View Full Version : Deliveries of ZI have begun (10/28/05)
ZeissFan
10-28-2005, 08:50
Carl Zeiss AG has posted a notice on the Zeiss Ikon Web site (http://www.zeissikon.com/news.htm) that deliveries of the bodies have begun.
are you going to get one of the silver ones?
ZeissFan
10-28-2005, 10:21
yes, i'm in line for the silver body plus 50mm and 25mm lenses.
ZeissFan
10-28-2005, 10:35
I figured I'd put my money where my big mouth is ...
Good for you! Having done that, please be sure also to put your fingers where your mouth is... er, your mouth where your fingers are... um, anyway, when you get your new ZI, please be sure to write us an exhaustive post about what you think of it!
MinorTones
10-28-2005, 10:47
That IS one sexy looking camera. Now if i could only scrounge up the $3000+ i would need for the body and a lens.
ZeissFan
10-28-2005, 11:10
With any luck, I'm either in line for a promotion or career change in November. I've also seen the other side -- got laid off in 2003, the depths of the dot-com crash. This side is a lot more fun.
I can't wait to hear what you think of this cam.
Dave
Frank Granovski
10-28-2005, 13:55
I'd really like to kick the tires soon, or else I'll just have to settle with a new black Bessa. ;)
SolaresLarrave
10-28-2005, 14:14
Good! It's been ages for me since I get a new camera...
Nope, not this time.
bobofish
10-28-2005, 17:06
Let me wish you not only an exhaustive testing session, but more importantly, MANY GOOD PHOTOS with your new camera (when it comes)
John Robertson
10-28-2005, 18:31
Never mind the testing!!! Just go out take photos and enjoy the thing. Now must go and buy a lottery ticket :p
It's gonna be one great camera!
Don't forget the exhausive review
ZeissFan
10-28-2005, 20:39
The last new camera I bought was an XPan to celebrate the elimination of my job.
wlewisiii
10-28-2005, 20:43
With any luck, I'm either in line for a promotion or career change in November. I've also seen the other side -- got laid off in 2003, the depths of the dot-com crash. This side is a lot more fun.
Ain't that the truth! I'm burning frames like crazy here with the new toy ;) , hope that one is half as much fun for you. :D
William
'Deliveries of the bodies have begun' - prbably means the're being loaded in to the shipping crates for the long sea trip from Japan. I spoke to the UK importer yesterday afternoon to be told (by a non-sales person) 'the bodies aren't here yet', with the underlying sense of a couple of weeks to go. Remember folks take a salespersons advice with a pinch of salt (sometimes with a pack of Saxo ;) ). Look on the bright side - it gives us more time to save up. :D
RObert Budding
10-29-2005, 03:38
'Deliveries of the bodies have begun' - prbably means the're being loaded in to the shipping crates for the long sea trip from Japan. :D
Cameras are small and light - so let's hope they will ship by air!
Enjoy your new system, Zeissfan!
Robert
Huck Finn
10-29-2005, 08:53
'Deliveries of the bodies have begun' - prbably means the're being loaded in to the shipping crates for the long sea trip from Japan. :D
They're actually being shipped from Sweden. Cosina is the distributor only in Japan; Hasselblad is the distributor for the rest of the world, so if they posted that it means they have been received in Sweden, which is good news. Dealers outside Japan were told that they were being shipped first week in November, so this notice on the website means that they are ahead of schedule. Since it's not far from Sweden to the UK, I expect that your dealer will be pleasantly surprised unless he's low down on the priority list. My dealer was expecting to receive his within about a week from the ship date.
Huck
With any luck, I'm either in line for a promotion or career change in November. I've also seen the other side -- got laid off in 2003, the depths of the dot-com crash. This side is a lot more fun.
The last new camera I bought was an XPan to celebrate the elimination of my job.
Got into the same situation, but no cigar...
Didn't buy photographic stuffs yet...:D
Robert White has the silver body on their site for GBP 780 (not including VAT), which is about $1400. Don't think they are actually shipping yet, though.
They're actually being shipped from Sweden. Cosina is the distributor only in Japan; Hasselblad is the distributor for the rest of the world, so if they posted that it means they have been received in Sweden, which is good news.
Now that's weird. They are trans-shipping the entire production of a Japanese-produced camera to Sweden, and thence from Sweden to everywhere else in the world?
If the entire initial run did go to Oberkochen for QC evaluation, it would make sense... otherwise, it seems like a huge inefficiency.
Transport is cheap! I once had a friend who was a truck driver. In the late 80's I accompanied him on interesting tours. One was a nice one week drive through france. We picked up refined casein coming from New Zealand in Bremerhaven, drove that to france and in france we picked up unrefined casein and brought that to Bremerhaven so it coud be shipped to New Zealand :-)
With all the export subsidies it was cheaper to export the raw stuff to Oz and buy refined casein from there!
Huck Finn
10-29-2005, 15:57
Now that's weird. They are trans-shipping the entire production of a Japanese-produced camera to Sweden, and thence from Sweden to everywhere else in the world?
If the entire initial run did go to Oberkochen for QC evaluation, it would make sense... otherwise, it seems like a huge inefficiency.
For all I know, they could be doing QC in Sweden before it's shipped out . . . although I doubt it. I assume that they are doing that in Japan.
Anyway, nothing weird about it. Hasselblad is the distributor & is doing what distributors do . . . distribute. They control & account for inventory, they handle marketing, they maintain records, they respond to requests to supply product, etc. Cosina was contracted to manufacture the product in partnership with & under the supervision of Carl Zeiss AG, but their agreement only designated Cosina as distributor in Japan, so Cosina must supply the cameras & lenses it was contracted to produce to Zeiss. and Zeiss has requested that they be sent to Hasselblad. Apparently, Zeiss liked Hasselblad's world-wide distribution network better than Cosina's . . . for better or for worse.
Huck
Uncle Bill
10-29-2005, 18:51
I wonder if they will be sold in Canada?
Bill
Transport is cheap! I once had a friend who was a truck driver. In the late 80's I accompanied him on interesting tours.
What's the price for a barrel of oil back then? :p
Anyway, nothing weird about it. Hasselblad is the distributor & is doing what distributors do . . . distribute.
That would be the case if Hasselblad has no offices outside Sweden. Why not ship from Japan or Germany to local Hassey branches? :confused:
I wonder if they will be sold in Canada?
A few months ago, I e-mailed Amplis, the Canadian distributor listed in www.zeissikon.com, and asked who my local dealer(s) will be. Never received any reply. :bang:
Frank Granovski
10-30-2005, 00:23
Same here, so I e-mailed the US distributer instead. :(
That would be the case if Hasselblad has no offices outside Sweden. Why not ship from Japan or Germany to local Hassey branches?
That makes sense to you and me, but mayby not to Hasselblad (and/or Zeiss or Cosina). Untill the beginning of this year I was working for a logistical company (one of the few big names in the field) and we handled the logistics for one of the major manufacturers of telecom equipment. It happened more than once that equipment form the plants in China was flown to the Central Distribution Center in Belgium, unloaded, combined with some other stuff and reshipped to Taiwan, Australia,... and even China (admittedly the last was really exceptional). I'm not talking about 1 or 2 small items, but about full truck loads. The logic? Probably some financial interests (customs,...), some organisational interests (the guy managing the supply chain designed the logic and he was responsible for the good results of the system), and probably also to avoid Murphy's laws (complicating the operation increases the risc of something going wrong). Transport was still only a small factor in the total price of the product.
All this just to say that I'm not surprised by the concept of a central distribution center in Sweden.
Wim
Huck Finn
11-01-2005, 08:41
I received an e-mail this morning from Dr. Joseph Yao (joseph@yao.com) that he is now selling the Zeiss Ikon at a price of $1395 with Zeiss international warranty, administered by Hasselblad. These are not grey market, although whether the local Hasselblad distributor - for example, HasselbladUSA - will service a warranty bought from outside their country or marketplace remains a question for them to answer.
Huck
Frank Granovski
11-01-2005, 14:16
Re: "...selling the Zeiss Ikon at a price of $1395 with Zeiss international warranty, administered by Hasselblad...."
$1395 USD for the new Ikon? :eek:
Get yours fast Frank, you want a low serial number for resale value.
Frank Granovski
11-01-2005, 16:05
Hehe. Good one. ;)
You can get a minty M6TTL for that! ;)
You can get a minty M6TTL for that! ;)
Great! I can trade mine in with no loss. :D
Huck Finn
11-01-2005, 19:02
Re: "...selling the Zeiss Ikon at a price of $1395 with Zeiss international warranty, administered by Hasselblad...."
$1395 USD for the new Ikon? :eek:
Yes, Frank, USD . . . & grey market prices will undoubtedly be lower than that.
Huck
anselwannab
11-01-2005, 20:17
I think Mazurka nailed it on the head. THe Ikon will be competing with used Leica gear, at least till they get a track record. I'm saving up for the digital version, if it ever comes.
isn't that the whole point? as they say, leica's biggest competitor has been its own used bodies.
ZeissFan
11-01-2005, 22:56
It's hard to believe, I know, but it's possible that some people might actually prefer a Carl Zeiss camera over a Leica. Myself, I'm very impressed with the quality of construction of a Leica IIIf, but when it comes to picking the camera to take with me, it's almost always a Contax IIa.
I'm also not a fan of the word "minty," especially as how it's applied deceptively to eBay gear.
Frank Granovski
11-01-2005, 23:46
I wonder if B&H will be offering a gray market version. They usually do will a lot of their photo gear; which is a good thing for cheap bast_rds like me. :cool:
Huck Finn
11-02-2005, 02:59
I wonder if B&H will be offering a gray market version. They usually do will a lot of their photo gear; which is a good thing for cheap bast_rds like me. :cool:
I don't know either, Frank, but CameraQuest & Popflash both will. And both are reputable dealers.
Huck
Huck Finn
11-02-2005, 03:14
I think Mazurka nailed it on the head. THe Ikon will be competing with used Leica gear, at least till they get a track record. I'm saving up for the digital version, if it ever comes.
I've never bought a used camera. I've bought used lenses, but never a used camera. I'va always felt that there's little that can go wrong mechanically with a lens but a lot that can go wrong mechanically with a the moving parts of a camera. Dante Stella has an article on his website to the same effect, so I know that I'm not the only one who feels this way.
When buying used - especially on the internet, which is where the major savings are available - there are the inherent problems of the inknown history of the camera, the unreliability of the seller's description, the possible (if not likely) additional cost of a CLA, & the lack of a warranty unless you're buying from a reputable dealer, in which case it's probably a short term warranty. Some people are comfortable with such a purchase; others like me are not.
Peter is absolutely right that for the same money, you can probably buy an M6 in very good condition. It seems to me that what the Zeiss Ikon is all about is that it is offering the consumer a choice. In the past, my only option for that money was the minty Leica; now there is a high quality alternative new for the same price. When peo;e compare, there may be features on the ZI that they like better - like the longer baseline or the the ZI viewfinder or the AE. Some may even prefer the lighter weight of the ZI.
More choices normally energize a market, so this is a good thing for the rangefinder market as long as the ZI QC program has avoided the reliability issues of the Konica Hexar RF. Of course, sometime within the next year you'll also be able to buy a used ZI for even less, providing even more choice.
Huck
phototone
11-02-2005, 07:59
The only cameras I HAVE purchased new, are digital ones. And that is only because I needed the newest technology for my business. All my film cameras, from 35mm up to 8x10 were purchased used, and I have lots of cameras. I am not afraid to "go inside" and fix things, though.
Still don't see any available from anwhere ... :(
Huck Finn
11-06-2005, 14:42
John, they're available from Dr. Joseph Yao. He can be reached at joseph@yao.com. Other dealers with whom I've spoken expect to be reciving them by the end of thid week.
Huck
vBulletin® v3.6.8, Copyright ©2000-2013, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.