Carl Zeiss announces Distagon T* 2/25 for Canon and Nikon

Exciting Perspectives in Low Light

Carl Zeiss presents the Distagon T* 2/25 ZE and ZF.2

OBERKOCHEN, GERMANY – 27 October 2011

Carl Zeiss presents the Distagon T* 2/25 ZE and ZF.2 moderate wide-angle lenses. The large image angle allows photographers to capture exciting perspectives. With its excellent imaging quality at all aperture settings, the lens flexes its muscles particularly for photo documentaries in interior rooms where space is at a premium, as well as for pictures of objects, architecture and landscapes. In many situations, a flash is an unwelcome feature — at family gatherings, in a museum or in a church for example. To capture the mood in such places, photographers gladly do without aggressive lighting and instead work with particularly high-speed lenses that enable short exposure times even under difficult lighting conditions.

The optical experts have now virtually eliminated the chromatic aberrations on these lenses through a special design and selection of materials. Selected types of glass and two aspheric surfaces prevent color fringes from appearing on high-contrast edges. "The Distagon T* 2/25 elegantly combines a compact design with a large initial aperture," explains Christian Bannert, Senior Director of Product Development in the Camera Lens Division at Carl Zeiss AG.

Lens elements meticulously crafted to minimize stray light and reflections in the lens, and the Carl Zeiss T* anti-reflective coating to increase light transmission enable high-contrast image rendition and color saturation.

The previously available Distagon T* 2,8/25 ZF.2 will continue to be on stock and supplements the new Distagon T* 2/25. Therefore, this new lens is also the first 25-mm lens of Carl Zeiss for the EF-bayonet.

The Distagon T* 2/25 will be available end of 2011 at a recommended retail price of €1217 (excluding VAT)*.

Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 2/25 specifications

Focal length	• 25 mm
Aperture range	• f/2- f/22
Number of lens elements/groups	• 11/10
Focusing range:	• 0.25 m – infinity
Angular field** (diag./horiz./vert.)	• 81°/ 71°/ 51°
Coverage at close range**	• 219 x 144 mm (close-up)
Image ratio at close range	• 1 : 5.9 (close-up)
Filter thread	• M67 x 0.75
Length with caps	• 95 mm (ZF.2) • 98 mm (ZE)
Diameter	• 71 mm (ZF.2) • 73 mm (ZE)
Weight	• 570 g (ZF.2) • 600 g (ZE)
Mounts	• ZF.2 (F bayonet) • ZE (EF bayonet)

Carl Zeiss joins Micro Four Thirds system

Lens maker Carl Zeiss has joined the Micro Four Thirds group, adding yet another prestigious optics marque to the format. Just days after the news that Schneider Kreuznach had joined the system, it has been announced that Zeiss will start making its HD Video lenses available in the Micro Four Thirds mount. This sudden influx of high-end cine and photographic prime lens makers (Voigtländer maker Cosina joined in August 2010), suggests that format founders Olympus and Panasonic have been working hard behind the scenes to bring some high-end lustre to the system.

Press Release:

Carl Zeiss AG joins the Micro Four Thirds System Standard Group

Announced jointly by Olympus Imaging Corp. (President : Masaharu Okubo) and Panasonic Corporation in 2008, the Micro Four Thirds System standard has rapidly grown in popularity. Now, support for the standard is expanding with the decision of Carl Zeiss AG to join the Micro Four Thirds System standard, and the company is releasing lenses compliant with the standard.

For more than 160 years, the lenses of Carl Zeiss AG have been defining the state-of-the-art in optical technology. Now, as Carl Zeiss AG joins the Micro Four Thirds System group, ZEISS HD Video lenses will be available to users of Micro Four Thirds cameras, contributing to a vastly expanded product line and enhancing the joys of digital imaging with the Micro Four Thirds System.

As the originator of the Four Thirds System and Micro Four Thirds System standards, Olympus Imaging Corp. will continue to develop and enhance the product lineup for both standards to meet the diverse needs of our customers.

Carl Zeiss AG

A long-established optical systems manufacturer based in Germany, founded in 1846 by Carl Zeiss. It develops and manufactures a large variety of optical products such as astronomical telescopes, microscopes, eyeglasses and optical sight devices as well as high-class camera lenses.
Carl Zeiss Website
http://www.zeiss.de/en

Outline of the Micro Four Thirds System standard

The Micro Four Thirds System standard was designed and developed to maximize the performance potential of digital imaging technology, and to extend the benefits of the Four Thirds System standard for digital camera systems.

When compared to the Four Thirds System standard, the primary distinguishing features of the Micro Four Thirds System standard are:

1. Approximately 50% shorter flangeback distance (mount-to-sensor distance)
2. Lens mount outer diameter approximately 6mm smaller
3. Electrical contacts in mount increased from 9 to 11

	* Image sensor diagonal dimensions are the same for both Four Thirds System and Micro Four Thirds System standards.

The Micro Four Thirds System standard enables users to enjoy the same high image quality of the Four Thirds System's 4/3-type image sensor in a much more compact body, and also take advantage of significantly more compact lenses, particularly in the wide-angle and high-power zoom range. The Four Thirds System standard offers the benefits of compact, lightweight performance, and the new Micro Four Thirds System standard takes this still further to enable development of ultra-compact interchangeable lens type digital camera systems unlike anything seen before. The new Micro Four Thirds System standard also incorporates a greater number of lens-mount electrical contacts for the support of new features and expanded system functionality in the future.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX5 Overview

Reviewed by David Elrich and Stephanie Boozer
Overview by Mike Tomkins
Date Posted: 03/24/2010
The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX5 digital camera is a slim, stylish pocket digital camera that has a secret: It's waterproof. The Sony TX5 is based around the combination of a 10.2-megapixel CMOS image sensor and a 4x optical zoom lens. The Sony TX5's sensor is what's known as a backside illuminated (BSI) design, meaning that its circuitry is placed on the non-light-gathering side of the sensor, allowing the maximum area of the sensor's other side to be devoted to light gathering. This should translate to higher sensitivity, and to reduced noise levels when compared to a non-BSI sensor for the same sensitivity. Actual focal lengths vary from 4.43mm to 17.7mm, equivalent to a range of 25 to 100mm in still image mode. This equates to everything from a generous wide-angle to a moderate telephoto. When shooting high-def movies, the sensor crop raises the effective focal lengths to a range of 28 to 112mm, and for standard-def movies the range is equivalent to 34 to 136mm.

The Sony TX5 has a maximum aperture which varies from f/3.5 to f/4.6 across the zoom range. At wide-angle the minimum aperture is f/6.3. To help combat blur from camera shake, the Sony DSC-TX5's lens includes an optical stabilization mechanism which works in concert with a built-in gyro sensor to detect and correct for camera motion. As is sadly the norm for most compact cameras these days, the Sony Cyber-shot TX5 doesn't include any form of optical or electronic viewfinder. Instead, Sony has opted for a 3.0" Clear Photo Plus LCD display with a resolution of 230,000 dots, roughly equating to a resolution of 320 x 240 dots with three dots per color. Overlaid on the LCD display is a touch panel, allowing it to double as an input device with intuitive operations like flicking or drag and drop used to control camera functions.

Perhaps the most significant feature of the Sony TX5 is its rugged body, which for the first time in a Sony Cyber-shot camera is protected against a variety of dangers including water, dust, shock, and freezing. The Sony TX5 is also rated waterproof and dustproof to the IEC60529 IP58 standard, which means that it is dust protected (not completely dust tight, but sufficiently sealed to prevent dust affecting operation), and is suitable for immersion at one meter or below, under conditions specified by the manufacturer. In the case of the TX5, Sony states that the camera functions up to depths of ten feet underwater for as long as one hour. The shock proofing should protect the camera from accidental drops as high as five feet, which merits the MIL-STD-810F Method 516.5-Shock rating. Finally, the freezeproofing allows use in temperatures as low as 14 Fahrenheit / -10 Celsius, and as high as 104 Fahrenheit / 40 Celsius.

A nine-point autofocus system includes face detection capability, and can recognize up to eight faces in a scene. The face detection function can be disabled if desired, and can also be programmed to give priority to either adult or child faces. The AF system can also operate in either center-weighted or spot AF modes. ISO sensitivity in the Sony DSC-TX5 ranges from 125 to 3,200 equivalents, and exposures are calculated using multi-pattern, center-weighted or spot metering. 2.0EV of exposure compensation is available in 1/3EV increments, and to help with capturing contrasty scenes, the TX5 includes Sony's Dynamic Range Optimizer function, although its strength isn't user-adjustable, and is instead fixed at the Standard position. Nine white balance settings are available, including Auto, Manual, and seven presets. Shutter speeds vary from 1/1,600 to two seconds. Burst shooting is possible for up to ten shots at full resolution, with a generous rate of ten frames per second. A built-in four mode flash operates to a maximum range of 9.5 feet at wide-angle, or 7.9 feet at telephoto, using the ISO Auto mode.
As well as still images, the Sony TX5 can capture either high-definition 720p (1,280 x 720 pixel) or standard definition VGA (640 x 480 pixel) video at a frame rate of 29.97 frames per second. Movies are saved with MP4 compression, and include monaural audio. The Cyber-shot DSC-TX5 also includes an unusual sweep panorama function which can capture up to 100 shots automatically by simply sweeping the camera across the scene, and then stitch these in-camera into a single image with up to a 258 degree field of view.

The Sony TX5 stores images on Secure Digital and SDHC cards, but not the newer SDXC types. The Sony TX5 is also compatible with Sony's own proprietary Memory Stick PRO Duo cards, and includes 45MB of built-in memory, enough to provide for a few of the most important photos should you accidentally leave your flash card at home. Power comes from a Sony InfoLithium NP-BN1 rechargeable battery, and the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX5 is rated as good for around 250 shots on a charge. Connectivity options include both USB 2.0 High-Speed data, as well as standard and component high definition 1080i video output.

The product bundle includes Sony's Picture Motion Browser v5.0 and Picture Motion Browser Portable (5.0 for Windows / 1.1 for Mac OS) applications. Sony also includes a one year limited parts and labor warranty. Pricing for the Sony DSC-TX5 is around US$350, and the camera will be available in silver, black, pink, green, and red versions from April 2010.

Just bought a black colour TX-5 today, for my wife.  It's $542 at Parissilk @ Holland Village.  The package includes a free casing and a 8GB Memory Stick Pro-HG.

Carl Zeiss Cine Lenses Target HDSLR Filmmakers this June

Later this June, well-known lens manufacturer Carl Zeiss will begin offer a line of Compact Prime CP.2 lenses with the HDSLR filmmakers in mind.
The new is no surprise, really, given the versatility and functionality that HDSLR rigs have shown over the past year in the film making space. As you may recall, the season finale of House was shot entirely on a Canon 5D Mark II. That's one example of mainstream acceptance, and there are many more.
Anyway, the Compact Prime CP.2 lenses are rumored to be compatible with Nikon F, Arri PL, and Canon EF mounts. There's also a lightweight Zoom LWZ.2 lens that will presumably offer similar mount compatibility.

 Pricing, unfortunately, will probably arrive a bit closer to the rumored June release date.

Carl Zeiss celebrates 120 years of lens production

Carl Zeiss is celebrating 120 years of camera lens production this month. The German company started off in 1846 manufacturing microscopes before moving onto lenses in 1890. A press release from the company stresses milestones in its history, including its lenses being used in man's first lunar expedition and Hollywood movies such as Barry Lyndon (which famously used an f/0.7 Zeiss lens to shoot scenes by candlelight). Along the way, Carl Zeiss's notable technical achievements have included the Planar and Tessar lens designs, its T* anti-reflective coatings and the development of MTF testing to measure lens quality. 

Click here for more information and to read the press release (in German)