SAR reader MAX found the first official price info about the new Touit Zeiss E-mount lenses! The well known German store Sauter posted the following info:
Touit 32mm f/1.8 for 799 Euro (Click here).
Touit 12mm f/2.8 for 1099 Euro (Click here).
These are very high quality lenses with full autofocus and aperture control. And particularly the price of the 32mm lens is much lower than expected. You pay 300 Euro more than the [shoplink 18180 ebay]Sony 35mm 1.8[/shoplink] but I am sure the Zeiss will easily outperform the Sony.
To get notified when these lenses will be sold on eBay join my Slidoo-eBay website and save this searches: Touit 32mm and Touit 12mm. You will can change the country in your settings. And here is the HowTo to learn how all this works (P.S.: Slidoo Amazon is in the works and will be announced in a few weeks).
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P.S.:Sony price check at [shopcountry 18180].
32 Responses
Good news indeed. Wish the 50mm CZ a-mount would cost 799€ too 😀
One big question: At such prices, who will be manufaturing these lenses for Zeiss? Cosina or some other Japanese company? Chinese? Korean?
Can’t see a problem if its Cosina, but the display models at Focus earlier this year appeared to be largely plastic, or as the Zeiss rep insisted “light weight modern materials”
In fact, they look a lot more like if Sigma had made them. New business partner for Zeiss … with Cosina doing the all-metal manual stuff, Sigma doing the mirrorless AF ligtweight stuff and Sony doing the AF A-mount stuff?
The design has nothing to do with the manufacturer. The smooth focus ring and satinised body surfaces are Zeiss design. Read all about in on the respective lens information pages. In addition, Zeiss states that “For parts that do not require metal for accuracy, solidity or durability, we have incorporated lighter materials such as plastic.”
I expect the lens barrel to be metal though, for the abovementioned reasons.
Cool. I’m waiting them to appear a few months later at $400 without blue sticker.
@Seeky: I know about the design, and I already read about the new design. However, I’m a little old fashioned … and having used loads of different Zeiss lenses over 35 years … I just like to know where geographically the lenses are manufactured and who actually makes them for Zeiss this time 🙂
I wish e-mount version had the aperture ring like the fuji version
This is impossible, as the Sony cameras do not have the communication for an apperture control on the lens (as have very little auto focus cameras)
The only lenses that will work with an apperture ring on the lens are manual apperture lenses (like old MF lenses)
Fuji has placed apperture control on the lens, but it is still apperture by wire.
it`s really a pity.
It is possible. Just include an automatic setting in the lens. The aperture ring doesnt have communicate with the body, just close and open the aperture. Like with MF-Glass.
Samsung NX cameras have such option (iFn). So it’s not complex as you think.
To Til:
It is not as easy as you make believe. Old MF lenses had mechanical apperture control. It wa indeed possible to use an Auto function on the lens, but the design of the Nex is different. There is an electrical apperture control. When using the lens like you describe, the lens has to communicate with the body to tell if it is in auto or manual mode. Then the lens has to have a mechanical apperture combined with an electrical one. making it very hard to create.
To Boooe;
I do not say it is impossible when you start developping a camera in this way, I said that it is not possible for the Nex to do so. As far as I know have the lenses no apperture feedback to the camera, so at least there is the need of a new camera that provide in this.
But I do like an apperture ring on the lens, but am afraid we will not see it on native Nex lenses…
It’s called “firmware update”. Like, NEX-3 and NEX-5 did not know that LA-EA2 existed and were unable focus with it. You just download and run updater – and voila, it’s here.
also, even if Zeiss can’t make Sony to support distance scale, they might have placed small LCD into lens top (where usually distance scale is) to do the same job.
@Boooe: the problem of lacking DOF scale can easily be solved in camera. The Minolta Maxxum/Dynax/Alpha 7 (with D lenses) had this feature where after pressing the DOF preview button it displays the point of focus accompanied by the DOF near and far limits. So as long as you have lenses that report the distance accurately to the body, there is no technical reason not to display those values. You can kind of compare it to AF range control on the A99, but as far as I know, without DOF information.
The problem is: Sony doesn’t want to do it, and won’t even move if e.g. Sigma lenses provided distance information to camera body. Probably even Zeiss couldn’t convince Sony to do that.
The Zeiss will outperform the sony? thought the sony 35mm is a good lens, so it should not be _that_ easy. anyway, the zeiss will sell, the price will lower a bit with time, so I don’t see a real big problem here.
yeah and the sony has OSS so the Zeiss must be MUCH better than the sony to be worth the additional money.
Why need Slidoo on Amazon when we have Tracktor?
http://thetracktor.com/
Completely different services 🙂
They have price tracking and send an email when the price is lower than the set price.
Can’t wait to get hold of the twit 32. 😀
Prices are still atrocious for these with no aperture ring or even distance scales blobs.
No, I’d expected the 12mm to cost more than thousand Euro so I’ll continue taking UWA photos and capture videos with SEL-16F28 plus VCL-ECU1, nevertheless I’d preferred some corner performance improvement.
Wow, I actually didn’t plan to buy the new Zeiss 32mm, but the price is actually very tempting. I normally shoot MF legacy glass, but there are moments when automation is good to have (when you are drunk at parties for example). €799 is not exactly cheap, but cheaper than the Distagon 35mm f/1.4 and SpeedBooster combo i use now as a party lens. 😀
800 Euro means the US price will be around $950. So it’s an extra $500 to lose OSS and get some IQ improvement.
I expected, considering the price, the 32mm to be less good than the 24mm f1.8. The 24mm started at 1000€.
The 12mm is expensive but really tempting!!!
The 32mm has a pretty simple lens construction without any aspheric or ED surfaces, which may not harm IQ but will reduce the price.
Also, Zeiss didn’t correct it for close-up distances. What results in a max magnification of ‘only’ 1:9 compared to the 1:4 of the 24mm lens it further reduced the price.
In the end, I expect the 24mm and 32mm CZ lenses to have similar IQ, which is a good thing.
I would imagine that the 24 costs more because of it’s wider focal length and close focusing capabilities. Whether or not the 32 is sharper is still up in the air. My guess is that it will be (at least I hope so) because this is a true Zeiss-manufactured lens; not just Zeiss-designed and thus, will have tighter QC.
32/1.8 is a Planar whereas 24/1.8 has silly optical design which also sacrifies IQ for AF speed, so of course 32/1.8 should be better.
The 24mm is a sonnar and not design especially for AF speed. It is known to have better contrast and less CA than planar. It has nothing to do with sacrifying IQ !
The original Sonnars were designed by Ludwig Bertele as nonsymmetric, telephoto design. They have their front focal plane shifted away from lens.
In pre-war times, Sonnars indeed had better contrast than Planars because of less glass-to-air surfaces, but for today’s made lenses it is irrelevant.
SEL24F18 is retrofocus, that is inverted telephoto. Their front focal plane is shifted backward, INSIDE the lens, and rear focal plane is shifted away from the lens.
Zeiss still owns “Sonnar” trademark so they are free to stick it to anything they like, or to license anyone they like to use it on their products.
Also, Zeiss makes real Sonnar 50/1.5 for M-mount.
I have owned both the cz 24/1.8 and sony 35/1.8. I sold the 24 a week after owning the 35 because it didnt outperform the 35. To me, it would have to be on the same level as the 25/2.8 ZM to be worth 400 dollars more.