Zeiss Ikon delayed ?

[lucien1]

Q: When will you ship the ZI camera?

A: In August 2005.

 

http://www.zeissikon.com/faq.htm

[anhtu]

They could be having problems sourcing that little blue plastic dot for the lens. :-)

[wayne_murphy8]

They could also be assessing the market to see if the huge production

investment is worthwhile for a film camera. How many would they sell? Very

few is my guess. Pessimistec view? Yes. Realistic view? Yes also.

[rick_waldroup3]

I would guess that they will sell all the can make. There is a really nice market out there for quality rangefinder cameras.

[paul t]

Story is that all the first 1200 production run are all sold or reserved. On the

second production run they'll introduce a black version.

[Karim Ghantous]

Wayne wrote: "They could also be assessing the market to see if the huge production investment is worthwhile for a film camera."

 

I'd say they already figured that out *before* manufacturing it. Now, you'd have a point if they started this thing five or six years ago. I still reckon they should have released a digital version instead. There are enough Leica M bodies to serve the 35mm part of the market.

[WAn]

http://www.zeissikon.com/news.htm

 

 

2005-05-24: Shipment information

etc

[bill_marshall1]

Disappointing news. With Cosina probably overextended, the delay for the ZI body is understandable. But why the delay on the 2 lenses being built by Zeiss in Germany? Their production/delivery dates were already scheduled for 4 months after the first lenses from Japan were on the market.

 

Bill

[jorgen_udvang]

Since it's cheaper than a Leica, probably of similar quality and hopefully with a civilized film loading (like in: hinged back), it may outsell the M7 rather fast, even without a dot. It's much more expensive than the Voigtlander, but with the prices of M-mount lenses, I'm not sure if I worry about that. I would prefer a black one though.

[steve_chan5]

Perhaps they've read some of the feedback on photo.net, and decided to go back and add additional weights to the lenses?

[scott_mcloughlin]

Yes, I find this puzzling and troubling. Doubt? Capacity issues? QC issues? It is a new body design for CV, so the latter two are certainly possible. But then yes, why the lens delays?

 

It would be nice for CV/ZI to just come out and explain the delay in simple and honest terms. Beats lots of speculation among the customer base.

 

I agree that there should be a healthy market (for the RF film world) for these bodies presuming no short comings once they hit the market. Zeiss has good brand recognition among serious hobbyists and what not, and M7 prices are high and going higher. I can see a nice ZI RF body and a 50/2 Planar being a welcome "prize possession" for a B&W hobbyist film shooter.

 

Scott

[jeremy_tok]

There must have been design or production-method errors discovered during production ramp-up. These may even be inherent with Cosina bodies, but are compromises Zeiss believes are unacceptable for a luxury model costing much more (given their experience with the Contax G and N Digital lines) and their realisation that the internet has changed the business of selling cameras. Once upon a time when your camera was a dud, you thought you were unlucky. With the internet, news of systemic weaknesses spread like wildfire and can very quickly doom a camera line (Hexar RF).

 

Nowadays, before they buy something people have the habit of asking questions like "Leica M5 -- experiences, known problems, etc.?" Whereupon 30 years of history are reported on, and every tiny nit picked relentlessly. Or people who shoot with the Canon EOS 1Ds MkII, which is reputed to "eat lenses for breakfast", causing, among others, renewed appreciation for truly great lenses like the Carl Zeiss wide angle lenses, and the dubbing of Canon's kit lens with the DRebel "a piece of c***" regardless of the superlatives used in Canon's promotional brochures.

 

Or you have people who shoot laser beams into the camera to determine the *real* metering pattern and reporting their results for all to hear. That's a lot more scrutiny than producers are used to. Zeiss' marketing manager for photo-optics hangs out in newsgroups a bit, even here in PN, so he ought to know that the only product you should deliver is a mature, relatively bug-free one.

 

(I don't envy his job. It's easy to fail and look bad.)

[max_fun]

The delay in lenses could very well be the same reason why Leica can't bring out enough of their 50mm Summilux Asph; they are difficult to make.

[sprouty]

From the same new brief: <I>"Anyone who does not constantly use a camera will be happy to have a simple, intuitive system."</I>

<P>

So what if you do constantly use a camera?

[edward_yu3]

I reserved a limited edition Zeiss Ikon camera in september 2004. Understndably, I followed information on their web site. Amonth ago,

On Chapter 3 of their "Making of zeiss ikon" page, I saw this:

 

"Well ?V the new Zeiss Ikon camera should come with a body that, first of all, enables positive grip with European size male hands. This, to us, is a very important requirement, something which seems to be much less important to many makers of consumer digital cameras and cell phones."

 

I do not feel too offended as I have some engineering background. A brick like structure is nothing magical. It can certainly fit most human hands. But my female colleagues feel quite strongly about this comment. Even my Australian male firends wonder if "European" include them.

 

I literally grew up in Europe and have never heard any company say such sexist and racist nonsense. I have sent my comments to my local Zeiss Ikon dealer and they said they would tell Zeiss Ikon. More than a month has passed and I still can see the same paragraph. I guess they do not only have "passion", they have an attitude. For that, they have my respect.

 

I really regret having waited for this camera. After all, why should I spend money on a product which meant to fit "European male hands"? My wife and my little daughter sometimes use my camera. I certainly do not think the Zeiss Ikon camera is right for them.

 

I am going to buy a Leica M7. I really have waited too long. If I bought it last September, I could have bought the system much cheaper.

 

I think I have made the following mistakes:

 

1. Decide on buying a camera that I have never handled. No one ever told me the price. I only know it would be expensive.

2. Believe that international companies should have a global community concept. I never thought any international company could discriminate against the female sex.

3. Wait 8 months and still believe in a delivery in August. They said the lenses could be delivered early 2005. We are still waiting with patience.

 

Hope the information is useful to fellow photographers.

[andrew_hall1]

Edward, I hope you didn't buy the (almost) equally sexist Contax Aria either - it was advertised (or at least mentioned on its Japanese press release) as "designed for the small hands of women."

 

You'd probably feel that the entire Contax line has now been served their just dessert. Hurry and throw me any stuff that bears Zeiss trade names, please.

[joel_matherson]

Edward, your response is a clear example of political correctness out of control. When I read that statement I took its meaning that this cameras grip caters for some Europeans that have larger hands as well as others who dont. I cannot argue their point that some compact digitals are impossible to hold and I have quite small hands. I am Australian and I knew what was meant by the statement. If we continue to be offended by every misinterpretation or gesture the world will soon come to a halt. Chill a bit, you will get less ulcers.

[jeremy_tok]

Yeah. No point in taking offence where none was intended. The only thing the statement with the European male hands means is that the new ZI will be sized more like a Leica M than an Olympus XA. It's a statement of a design philosophy: large enough for the largest hands will automatically mean it's large enough for all hands. That statement is part of the preamble about the body size being free to choose.

<p>

Yes, I agree the copy could have been formulated with more tact. I believe it was written by a single person, the same person who writes Camera Lens News, who also wrote <a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=009sAn" target="_blank">here</a> (scroll down a bit) that Hasselblad sold all 1200 limited editions. I personally prefer such marketing communication over the sterile non-speak that Canon or Leica comes up with.

<P>

Glad to hear from one of the 1200 who ordered one sight unseen, pictures untaken, reviews unread, body unhandled and price unknown. You know what they say about a what being born every minute? Cheers.