Last week, we got to have some quality fondling time with the brand new Zeiss 12mm f2.8 Touit lens on the Fujifilm X Pro 1. The lens is one of the first entries that Zeiss has made into the mirrorless autofocus lens market. Like all things Zeiss, the company is not only putting image quality first, but they’re also trying to think a bit different in terms of build quality. In our meeting with Zeiss, they also clearly stated that they are targeting the high end user.
And with the price tag of the 12mm f2.8, they really seem to be doing just that.
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It was honestly bound to happen: and now it has. According to a report from the Wall St Journal found by Imaging Resource, Olympus will kill off their V series of cameras. The V series were always the more affordable options, but the problem is that those camera sales are being eroded away by mobile phones. There isn’t any word on the other point and shoot cameras like the XZ-2 and XZ-10, but when one thinks about Olympus these days, we often think about the Micro Four Thirds line of cameras. With the arrival of the EP5, the lineup has full mobile connection though it is also possible with Transcend Air cards for the rest of the pen lineup.
These cameras are designed to offer users something that they can’t get from their phones: better quality. The images are then easily ported over to the devices and then shared to the web. However, someone will soon need to put apps like Instagram and Facebook in the cameras without the use of the Android system.
Despite this news, the company had a tremendous stock rise today. According to the Wall St Journal report though, other manufactures such as Canon are even struggling with point and shoot sales. And for years, Canon Powershots were the absolute best that one could get. But with the recent competition from Fujifilm’s X series and Sony’s RX series with significantly larger sensors, we’re not very sure that the small sensor camera market can survive.
Think Tank previously had the Retrospective 7 designed for mirrorless camera lovers, but now they’re showing off a brand new line designed specifically for that crowd: the Mirrorless Mover. Available in a 5, 10, 20, and 30i series,the bags are designed for different sizes of mirrorless cameras moving from the Nikon 1 series all the way up to Leica Ms accordingly. As for prices, they’ll range from the mid $30-$70 range.
Besides dividers (which are very close to the Retrospective series in design) the bags sport a Flip-Top style lid with magnetic closure, a rear slot for your belt and to therefore prevent theft, side pockets, mesh pockets, and is made from ballistic nylon. It also includes a rain cover. It’s quite interesting that the company has chosen not to make the bags from canvas.
They aren’t available yet, but then they launch we’ll be sure to have them in for review.
The other day, Zeiss explained why they named their new lens lineup the Touit brand. And today, they’re announcing that the 12mm f2.8 and 32mm f1.8 optics will officially be launched. We played with the lenses a while ago at Photokina, and we’re also itching to get them in for review. The company will be coming to NYC soon for an official press event where we’ll get to fondle zee new glass.
But wait: there’s more! The company also announced that a 50mm f2.8 Macro lens will be coming soon too before the end of the year! It seems like Zeiss is really trying to get into the mirrorless camera game now, and honestly they belong there.
Tech Specs are after the jump.
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At last! The most rangefinder-like of the mirrorless camera systems has a 35mm equivalent lens! We’ve always been a fan of SLR Magic’s lenses here on the Phoblographer and when we received the 23mm f1.7 in the mail, we were super stoked. It renders a near 35mm field of view on the cameras. Though Fujifilm themselves will be releasing one later on from the publishing of this piece, they were beaten to the cake by SLR Magic. We’ve spent a couple of days with this lens since seeing at Photokina, so far and we have to say that this one makes the X Pro 1 feels like the Leica cameras that I was trained on.
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In the mirrorless camera world, there is currently loads and loads of excitement behind Zeiss’s new lenses. To refresh, we previously reported on the announcement of the 32mm f1.8 Touit and 12mm f2.8 Touit back around Photokina and shortly afterward, we got to see them up close and personal. These lenses will be made for Fujifilm X mount and Sony E mount (NEX)–leaving Micro Four Thirds out in the cold.
Now back up a second–Touit isn’t part of any of Zeiss’s typical naming conventions. But today on the Zeiss Lens blog, the company explained why the name came out. According to the company, “Touit stands for good visibility, agility, mobility and diversity, qualities which also aptly describe the new ZEISS lenses for mirrorless camera systems.” The cited that this took inspiration from car manufacturers naming certain series of cars after types of wind.
More importantly, how do you pronounce Touit? Apparently, you say, “Do it.” Crazy cool, huh?
