New Zeiss Ikon with Biogon

The full picture

 

http://www.zeiss.de/C12567A8003B8B6F/GraphikTitelIntern/28ZeissIkon/$File/BwP-28.jpg [Moderator note: link doesn't work]

It looks rather normal - classic accents but modernised to be a bit 'cleaner'. I guess we have to wait until Sunday unless somebody here has been to Photokina. Anyone?

I want one....

IMO, it's a film camera.

 

With a new incarnation of the Contax G2 Biogon T* 28mm f/2.8.

 

http://www.kyoceraimaging.com/lenses.asp?itemnum=202000

 

I hope that lens will have the Leica M bayonet, but because of its lens design, I doubt very

much it will ever work on a digital camera.

 

Lucien<div></div>

We can only hope its a reasonably priced digital rangefinder camera!!!

Are they already taking orders? :)

It looks sexy to me!

 

And who cares if it's digital or not!

I'm sure there isn't much info available at this time but this looks like the Contax IV in a

newly proposed 1:2 picture size format. Does anyone know who may have made the

body? Does this mean Zeiss Ikon is back in camera making business, or is it only a

brand and Kyocera is still involved? I have so many questions and I just can't wait until

Sunday to find out...

I hope it takes that plasticy stuff in a tin with the greyish emulsion muck stuck to it...

My guess is this is a digital camera using a non-fullsize sensor. For otherwise it doesn't

make sense to pair it with a first lens of 28mm.

 

I'd much prefer a film camera though.

Go to

 

http://www.zeiss.de/de/photo/home_e.nsf -> photokina 2004 special -> Back with

Passion

 

You'll see why the 28mm lens.

Hm. So you're suggesting there is no particular reason why a 28mm lens other than the

fact that it was used to take that picture. You could well be right. For a while I was

suspecting if this could be a digital camera based on the 3/4s system, for which 28mm

amounts to roughly the standard focal length.

 

The camera really is a curious thing and I can't wait to know if it's film or digital. I have to

be honest and say that I really don't see much of a market for another film-based,

interchangable lens RF system now that we have Cosina, Hasselblad, Rollei, Contax, and

Leica spanning every price range.

the consensus on the zeiss forum is that it is a digital. there is also talk of a digital Xpan. hmmmmmmm.

my guess, however, is that is is "just" a mechanical RF designed to take the full range of G2 lenses. that would be a nail in leica's coffin if they get the camera right. but it also suggests that the RF renaissance continues (just as the high turntable renaissance followed CD).

 

by the way, the body covering looks just like stuff on my super ikonta. NOS??

According to someone on dpreview, the current picture associated with the "Back with a Passion" theme is a picture of Gothenburg - home of you-know-who.

If it is indeed a digital XPan then one has to wonder why it's not branded as such (i.e.

Hasselblad/Fuji). To me that scenario is unlikely because a digital XPan would have used

the existing Fuji lenses.

 

Perhaps I'm extrapolating too much (can't help it), but from the Zeiss website it seems like

Zeiss is behind only the lens (design or production) but not the camera.

i did NOT mean that the pictured camera was a digital xpan. i meant that the people on the zeiss forum are discussing rumors of a TBA digital xpan.

 

much as we discuss rumors of a compact leica 75mm and an anniversary M3.

on the bottom?? would be typical for a zeiss product.

i don't see a USB port??

there definitely appears to be a hinge on the left hand side.

Peter's argument makes sense. So perhaps the protrusions were to make room for a large

enough LCD screen.

 

And who will be making this (assuming that it's not just a prototype to impress)? Aside

from Zeiss themselves, which company has the production capabiliies but without a strong

brandname so as to want to revive Zeiss Ikon (analogous to what Cosina has done)?

not to mention that "back with passion" doesn't exactly fit a new digital offering. whoever made the rollei (cosina??) RF bunged this together for zeiss.

a hinged door to cover an LCD a la rd-1??

Of all the recent RF models this one is perhaps the most Leica-like. The layout/design, at

least from what we can see, is a direct Leica derivation/replication. To me that seems to

suggest this is a company that's perhaps experienced in efficeint manufacturing processes

but relatively inexperienced in designing an interchangable-lens RF camera. i.e. They

looked to others for design clues.

 

Somehow I get the feeling that it is a company like Sigma, Tamron, or one of the Korean

electronics giants that's behind this camera. Pure speculation, of course.

Lets have a close look at this picture:

 

1.On the left side we can see something sticking along the left edge, like a back door axis, that does not show on the right side on the camera.

 

 

2.On the upper left side we can observe 3 longish things that appear to be circular dials: 1 for shutter release, another for speed dial, and a third with no gripping surroundings, could be the base of an advance lever.

 

These 2 things would make me think about a film camera.

 

 

3.The lever on the right of the lens, seems to be located quite well for a preview lever, more than a self timer lever, traditionally set on the other side, along the M style guarded button on the left side would surely indicate this is not a fixed lens Assembly, might even be M mount (who knows).

 

 

4.The leatherette seems to be of high quality finish, instead of usual low grade plastic covering of todays digital cameras, and the apparent longish RF base between VF and RF, give me the idea that this camera was designed to compel to some wacko product niche costumer like Leica/Nikon/Contax etc. RF users.