zeiss zm lenses

[irakly]

carl zeiss usa is sending me tomorrow all zm lineup except the 18 and 28 that i have and 15 that they do not have available right now. i am going to spend a few weeks using only zm lenses for everything and then write a review. i an not going to shoot rulers, newspapers and resolution charts. it will be a real-life experience review illustrated by real photography.
so far, zeiss informed me that they accept 18, 21 and 25 for mount adaptation to leica m8. the cost is 60 euros, and there is no backlog.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Great news Irakly. You have all the space you need if you want to place it here. Love to see what your thoughts and images are.

 

[Jack]

Awesome --- Can't wait to hear what you think of the ZM's!

 

[LJL]

Irakly,
Looking forward to your images and thoughts on the ZM line-up. I have the 25/2.8 and did the mount conversion and coding myself. Incredibly sharp lens, with excellent contrast across the entire frame. The center is actually just a tad softer than the edges, but I doubt most folks would ever notice in any shots.

I am still thinking about that 18/4 ZM lens. While I love the little CV15/4.5, it does not really kick in until about f6.3, making it less usable in lower light, where it could be a lot more fun.

Do share your candid thoughts.

LJ

 

[Guy Mancuso]

LJ take a look at the Zeiss 18mm thread i started ,gives you a nice impression of it and it really is a performer. i had the mount converted to 28/90 and coded it for the WATE. Check it out

http://forum.getdpi.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15

 

[LJL]

Guy,
I had looked at that thread when I first saw it posted. The lens does seem to have some snap to it for sure, and personally, I like that approximate angle of view for working with things.

Looks like most of your shots had it stopped down a bit to handle the bright light. I have been wanting to see it in action wide open in lower light. The first posting by JLM at his work area gives a good impression of the lens' look under lower light.

Still looks to be a hefty piece of glass, at least compared to the miniscule CV15.....but hey, my bag has several heavy pieces of fast glass already, so it should be comfortable with the others ;-)

Maybe Irakly will give it more of lower light workout wide open....hint ;-)

LJ

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Actually waiting for my wife to return home today and my daughters soccer games this week than Dad is running away for a few days. i decided to just get in my car and go shoot for a couple days up in Northern Arizona , so i will get a chance to get some shooting in and will do some low light Zeiss 18 shots also. Not sure where the hell i am going but just need to get away , have GPS will travel is my motto. LOL

I think the saying is Follow the Light.

I am feeling pretty depressed about losing every image I shot in Yosemite due to loading leopard on my machine, it was my fault and did not realize what i did but i screwed myself and I feel a desperate need to go make up for it mentally. Im actually really pissed about it, I had some fabulous images of Yosemite and also of our workshops folks working in the field. The only saving grace is I posted a few images on another site and was able to recover at least the web size ones.

 

[David K]

Guy,
What a bummer... hope you enjoy your "escape" and get some great images.

 

[irakly]

After installng Leopard I found my Lightroom acting strangely at times. It does not want to import entire collections of images from SD cards, and on one occasion files in the whole imported collection became zero-sized and copied themselves into files with alternative extentions. I am still trying to figure out what's the hell.

Actually waiting for my wife to return home today and my daughters soccer games this week than Dad is running away for a few days. i decided to just get in my car and go shoot for a couple days up in Northern Arizona , so i will get a chance to get some shooting in and will do some low light Zeiss 18 shots also. Not sure where the hell i am going but just need to get away , have GPS will travel is my motto. LOL

I think the saying is Follow the Light.

I am feeling pretty depressed about losing every image I shot in Yosemite due to loading leopard on my machine, it was my fault and did not realize what i did but i screwed myself and I feel a desperate need to go make up for it mentally. Im actually really pissed about it, I had some fabulous images of Yosemite and also of our workshops folks working in the field. The only saving grace is I posted a few images on another site and was able to recover at least the web size ones.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Mine was my hard drive was filled when I ddid the install and i wanted to clean out LR but I had ALL my externals attached and went to images and started dumping files and did not realize my externals were the images not the hard drive . BEWARE and watch this right here below

 

[LJL]

Irakly,
Sounds a bit strange. There have been some minor issues with LR in Leopard, but I thought both the 10.5.1 update for Leopard, and the most recent updates for LR and Adobe Camera RAW/PS CS3 were supposed to address some of those.

I have Leopard sitting in the box, waiting to be installed, but I am going to hold off a bit longer until a few more apps and utilities "catch up" to the changes. For one, if I update, I will then HAVE to update my ImagePrint RIP to the latest version plus a recent patch, as v6.1 will NOT work in Leopard. So, until a few more things get sorted, and I decide how to configure the workstation versus the notebooks for use, I am staying with Tiger a bit longer.

I know that does not help folks that are finding some of the glitches after they upgrade, but for those that have not yet done so, it might be good to check any and all apps and utilities for issues that may exist with Leopard. Not trying to discourage folks, as I think the new OS is wonderful, but it is not so wonderful when things that worked fine do not any longer ;-)

(Sorry for going off thread here, but after hearing Guy's problem and then your comments, I thought to add a word or more.)

LJ

 

[stephengilbert]

Irakly,

My LR imports sometimes do the same thing. It seems to happen when I have photos from two different days; it will import one and not the other. A second try will bring in the rest, but it is troublesome. I sent a bug report to Adobe about it, but encourage others to do so as well.

Steve

 

[Steen]

... so far, zeiss informed me that they accept 18, 21 and 25 for mount adaptation to leica m8. the cost is 60 euros, and there is no backlog.

irakly, could you please elaborate a bit on this.
What does "mount adaptation" mean in this case, does it mean 6 bit coding of born M-mount Zeiss lenses, or does it mean replacing the mount with some kind of adapter from John Milich or others ?
What do you get for 60 euro ?
And who does the job at that price ?
Can it be done in Europe since you are talking about the euro currency ?
Lots of questions, looking forward to hear more about this
Please forgive me my ignorance, I'm new to the M8.

 

[irakly]

According to Zeiss, for 60 euro you get a new mount that correctly sets frame lines on M8. It is done at Zeiss factory in Germany, yes.
Forget about 6-bit coding. Leica patent is impervious to anybody but Milich
Irakly

irakly, could you please elaborate a bit on this.
What does "mount adaptation" mean in this case, does it mean 6 bit coding of born M-mount Zeiss lenses, or does it mean replacing the mount with some kind of adapter from John Milich or others ?
What do you get for 60 euro ?
And who does the job at that price ?
Can it be done in Europe since you are talking about the euro currency ?
Lots of questions, looking forward to hear more about this
Please forgive me my ignorance, I'm new to the M8.

 

[irakly]

I just got the lenses. While I am still sick, I'll do a bench test, especially on 1.5/50 and 2/85.

 

[woodyspedden]

Mine was my hard drive was filled when I ddid the install and i wanted to clean out LR but I had ALL my externals attached and went to images and started dumping files and did not realize my externals were the images not the hard drive . BEWARE and watch this right here below

Guy

I had the same issue where i lost all of my LrCat files so had to re-import, classify and catalog every one of over 10,000 images into appropriate collection folders. thankfully I did not lose the images because I had the externals disconnected.

i too should know better but with all I have read on various forums is that the Leopard release was really premature. I am back to Tiger and will stay there for at least another three months

Woody

 

[LJL]

Irakly and Bondo,
Zeiss will do the swap for the 60 euros. They also were selling the mount for 20 euros or something. I had them ship just the mount to me, and I milled in my own coding before mounting it on the 25/2.8. It works perfectly. There is some discussion about whether things would be in register for proper focus if not done at Zeiss. I respect that. However, my personal experience has been that the Zeiss mounts are so precisely built and fit, that simply swapping them out did not require a bench alignment or anything of the sort, and it also allowed me to "code" the new 35 mount before swapping it.

If you have a tiny screwdriver, a bit of patience and confidence in doing the work, you can swap the mount yourself, and not have your lens gone for any period of time. Worth the consideration.

LJ

 

[harmsr]

LJ,

I understand the only one which Zeiss must recalibrate with a mount change is the 21/4.5 Biogon C. I have this lens and it is really a fantastic performer, but have not changed the mount yet. Cornerfix works really well in the mean time.

Best,

Ray

 

[irakly]

thanks. actually, i would not hesitate to do it if i knew where mounts could be milled for coding

Irakly and Bondo,
Zeiss will do the swap for the 60 euros. They also were selling the mount for 20 euros or something. I had them ship just the mount to me, and I milled in my own coding before mounting it on the 25/2.8. It works perfectly. There is some discussion about whether things would be in register for proper focus if not done at Zeiss. I respect that. However, my personal experience has been that the Zeiss mounts are so precisely built and fit, that simply swapping them out did not require a bench alignment or anything of the sort, and it also allowed me to "code" the new 35 mount before swapping it.

If you have a tiny screwdriver, a bit of patience and confidence in doing the work, you can swap the mount yourself, and not have your lens gone for any period of time. Worth the consideration.

LJ

 

[Hacker]

LJ,

I understand the only one which Zeiss must recalibrate with a mount change is the 21/4.5 Biogon C. I have this lens and it is really a fantastic performer, but have not changed the mount yet. Cornerfix works really well in the mean time.

Best,

Ray

Is there a reason for this? I'm thinking of getting the 21mm f4.5 as the WATE and 21 Elmarit is too big when travelling. Does it mean I have to send the lens to Zeiss in Germany? I have a spare adapter which is already milled.