Announced just over two years ago, the extraordinary Zeiss ZX1 is to be announced today, according to a report in Photorumours this morning. The Zeiss has been a long time a-coming, so we hope that the wait has been worthwhile.
The full-frame compact features a 35 mm f/2 Zeiss , the same focal length used for the past eight years by Sony in the RX1.1 The Sony paved the way for the Leica Q, with an even wider 28 mm lens, and this proved to be a huge success for the German company.
Zeiss enters a market which is by now well tuned to the concept of a full-frame fixed-lens camera. It goes a step further by incorporating more advanced image processing into the camera. Instead relying on external processing packages such as Adobe Lightroom, the Zeiss offers an all-in-one solution.
According to Photorumors, the camera is due to be announced at 7 pm Tokyo time today (10 am GMT) and will cost $6,000.
- The RX1 uses a Zeiss f/2 Sonnar while the Zeiss incorporates an f/2 Distagon ↩
The Zeiss factory in Wetzlar is on the site of the great Leica copy the Hensoldt
The factory was bought by Zeiss and made prisms for Hasselblad and Zeiss binoculars
They snapped up graduating Leitz apprentices in the old days 40 years ago when I first visited Wetzlar
Cheers
Philip
After one year owners will have to supplement the 6,000 euro price with a full subscription to Adobe and a significant amount of “cloud support,” so long of course as Adobe supports the camera, and the built in software supports updates. No mention of whether one could select Lightroom instead – or why one would have to pay for Zeiss’s year contract with Adobe if one wished to use another editing program. Obsolescence looms large and soon…
I agree it is very difficult to make a financial case for the Zeiss when the obvious competitor is the Q2 with its 47MP sensor, known value-retention history and happy user base. The Zeiss is a leap in the dark and it could well be a flop, in which case early adopters could be left high and dry. There will be buyers, of course, but probably nowhere near the number who are prepared to buy the Leica.
I’m not really interested in new digital cameras, but the concept of a camera with communications functions, obviating the need for a connected smartphone, is one which I have mentioned here more than a few times. How do the communications functions work here? Do they work over a wifi link? Is the link 2 way? Can images be sent to the camera?
Zeiss had a major role in the paternity of Leica with Barnack being an ex-Zeiss employee and Berek taking some design concepts from the Zeiss Tessar for the Elmar, ‘the lens that made Leica’. The last time I was in Wetzlar we drove past a Zeiss establishment with lights on in the dark very early on a Sunday morning, but I imagine this one is probably made outside of Germany.
A camera like this should come with a help desk, something that camera manufacturers have not been good at providing. If Apple and Adobe etc can provide this, why cannot the camera companies who are now producing mini computers with lenses?
William
I love the concept, but will not buy the camera: it really is overkill for my use. However I warmly wish good luck to Zeiss!
I cannot wait to see the massive price reductions. I wonder if any store will actually stock this camera.
Interesting that I haven’t seen an official announcement and the web site isn’t at all helpful.
It is listed on their website as available. Price is $6K.
https://www.zeiss.com/consumer-products/int/home/content/newsroom/news-overview/2020/zeiss-zx1.html
Let’s hope the camera is better constructed than their website!