These new Zeiss Touit lenses look like a very great addition to the new E-mount lens range. SAR reader Rob had the pleasure to test these lenses on the Sony NEX-5n: “I just posted à long hands on review of the Carl zeiss touit 12mm on à Sony nex 5n. See http://transcontinenta.wordpress.com/2013/05/08/hands-on-review-van-de-carl-zeiss-touit-2-812mm/
I also did Many shots with the Sony nex 7 and the Same lens in the Dutch Keukenhof . See our flickr account for that with Many high res touit samples taken With the 32mm on à fujifilm XE-1 and à Sony nex 7.”

And there are plenty of new image samples and news to read: A new Zeiss Blog entry that talks about the lens design, 12mm Hands-on at Photographyblog and image samples at Photographyblog. 32mm Hands-on at Photographyblog and image samples at Photographyblog. Image samples also at Diglloyd. 12mm image samples at ThePhoBlographer.

Zeiss preorder links:
12mm f/2.8 at BHphoto, Adorama and Uniquephoto. In Europe at [shoplink 18497 ebay]CameraCenter UK[/shoplink] and FotoMundus.
32mm f/1.8 at BHphoto, Adorama and Uniquephoto. In Europe at [shoplink 18498 ebay]CameraCenter UK[/shoplink] and FotoMundus.

We have the first three “Lens Turbo” feedbacks from SAR readers ([shoplink 18455 ebay]eBay auctions here[/shoplink]):

1) SAR reader Gary (Click here) tested the Pentax to NEX Lens Turbo and you can see plenty of images on his blog. Some of his early findings:

– The build quality on the unit is fantastic,
– The field-of-view is actually a bit narrower than I expected,
– There is also a hint of vignetting wide open, and the adapter seems to add a slight green tint to the image, as well as a hint of distortion,
– it does seem to smudge and swirl the bokeh a bit.

2) Southerns: I’m returning my Lens Turbo. There is a large bluish dot in the center. Shot with a FS700 – http://youtu.be/zYB0lesJaxo I used the Samyang 14mm and Samyang 24mm. I also tested at the same time with the MTF adapter and that was ok. No filters were used at all. The camera was in the shade and I get the blue dot facing the opposite direction away from the sun too.

3) SAR reader Donny shared his Len Turbo image samples. Click on them to enlarge. The George Takai magazine, 2 Flower Shots, and Payphone were all shot with the Nex 5n plus, Lens Turbo Nikon-NEX adapter, and Nikkor 50 1.4 AIS.The rest were shot with the Samyang 35 1.4. All with an aperture of /f1.4 on lens (which becomes f/1.0 witht he Lens Turbi).

Current Lens Turbo auctions:

1) Hong Kong store Roxens sells the Pentax K to NEX adapter on [shoplink 18380 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink], Canon FD to NEX adapter on [shoplink 18420 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] and Nikon F to NEX adapter on [shoplink 18421 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] and Minolta MD to NEX adapter on [shoplink 18422 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] 2) Shanghai store Jinfinance has three adapters:  Pentax K to NEX adapter on [shoplink 18381 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink],  Canon FD to NEX adapter on [shoplink 18382 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] and Nikon F to NEX adapter on [shoplink 18383 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

The RX1 is a unique camera so it doens’t come as a surprise that it just won two awards. It has been voted as best Premium Compact camera at the German TIPA award and it also won the CamerGP 2013 award (Source: DC.watch). The Sony 10-18mm got the price as bext expert lens for mirrorless systems and the best pro camcorder is the NEX-VG900 FF camcorder.

RX1 links roundup:
RX1 at [shopcountry 15824].
RX1 Gariz accessories:
1) They made a new half leather case in Black and Brown ([shoplink 16437 ebay]Click here to see them on eBay[/shoplink]).
2) The new lens cap ([shoplink 16439 ebay]Click here to see them on eBay[/shoplink]).
3) The new entry is the anti loose button(!) ([shoplink 16438 ebay]Click here to see them on eBay[/shoplink]). Don’t know if that will be really useful for you RX1 owners. Someone has it and call it how it works? Thanks!
4) And this is the really first time I see that. A special Leather skin hood! ([shoplink 16441 ebay]Click here to see them on eBay[/shoplink]).

The Hasselblad Lunar is all about high quality material and luxurious outlook. And exactly that “feature” has been shortly reviewed at Genotypewritings (Click here). And what he writes really doens’t sound good: “the camera immediately becomes disappointing in terms of its finish. This particular model felt very plastic-like all over. To make things worse, they have chosen the most plastic and rubber-like materials for the knobs.”

And if you read the rest of the article you can find some other issues on the camera (like the ON button without OFF mark) and so on. I really like Hasselblad camera history. And of course it’s also ok to move into the luxury segment. But the Lunar seems to not have that luxury feeling they were targeting for. I hope this was just an unfinished prototype camera.

found via PR.

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The Hasselblad Lunar is ready to come soon! The picture on top shows the new Lunar with the new Zeiss lens. At DC.home (Click here) you can see first image samples shot on the Lunar with the 18-55mm and Zeiss lens! And Brad Morrise (the.me) wrote a first hands-on report. In short this are his first impressions:

– Compared to the NEX-7 the the Hassy feels to have a better quality click when releasing the shutter.
-The LED and VF are the same as the NEX-7 however there is a large eyecup now installed on the viewfinder
– the knobs are now quite sharp and uncomfortable to touch, almost like touching a cheese grater.

And he ends his first review report by saying “There is no compelling reason I can see to take this camera over the NEX-7.” Obviously the camera is not made for us poor SAR readers but rather for multi millionaires whose main daily struggle is finding a new unnecessary reason to spend their money :)

The Spanish website DSLRmagazine (google translation here) is the first website posting a full lens review of the new Zeiss Touit lenses!

Zeiss 12mm f/2.8:
The graph on top shows the sharpness of the lens. And the tester says that “the performance, both in the center and in the corners is spectacular“. Also the distortion and vignetting are very well controlled and almost non visible.

Zeiss 32mm f/1.8:
Also in that case we have an absolute stellar performance: “The center and corner performance is very high from the positive maximum aperture and in fact “the curve” response reminds us of the extraordinary Carl Zeiss Sonnar T * 35mm f / 2 riding the Sony RX1.”

In short “The optical performance is the highest level we ever tested. You could say that at the moment are “state of the art” optics for CSC.”

Zeiss preorder links:
12mm f/2.8 at BHphoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and Uniquephoto (Click here). In Europe at FotoMundus.
32mm f/1.8 at BHphoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and Uniquephoto (Click here). In Europe at FotoMundus.