Sony Zeiss 16-70mm f/4 for Sony NEX

stratokaster

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SonyAlphaRumors is pretty confident that we will see a long-rumored 16-70mm f/4 Zeiss lens for Sony NEX soon. If it turns out to be true, I will migrate to the NEX in a heartbeat.

(SR5) Sony will soon announce the Zeiss 16-70mm f/4.0 E-mount lens! | sonyalpharumors

I'm not a bokeh person and I prefer moderately slow travel zooms to fast primes and fast short zooms. Something like NEX-6 with this new Zeiss will be a spiritual successor to my cherished Sony CyberShot R1 with its high-quality 24-120mm (in 35mm terms) Zeiss lens. The range is not perfect, I would prefer this lens to be 16-80 at the expense of maximum aperture at the low end, but for me it still will be better than anything else out there.
 
SonyAlphaRumors is pretty confident that we will see a long-rumored 16-70mm f/4 Zeiss lens for Sony NEX soon. If it turns out to be true, I will migrate to the NEX in a heartbeat.

(SR5) Sony will soon announce the Zeiss 16-70mm f/4.0 E-mount lens! | sonyalpharumors

I'm not a bokeh person and I prefer moderately slow travel zooms to fast primes and fast short zooms. Something like NEX-6 with this new Zeiss will be a spiritual successor to my cherished Sony CyberShot R1 with its high-quality 24-120mm (in 35mm terms) Zeiss lens. The range is not perfect, I would prefer this lens to be 16-80 at the expense of maximum aperture at the low end, but for me it still will be better than anything else out there.

I still have the r1. I don't use it as much as I used to, but I really loved te zoom range and the the LCD setup.. Being able to set it up much like a tlr approach and look down to frame and shoot was very nice. Of course the flip up displays today can do the same, but the r1, I could leave it in this position w/o worry about damaging it. That lens was just great.

If Zeiss does do a zoom in that range... Very nice indeed. I hope they also announce a Fuji mount for it as well. But it maybe a Sony special.

Gary
 
I still have the r1. I don't use it as much as I used to, but I really loved te zoom range and the the LCD setup.. Being able to set it up much like a tlr approach and look down to frame and shoot was very nice. Of course the flip up displays today can do the same, but the r1, I could leave it in this position w/o worry about damaging it. That lens was just great.

If Zeiss does do a zoom in that range... Very nice indeed. I hope they also announce a Fuji mount for it as well. But it maybe a Sony special.

Gary

I still have the R1 too. Nowadays it sits in my office connected to the power adapter (because its battery finally died last year) and shoots product photos. I really miss it.

Some shots taken with the R1:

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SonyAlphaRumors is pretty confident that we will see a long-rumored 16-70mm f/4 Zeiss lens for Sony NEX soon. If it turns out to be true, I will migrate to the NEX in a heartbeat.

(SR5) Sony will soon announce the Zeiss 16-70mm f/4.0 E-mount lens! | sonyalpharumors

I'm not a bokeh person and I prefer moderately slow travel zooms to fast primes and fast short zooms. Something like NEX-6 with this new Zeiss will be a spiritual successor to my cherished Sony CyberShot R1 with its high-quality 24-120mm (in 35mm terms) Zeiss lens. The range is not perfect, I would prefer this lens to be 16-80 at the expense of maximum aperture at the low end, but for me it still will be better than anything else out there.

It's true :D

Sony unveils three new E-mount lenses, including the first G-series lens (18-105mm f/4) for NEX cameras

Here's a screenshot of an email I got today
p1819348030-4.jpg
 
There are Zeiss lenses for NEX (and Fuji) - these are the Touit lenses - and Sony Zeiss lenses. This is one of the latter. They are made by Sony (or Sony's contractors) but designed with input from Zeiss, hence they carry the Zeiss branding (in the same way some Panasonic lenses carry the Leica branding). These lenses are Sony only - there are also a number of Sony A-mount Zeiss branded lenses.

The most interesting aspect of this lens is the OSS. On Sony's previous roadmap this 16-70 was identified as a G lens (the branding for Minolta's high end lenses which Sony retained when they took over Minolta.) As far as I know this is the first interchangeable Zeiss branded lens with image stabilisation. Until now Zeiss, like Leica, have always refused to use optical stabilisation, claiming that it potentially compromises image quality. This is an argument they were making as recently as the launch of the Touit lenses when explaining why there was no stabilisation.

This did not matter with the A-mount lenses since all A mount cameras have sensor stabilisation but it would obviously be quite a challenge for Sony to sell a 16-70, $1000 dollar lens without stabilisation. Clearly, Zeiss value their relationship with Sony if they are now willing to go down this route. It also suggests that Zeiss were being a little disingenuous with their comments regarding optical stabilisation at the Touit launch since I find it hard to believe that they were persuaded of the merits of stabilisation and then worked with Sony to produce this lens in the period since then. Presumably, they will still resist OSS for their own brand lenses, but they have weakened their argument. It might be interesting to see if a future RX1 successor appears with OSS.

It certainly looks like a good lens and the price is bearable, though I would have been happy with a $750 G version. If the reviews confirm it as up to the standard of the other ZA lenses I might finally have to have one.
 
According to Flysurfer, the Touit lenses were made specifically with the NEX in mind. And then the X mounts were added along with aperture rings. Although I'm not sure who actually manufactures the Toiut lenses -- Zeiss, Sony or someone else. It would be nice to see some zoom third party lenses for the Fuji X though.
 
From the Touit FAQs at the time of launch:

"Where are the lenses made?
For the manufacture of ZEISS lenses, we use a global production network of trusted partners in the optical industry that has been built up over many years. Touit lenses are made in Japan."

Probably by Cosina, the people behind Voigtlander.

The same FAQs indicate that Zeiss are "evaluating" the possibility of Touit zooms.

There's a nice little video about the manufacture of the Touit lenses on Youtube.
 
would it be horrible to say that imo neither the sony nor fuji 'zeiss' lenses render anything like what i think of as traditional zeiss lenses for slr and rf? ive had a boatload of both trad kinds of zeiss, and to my perhaps warped eye, its literally night and day difference. again imo, i think some of the new fuji lenses, like the 35/1.4 and the 28/2 render much closer to the trad zeiss that i know than what is called zeiss for mirrorless.
 
I think you've put across quite well that it's your opinion, Tony. So I wouldn't worry about thinking it horrible to say. It's subjective, but to you it's pretty clear that the new mirrorless Touits don't give the same kind of images as the legacy Zeiss did.

I've read a bit of Steve Huff on the Touits, and he likes them very much. Doesn't mean he's right or you're wrong.

In a similar vein, I tried the Leica X-Vario. It's very much for the type of shots I like taking: landscape, scenic, architecture. But when I looked at the test pics i was taking, they weren't any sharper or ... whatever(?) than the Fuji X-E1 with the 18-55mm takes. I think most people don't appreciate just what excellent glass many of the Fuji lenses really are.
 
But Steve Huff also mentioned something about the 32mm Touit not rendering the zeiss look.

I appreciate Fuji glasses very much by the way hehe :D

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