That is beautiful, but, where did these come from? I haven't seen any official word on a black option, and these are clearly not official press release pictures.
That's a very retro/irritating place to attach the tripod. I wonder if the camera will come with a (Canon-RF-style) "holder". And perhaps Zeisselblad would increase its sales if the "Zeiss" mark were in a bright, contrasting color: "This camera is more expensive than yours!"
Interesting. I thought the Zeiss rep said a black finish was being "considered." I had hoped to see such a thing, but as it turns out, i don't like it as much as i had imagined. It looks 'cheap.' Kind of like an old Canon 7(?) crossed with a Hexar. Where'd you get these pix, Gavin?
...other than the black finish, there are small differences in design/aesthetics versus the chrome model shown in the brochure.
Originally posted to the CVUG list. Images are from this (Japanese) page: http://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/cda/other/2004/10/01/182.html
And having just read the disclaimer on the Japanese page, I should't have just linked directly to the images - should have given the URL of the main page, as above. As I can't edit my post (*sigh*) perhaps one of the mods can amend it?
Whether or not Zeiss have officially announced a black model, they are displaying both chrome and black lenses on the Ikon website so it makes sense for them to have a black body to match.
I agree with BAS regarding the aesthetics of this camera. It looks like a 60's era Kodak-something-o'matic. Personally I prefer the look of the R2 (the R2A and R3A look like the cheapo Russky RF's I picked up in Moscow for a couple bucks a piece).
Depending on the price, I have to say that the eyepiece and conventional film loading would be a tremendous benefit over my M6. Top shutter speed of 2000 would be of only marginal benefit... I'd rather have the presumably quieter cloth shutter of the M's. I do like what appears to be the off switch under the shutter release... keep me from wasting the occaisional battery. As for the looks, I tend to slap gaffer's tape on the top deck of my M6 for note taking, so looks are fairly low on my list.
I think the new Zeiss has heaps of style. I really like it. The black version in those pics is just a prototype. I read somewhere that they were keeping it under the counter at Photokina as they hadnt quite perfected the finish yet and were not even sure if they would market a black verson. At 60% the price of an M7, I think its a good deal. The lenses look great too, although they do look quite large for rangefinder lenses.
>Andy Aitken , oct 02, 2004; 04:18 a.m. >From below it looks uncannily like a stretched out CL. Hexar!
To me, that just looks like a good tool for taking pictures. I hope it's priced for shooting and abusing, and not for fondling and collecting.
The paint looks a little "thin" with a mottled look, not the deep, shiny black from the pics I've seen of say an S3 2000. It looks like it would wear easily.
The paint is on a prototype that may or may not be produced. This particular paint and application process may not be the one used *if* a black version is made. Therefore evaulating the paint texture, quality, etc. is rather pointless. The same applies to an extent with the silver version too. The body covering material may change, the texture and look of the various parts may change. It's just a prototype. -Dave-
Thanks for pointing these out. It's a beautiful camera in black, I love the stark and simple lines. Godfrey
The front corners look sharper than the camera on the web site. The silver camera on the stite looks different.