told by a trusted source that Zeiss will announce the official price on September 5. Preorders are expected to be online the same day!
Note for other site admins: please link back to me if you find news through my site. Would be kind Thanks!:)
Reminder: Sony QX announcement on Wednesday!
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Not sure if I like the Bokeh from the 50mm lens
Looks above average, but not stunning. This lens shouldn’t cost more than 400€, but it will be. Not sure, but looking at the demo images, I would probably pick Samyang 50/1.4 over this Zeiss if they were similarly priced (and even if I don’t care much about the size, Samyang is only 8mm longer than Zeiss)…
Add 3cm for adapter with the Samyang.
Also, 2x the weight.
Bring on the 50 1.5 Sonnar, haha
RF planars have never been examples of smooth bokeh.
Stopping down one stop improves the quality of defocus enormously.
Wait til you see the bokeh of 35/2, if it’s like the ZM lol. It’s BAD.
Looks the same elements as in ZM version (was quite expected). Maybe they optimized air gaps between elements through?
My exact thought, optically identical to the ZM lens.
It’s similar, but there are differences. A 7’th lens-element from the sensor have a same diameter as a 6th lens-element. With the ZM-version, the 7th lens-element is smaller than the 6th.
The Biogon looks to have an ED glass front element and there is no mentioning of that anywhere in the original version. So it might better control of aberrations.
I guess it is slightly tweaked and “tailor-made” for the digital Sony sensors so no corner smearing.
But smearing is the result of which angle the light hits the sensor? If so, addressing that needs a complete redesign…
Smearing is essentially outer zones being misfocused due to glass refraction. If you take glass into account and correct for it, this problem should be solvable.
That field shot looks like it would be challenging for any lens, it would be interesting to see a full size of that. Not sure if I like the rendering in the brown wood shot. The two from the 35 don’t have enough sharp corners but the statue is encouraging for no smearing.
what bug you in the wood rendering? the colors? for having visited many japanese temples this shot is very accurate. Most wood beams in japanese temple have that washed brown color.
It may be my phone screen but there seems to be a few colours in the beams at the top of the image.
don’t forget it’s a PDF with higly compressed photos. I’m looking at it on a 24″ screen an the image is higly pixelated on the upper side of the photo.
We will have to wait the proper JPEG or raw files to judge the quality of those lenses. this pamphlet worth the technical informations nothing more.
It is the phone scree. Besides, these are highly compressed images as pointed out by usonien.
These pamphlet image quality is still early 20th century. They have not got up to speed with the modern times.
ohh c’mon the ZM 2/50 is lighter, more compact AND more beautiful. (same design)
I guess it is cheaper too.
Is this Loxia thing an upgrade to ZM lenses or Downgrade.
edit: Just saw Min.Focus Distance is 0.45m This is great (was 0.70m is 2/50 ZM)
Without a high quality M adaptor, yea. I have a feeling it’ll be cheaper (minus adapter)
the Metabones high quality adapter is 90eur
the 2/50 ZM is 580eur
Total is 670eur for a full manual experience (SILVER rocks on a7 by the way)
It’s interesting how it says ‘Manual full frame lenses for Sony a7 cameras’. Does that mean Sony is keeping the a7 name permanently? The next successors will be called a7e, a7h, a7k etc.? Why did they specify a7 cameras only and not ‘Full Frame e-mount cameras’ or even just ‘e-mount cameras’? Or was it just the graphic designer who made it was not knowledgeable about the product.
That leaves 24 letters, so at this rate they’ll have to rethink the strategy by Christmas 2015…
Does anyone call these “Alpha” or “ILCE”? No.
Or maybe you’re just jumping to conclusions and creating a issue where none really exists?
First, there’s no such thing as permanent name in Sony camera department. They can change it anytime. Second, A7’s successor will probably be called A7 Mk 2.
Oh! Cruel hobbit! It does not care if we be hungry!
another 35 and 50!!! seriously! :/
http://imgur.com/lAu7UxL
Optically it looks almost identical to it’s ZM cousin. I thought the Biogons didn’t do well on digital? Really curious now how well these actually perform.
It’s Zeiss – if they’re saying the lenses are for a7 cameras, they’ve fixed the issues. If it was a previously unheard of Chinese outfit, I’d be worried but I’d be astounded if these are less than perfect. I just wish they’d been a bit more adventurous with the focal lengths… 35 and 50 are fine but for travel I’d prefer a 50 and a 24 or 28.
they announced the common ones at first. wait for the 3 more to come.
I just wish it was 1.4 lenses, but we’ll see how it goes
f2.0 is a good compromise. they are very small…
leicas summarit lenses are ‘only’ f2.5 and they are very good.
That exotic front element on the 35mm may be important in the design as it relates to the translation to digital
With the lack of autofocus, these lenses “shouldn’t” cost a lot. For instance, shouldn’t we expect the faster, Zeiss-branded, and AF-capable 55mm f/1.8 to cost more than an all-manual lens (with reportable EXIF). If Zeiss prices the Loxia higher, then they will be basically low-balling their user base, making these lenses a relative rip-off.
There’s more to a lens then just a bunch of features. I guess Leica lenses would be consider a rip off by your logic?
The criteria for this lens would be either or, how well the image rendition will be, the kind of photographer you are (some would take their time to frame their shots which MF lens would be suitable) and main usage (video or photo)
I just wish it was faster but I’m curious to see how well the 35mm Biogon will be.
Please. I am comparing a lens made by Zeiss to a lens branded by Zeiss. Either way, both the new 50mm f/2 and 55mm f/1.8 are Zeiss-designed lenses and should have similar quality. However, the lack of significant features such as auto focus and maximum aperture are actually meaningful in the cost of production. So, yes, in this case it would be a rip-off if they end up costing more.
(Btw, I also believe Leica lenses are rip-offs.)
the FE 55 is exclusively design by Naoki Miyagawa a Sony’s optical engineer, not Zeiss.
link to an interview he gave to a french website here: http://www.lesnumeriques.com/objectif/rencontre-avec-naoki-miyagawa-pere-meilleur-50-mm-moment-a1818.html.
the Zeiss badge is for the quality control has Miyagawa-san stated in the interview.
He also design the FE 70-200 f4 G which is also a good lens.
The rendition of these 2 lenses could be very different that may justified their co-existence.
The 55mm is a Sony design.
Quoting a post on dyxum:
In an interview with the French magazine Focus Numeriques, Naoki Miyagawa, an optical engineer at Sony, states that he designed the optics of the Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* FE 1.8/55mm ZA (SEL-55F18Z). Asked why the lens would be labelled Zeiss then, he answered that they helped in quality assurance. You can find the French interview here:
http://www.lesnumeriques.com/objectif/rencontre-avec-naoki-miyagawa-pere-meilleur-50-mm-moment-a1818.html
Not excited, Sony isn’t really giving ‘varieties’ over it’s native FE
mount lenses. Yes this 35/50 is Zeiss designed, the other 35/55 we
currently have isn’t, but then the current 35/55 isn’t really a shabby
performer by it’s own rights.
I mean, where’s the Native FE-mount 85mm? Telephoto Primes? Ultra Wideangles?
We can really use some lens ‘varieties’, Sony and all the third-party lens companies out there!
If you think the FE 55mm is a Zeiss designed lens, I have a bridge to sell you as well.
‘…low-balling their user base, making these lenses a relative rip-off’
i guess their user base has a different mentality…
this is not samyang 😀
I think this is going to be more expensive than existing FE55 F1.8, simply by putting “Lens made of special glass….”
I’m using the Nikkor 35mm AIS F1.4 & ZF Zeiss 50mm F1.4, so I’ll probably sit through this two Loxias, unless it’s proven to be better than Nikkor PC-45mm. 😀
yea, kinda disappointed at the lens speed. I’m now waiting to see how well will the lens render images.
The neat part would be all Loxias will have a 180 deg focusing ring which would help with focusing muscle memory.
“A special gasket at the mount protects the connection between camera and lens”
Does this mean these lenses will be weather sealed? If so, that would be a significant incentive to purchase them.
thought the same thing.
the alpha7 serie bodies are weatherproof as the FE lenses. The weak point was the contact between them on the mount. If the Loxia are weatherproof too + the gasket at the mount then it would make the combo very tempting.
maybe it’s the ugly blue ring at the mount base.
awesome!
i’m guessing this one will be really cheap! around $2,000.00 🙂
Will not sell many at that price. Half that at introduction. There is no guarantee that Zeiss did not mess up the electronics to be fully compatible with all the E mount lenses.
the loxia pages were up two hours ago, but now is says “failed, no authorisation”
somebody must have been sleeping or not followed instructions
https://filetea.me/t1sAlAU8821S6OboOxH868Zeg
Did anyone download the pdf and would share it? Zeiss pages are gone. 🙁
https://filetea.me/t1sgxhwhm75QS6JxcwKO5e1nQ
(it will be kept as long as I don’t close my browser, please link it up)
Thanks for that.
The lack of MTF charts on that leaflet makes me wonder even more!
Even Sony had an MTF chart when the RX1 was launched and it turned out to be accurate.
On the other hand, I can really vouch for the Zeiss wet wipes. They really clean lenses and spectacles very well, indeed.
I don’t know about that neck strap…
I believe that those MTF would be published as reprint those for ZM line. The same happend with publishing Planar N 1.4/50mm, which was bolded version of Planar 1.4/50mm for Contax/Yashica. Maybe I am wrong but I believe that those would be just a reprint 🙂
Other hand I will be surprised if there would be different but each reading of MTFs of the same lens could produce slightly different results.
I believe that Zeiss believes that people are unable to read MTF charts so they publish them quietly for specialists only.
For a strap, it isn’t selling well but I have been use one for over 2 years. It’s the best neck strap, because it is stamped with Carl Zeiss 🙂 It is really comfortable and long-sufficient.
Awesome! Thank you! 🙂
I am pretty sure Voigtlander will follow with E-mount lenses too. They used to bring niche lenses completing the Zeiss lens line, and they have a full line of M-mount lenses which could be easily adapted for the E-mount. Voigtlander and Zeiss both are manufactured by Cosina in Japan.
If your prediction comes true then it will be really exciting, with Voigtlander bringing f1.4 & even f1.2 lenses to E-mount. Hope there’ll be also f1.4 lenses from Zeiss (Manual) and Sony Zeiss (Autofocus).
Why is there such a huge gap between the Outer Lens Barrel & the Lens Elements??? If its completely manual, why such a huge gap? Do they plan to have AF lenses in the future? You could easily fit a AF Motor in that Void….
Unified bodies with space for the f1.4 versions….
The size relates to the ergonomics. These will handle better on the A7 series.
Look at 35/2.8, it’s TINY and has AF, but the gap is even bigger. Never ever is the same design gonna have AF. They wouldnt compromise it by that much.
But they do have unified bodies for 50/2 and 35/2.
I’d rather ask why they didn’t fill that space with extra glass.
Exactly. I am guessing they could have used the same sized barrels would fit f/1.4 designs in there, especially since we are talking about purely manual lenses here.
Something tells me we will see someone else coming out with FF cameras, my bet would be Fuji. The reason I think about it is very simple, Touit range which comes in E mount and X mount. I don’t believe that Zeiss would produce new range only for E mount and by the looks of it (from the pdf) there might be additional mount(s) coming in the future (from leaflet): *Dimensions and weight may vary according to the camera mount. Length with caps.
maybe, but if Fuji will enter FF market (unlike what Fuji’s exec said) why create a new line. They could have simply continued to call it Touit and just adding a letter to distinguish FF to APC lenses.
Creating a new line may indicate that they know that Fuji won’t enter the FF game and therefore they can’t call them Touit to not confuse or build hope to the Fuji’s owner.
Also the precision on the mount on the leaflet is present on every Zeiss presentation for each mount.
yep, but there’s another sentence in the leaflet pointing at possible other mounts:
14
15
Length*
mm/inch
Diameter*
mm/inch (max.)
Weight*
g/oz.
Filter thread
E
Wide angle
Loxia 2/35
66/2.6
62.1/2.44
340/12
M 52 x 0.75
•
Standard
Loxia 2/50
66.2/2.6
62.1/2.44
320/11.29
M 52 x 0.75
•
*Dimensions and weight may vary according to the camera mount. Length with caps.
Technical specifications.
How large, how heavy, “How large, how heavy, available with which mounts?”
and regarding Fuji – what else would they say? APS-C is what they offer now, and that’s what they need to sell. wouldn’t make much sense to talk about something you are not/cannot offer at this time 😉
oops, pasted more than i wanted to – sorry about it
It is ambiguous indeed.
Maybe a legal precaution in case they release them with an another mount but it could be from any other brand, but you’re right if that happen the most likely will be Fuji.
unless there’s something being cooked (highly doubt it) in canikon kitchens – or maybe sony will come out with another mount 😛
Lots of conspiracy theories for what is most likely a copy-pasting error from some Touit brochure: http://www.zeiss.com/content/dam/Photography/new/pdf/brochures/touit/touit_leaflet_en.pdf
🙂 might be, but leaflets like this one go through several sign-off procedures before they hit production (in this case pdf on their website)
not really. Go to Ming Thein website on the thread about one of his photo of a Ricoh camera used by Ricoh’s official website in Malaysia without permission.
Turn out that the webpage was made by a subpar company that didn’t need to refer to the headquarter before putting everything online.
Also when Sony change their worldwide website there was the mess with the Drawing showing a NEX cam with IBIS. Turn out to be a messed up initiative of the agency who build the website that was put online and apprently Sony didn’t care to check.
I think they don’t go through that much of sign-off procedures if any at all.
The 35 is very interesting. It is different enough from the ZM Biogon to believe and hope that they really did address the incident angle issue with digital.
They call it a biogon, but it sure isn’t a symmetrical design.
Thank you for your insight.
Yes, they may be stretching the name a little here. Maybe the design retains the “look” of Biogons ?
Genuinely curious. If you don’t think this Loxia biogon as a symmetrical design, do you think the ZM biogon as? Obviously if you look at the design schematic, concave and convex elements still remain at the same location. The Loxia has a slight more compressed design with more pointy elements and slightly different in thickness. From that, I would say the design is still the same. Perhaps Zeiss changed the RI of the element. Shortened arrangement might mean a slightly wider focal length to cut off those smeared corners.
Symmetric or not depends on your point of view. I think generally double-gauss and biogon are called symmetric in comparison to retrofocal or telephoto designs.
Few Biogon, especially the modern ones, are actually “symmetrical”.
http://www.zeiss.com/content/dam/Photography/new/pdf/en/downloadcenter/datasheets_zm/biogon2_35mm_zm_e.pdf
Take a good look at the diagram, go figure. I wonder where the “different enough from the ZM Biogon” conclusion came from. To me the Loxia and the ZM are identical.
downloading leaflet “FAILED”.
Scroll down.] through the comments.
Here is the English PDF:
http://www.alphaforum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=95986#p95986
It’s good to see selection of lenses growing, now if Sony releases another camera with this mount that would have shutter release button at correct place, have silent mode and AF from A7s, resolution of A7 or A7r, no AA filter and I would jump the ship 🙂
Yes. Improved ergonomics would be the easiest and most needed upgrade for future FE mount bodies. This will be especially true when dealing with longer focal length lenses–a good grip will be essential. After that, Sony needs to work towards achieving the global shutter and IBIS for the full frame sensor.
yes please shutter release button in easier to reach position, current position is just stupid
The shutter button is fine. Post a link to your photos.
Why? I print 😉 but thinking about setting up my own website, just don’t have much time to do that
So with these lenses being full MF with aperture rings I guess you can set both the aperture and focus on the lens, turn the camera off and back on, and have it retain the focus you set?
Sort of like Ricoh’s ‘snap focus’??
UMMMM I think these are Mechanical manual focus lenses, not focus by wire….Hopefully
Lol. That’s not a Ricoh invention. That’s how things used to be for 150 years.
Diagram is identical to the ZM 35/2 Biogon.
I’m not saying it’s not a good design…it’s just too…straightforward…
They are not completely the same, seriously, although the Loxia aren’t a complete new design as OTUS. If your’re interesting in it. please compare them in parallel, and you will see the difference.
http://ppt.cc/oFK1 This is for your reference.
I think Loxia is optimized for A7-series.