new ziess 55mm, redefining?

[@!ex]

Thanks for the opinions, but I did a little research and found the actual answer (google is amazing). Since they are a german company they are prohibited from making AF for EF and F lenses. All the third party lenses for EF and F are from Japanese companies. It has nothing to do with creating lenses for purists or costs, just international prohibitions. As evidence, here is a quote from zeiss lens team.

"Due to international licences, it is not possible at the moment for companies outside Japan to offer AF lenses with EF- or F - mount. So we will concentrate on high-end manual focus lenses with those mounts within the next future.

Best regards

Carl Zeiss Lenses Team"

They should relocate to Japan for all our sake (pun intended)

 

[Viggo]

I used to own a 28mm f2 and it was less than perfect wide open, with brutal vignetting, but it was also the lens i have ever tried that improved the most one stop downå crazy difference! I reallyreally liked it. However 28 f2.8 is a lot easier to mf than 55 f1.4. Especially since Canon decided to drop my favorite focusing screen for the 1d x..

I think the 28mm f/2 is the least impressive of the entire ZE lineup honestly, all of the other ones are pretty awesome though, I love the 50mm Makro and 21mm in particular.

I guess we have different opinions, and also, I loved the 28mm focal, I'm not a huge fan of either 50 nor the 100. The 35 f1.4 they make I would neverever buy when I can have the L-version.... I heard the 35 f2 is pretty good, I would love to have it look and feel like the 35 f2 for Nikon. Never understood why they are so different in looks.

 

[Tayvin]

Thanks for the opinions, but I did a little research and found the actual answer (google is amazing). Since they are a german company they are prohibited from making AF for EF and F lenses. All the third party lenses for EF and F are from Japanese companies. It has nothing to do with creating lenses for purists or costs, just international prohibitions. As evidence, here is a quote from zeiss lens team.

"Due to international licences, it is not possible at the moment for companies outside Japan to offer AF lenses with EF- or F - mount. So we will concentrate on high-end manual focus lenses with those mounts within the next future.

Best regards

Carl Zeiss Lenses Team"

They should relocate to Japan for all our sake (pun intended)

I read the same thing. It's not by choice. I still love their lenses, though.

 

[risc32]

not that i'm discounting your searching, i have no idea why i didn't do it myself(sometimes i do forget the near limitless info i can get from my keyboard). Maybe i'm just being a bit of a conspiracy theorist, but i'm not buying it. Or perhaps i am, nikon/canon a force behind that international prohibition? I mean, besides canon/nikon who are the big guns? They all happen to be from where? Or, where aren't they from(japan)? now i'm getting all x-files... makes sense to me, but then so does making your own yogurt in your slow cooker.

 

[dr croubie]

I'm thinking about other reasons too. The international licensing sounds like it could happen (but then why can they do AF with Sony? Are they not also Japanese?).

How about this:
SigRonKina reverse-engineer the AF routines, rather than license them, as we all know. If ever a new camera body comes out, if Canon's changed anything, sometimes older lenses don't work. It's happened before, it'll happen again. Sometimes you can send the lens in to be re-chipped, some are just too old and you're stuck with MF or you have to use an old body. Some people steer clear of 3rd-party AF lenses specifically because of this problem.
Now imagine if Zeiss did that? They have a very good, well-respected name behind them. Maybe they can't license the original AF (from international issues, or whatever, ever notice how noone else licenses AF from Canon? Maybe Canon just don't want to license?). They probably don't want their good name being dragged down to the same level as Sigronkina from some simple AF issues, so it's better to stick with MF...

 

[TexasBadger]

The last time I checked the Zeiss ZE lenses were made in Japan. Why the conundrum?

 

[@!ex]

I'm digging the x-file nature of this discussion. I believe they subcontract Cosina to assemble their ZE lenses, which begs the question, why not subcontract them to assemble AF lenses (since they are in Japan)?