Topic: bye bye little zeiss

[jojonas~]

just read that cosina will stop the production of the M-mount rangefinder Zeiss Ikon.

sad to see of course, I guess the segment between new production voigländer bessas, leicas and all the second hand cameras wasn't enough for one little gem of a camera.

anyone shoot/shot with one of these?

more info here:
http://www.zeissrumors.com/2012/03/zeiss-ikon-silver-version-is.html

update: seems that the stop of production it is only for silver version. my bad

[hookstrapped]

A friend has one.  Loves it madly.

[LT]

Our very own Peter Robinson is an avid user. 

[Late Developer]

That'll probably shove the price of these even higher than already.

Damned shame. These are fantastic cameras and have the best / brightest viewfinder of all 35mm rangefiners. they are also regarded as having the most accurate focusing due to the slightly larger distance (and therefore better parallax triangulation) between lens and viewfinder.

If I hadn't preferred the feel of the Leica M series, this is the one I'd have gone for. They also make stellar lenses which, hopefully, will remain in production.

[Francois]

That is a real shame... also it's a shame that they were so expensive!

If their prices had been more in line with the Bessas, they would at least have had a chance.

[LT]

That is a real shame... also it's a shame that they were so expensive!

If their prices had been more in line with the Bessas, they would at least have had a chance.

True - but my couple of brief encounters with them made me realise that the quality was way beyond that of the bess a range. I think it deserved a higher price bracket .... that's not to say it wasn't over priced though.  I think the Bessa bodies are too expensive for what they are. I'm embarrassed to say that I;ve owned the most of the bessa range at some point ... the L, T, R2 and R3A, and none of them matched the solidity and fine engineering of the Cosina Zeiss Ikon.

[LT]

Hold the horses ....!  That article says they are only stopping the production of the silver version. They will still be available in black it seems.

[Jeff Warden]

I use an Ikon for almost everything.  It's light and small enough, the quality is definitely there, and the viewfinder is second to none for the 35mm format.  It's a fine camera.

[Jeff Warden]

Hold the horses ....!  That article says they are only stopping the production of the silver version. They will still be available in black it seems.

ah, well no problem then.  They should be black anyway.

 

[Pete_R]

Our very own Peter Robinson is an avid user. 

Lately it's been more of an avid owner. I think the last time I used it was on our jaunt on the Ridgeway back in October. I'm on the point of selling it - just can't quite bring myself to do it. I know I'll regret it like I did a few milliseconds after selling my CLE.

[Francois]

Black cameras are very fine by me. Besides, when they're well worn you can see the metal shining through.

Strangely, I'm not against companies pulling less popular products from the market if it allows them to keep producing a fine replacement product.

[LT]

Strangely, I'm not against companies pulling less popular products from the market if it allows them to keep producing a fine replacement product.

Hear hear Francois. 

[Randy B]

Well that's a shame.  I just bought that very camera and 2 Zeiss lenses for it about 4 months ago.  Glad they'll still be producing it in black.  When they finally discontinue the Black as well I think I'll be tempted to buy one as a spare.  I love that camera, it's become my everyday companion.  I spent alot of time making my decision to get one instead of a new or used M6 or M7.  There are quite a few advantages it has over the M7 for my personal taste, not the least of which being that it costs half what an M7 does.

This baby and her lenses are a real treat to use and it's wonderful that they've been able to keep producing such well made and high quality film cameras this long.  

I think the lenses are amazing as well and it seems like they are fairly popular with the digital micro four thirds crowd, so I anticipate those being around for quite some time.

Also, how dare you fools make fun of my beloved silver    way better than the black  

[Ed Wenn]

Also, how dare you fools make fun of my beloved silver    way better than the black  

Fight!!!

 

[Francois]

Well, silver has that classic look we all love. Even my grandpa's Leica was silver. But on the other hand, people are so used to black cameras, it's no surprising it might be a favorite. Black is more discrete and unobtrusive...

[gregor]

The Zeiss Ikon is a wonderful camera. Very close to a Leica M5,but a better viewfinder in my opinion. I've been using the M5 of late but in hindsight should have picked up an Ikon instead.  Good that the black model is going to still be in production...

[jojonas~]

oh, wow! nicely spotted leon. I'll change the original post accordingly