Got an old M42 screw mount SLR such as the Pentax Spotmatic lying around? Well, now you can use the latest Carl Zeiss SLR lenses on it, since the company just announced that their industrial grade lenses will be available in M42 mount soon. Previously, Zeiss industrial lenses had only been available in Nikon F mount. The M42 mount versions of the lenses–which appear to be the same optically as Zeiss’ ZA, ZE and ZF.2 SLR lenses–are fully manual, unlike their ZF.2 counterparts which sport electronic contacts and an automated aperture diaphragm. Three of the lenses are also available as infrared-optimized versions, namely the 25/2.8 Distagon, the 50/1.4 Planar and the 85/1.4 Planar. Since these lenses are designed for industrial application, they probably won’t be available via regular photography retailers. The official press release states that prices are available upon request, but our (more or less) educated guess is that these will set you back about the same amount as their consumer counterparts.
Zeiss’ regular SLR lenses can be purchased from B&H Photo.
