NEX and Fuji X Just Heated Up

Micro 4/3 has a big lead in the availability of cool and fun lenses of the kind beloved of the lens enthusiast, but the "full APS-C" crowd is just about to get a big step up. Ctein ought to like this...the three new Zeiss lenses for Sony NEX and Fuji X are to be grouped under the rather odd moniker "Touit"—named after a parrot! A genus of Neotropical parrots in the Psittacidae family to be precise, including the delightfully named "Sapphire-rumped parrotlet."

Hey, at least Zeiss didn't call them "Mimic."

The Zeiss Touit 32mm ƒ/1.8 (50mm-e) and Zeiss Touit 12mm ƒ/2.8 (18mm-e) (a Distagon retrofocus type, by the way) will be along shortly, and the 50mm ƒ/2.8 (probably a macro? And 10mm too short, says Old Grumpy) will be along later in the year.

About the name, which for some [ominous] reason is making me think of Pentax's quirky "*ist" appellation, Zeiss says,

But where does "Touit" come from? This illustrious name was found through an intensive international selection procedure. We followed a concept that is already well established in the automotive industry: selecting certain themes for product names. As an example, one well-known German carmaker names its automobiles after types of winds and currents. We decided to derive the future names of the lenses from the Latin names of birds. That fits well, as birds usually have excellent eyesight and can take unusual perspectives. Birds are also diverse and lively animals. Furthermore, the Latin names all have an attractive sound and are common in many languages and cultures.

Why not just name the lenses after cars? Skips the middleman. I'll take a Zeiss Gullwing. Or a Zeiss Thunderbird. Oops, we're back to birds anyway. Guess they're right after all.

Zeiss got the main thing right. Products these days need names that are distinctive enough to be easily searchable. When you search for one of these, Google will lead you right Touit. Heh....

Mike
(Thanks to Tom Kwas)

Original contents copyright 2013 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

TOP's links!

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

No featured comments yet—please check back soon!

Comments

[Jseliger.wordpress.com]

Micro 4/3 has a big lead in the availability of cool and fun lenses of the kind beloved of the lens enthusiast, but the "full APS-C" crowd is just about to get a big step up.

I don't get why Zeiss isn't offering M 4/3 versions, much as Sigma has with its cheap f 2.8 primes. Since APS-C has a larger sensor size than M 4/3, Zeiss could presumably just change the mount, write a small bit of code, and cover all their bases with minimal engineering challenges.

[Fraser Cutten]

The lenses are round, so I guess I can finally get a round Touit.
Cheers,
Fraser

[Tim F]

The must-have primes for micro 4/3 cost $700 (12mm), $300 (20mm), ~$500 (25mm), $350 (45mm) and $900 (75mm). That ain't ramen, but you can stock a solid 3-prime bag for well under $1500. Counting these two from Zeiss, how much will it cost to stock a comparable bag of NEX lenses? My guess would be well north of one-and-a-half K.

[hugh crawford]

Get the camera with the kit lens now and a better lens when you get Touit.

[JFG]

What no 'I will do it when a get a round tuit' jokes yet?

[Roger Bradbury]

I'm going to get myself the similarly named To-it. It's a circular one; I'll be able to do anything, when I get a Round To-it! : ]

[Mike Plews]

How about the Nikon 43-86mm Trabant?

[Gregg]

A touit. And they're round. Now, you can do whatever it was you were waiting to when you got a round touit.

[Gato]

My first thought was of the round touit advertising tokens, as in "I'll do the chores when I get a round touit." (around to it)

[Moose]

Much as I would like to finally get a Round Touit, I'm afraid that a lifetime's buildup of things left undone would kill me if I suddenly started tackling them all.

Then again, with eight µ4/3 lenses*, plus a tiny hole with no glass in it, and more bodies than I wish to admit to*, I don't think I will get around to switching systems.

One And One Third Moose

* No, I'm not entirely sure how that happened. {;~)>

[Ed]

Hmzzzz,

As a biologist I would like to stress the fact that turtles and birds in fact have 4 different types of cones and that this is rather unique in the field of colorvision. Therefore they object to the fact that the stupid mammalian known as homo sapiens sapiens makes sensors using 3 distinct photoreceptors and screens only using 3 which makes color TV and digital photography a rather disappointing experience (as Richard Dawkins already pointed out in "The ancestors tale" and then uses their (be it human given) name in order to name lenses to them......so first a 4 color sensor and display please and then start naming lenses to them......yeps in Holland we have an "animal rights party" with two seats in het house of parliament.....so be aware....and to the lads and lasses of the CNN newsdesk, our capital city is NOT KOPENHAGEN, now that is a stupid mistake if you are reporting from the CNN tower in downtown Atlanta but if you are reporting live from our capital then, well it looks a bit under informed indeed.

Greets, Ed.

[Tim F]

"I don't get why Zeiss isn't offering M 4/3 versions, much as Sigma has with its cheap f 2.8 primes."

No room in the market. The Sigma primes provided a convenient upgrade path for not-rich people who want something sharper and faster than their kit zoom.

On the other hand micro 4/3 already has superb 12mm and normal-equivalent primes. The Zeiss image quality would have to be excellent indeed to justify spending more money for slower lenses (f/2.0 vs. 2.8 and f/1.4 vs. 1.8) when the existing lenses already do quite well in optical quality.

[Jseliger.wordpress.com]

@Tim F—

The points about pricing are certainly true, but some people love the Zeiss name / branding / etc.—and, more importantly, it would presumably cost Zeiss very little in terms of engineering and manufacturing to offer an additional mount (AFAICT, Sigma's NEX and M43 primes are the same lens with different mounts).

Someone will buy them, especially if they yield a different "look" than the current Olympus or Panasonic primes.

[Richard Tugwell]

"Zeiss got the main thing right. Products these days need names that are distinctive enough to be easily searchable..."

What about pronounceable?

[Zeiss says it's pronounced "to-it." Hence my last line.... --Mike]

[Will von Dauster]

Sigh.

Worst. Lens. Name. Ever.

Yes, including the Hektor.

Will

[Ken Tan]

Great post :)

[PStu]

@Tim F: I saw an indication that the price could be upwards of $1200 each.

[Dennis]

Hmm ... looks like it's supposed to be French, pronounced something like "tweet". (Birds again).

[John F.]

At least it doesn't have an 'X' in it. Yet.

[struan]

Supposedly Zeiss is planning at a later date to release matched stereo pairs of the wide angle for photgrammetric use. They will be available with paired stepper-motor autofocus and extra-large flared lenshoods for night-time use. Code name Strix, or Tuoit-tuwou.

[ctein]

Dear Mike,

I'll be more impressed when they name a lens line "Elmo." [vbg]

I wish they'd offer the 12mm in a micro 4/3 mount. I'd happily sacrifice a stop of speed to get better image quality than the Olympus 12mm provides. I dunno if it will, but it'd be nice to be able to find out.

pax / Ctein

[Sarge]

"When you search for one of these, Google will lead you right Touit."

You're on a roll, Mike. Bah-dum-pah.

A few posts after saying that your old Hoover sucked and declaring that "the DC41 Animal really, really sucks."

Lens design has come a long ways from when one touch zooms sucked.

[hugh crawford]

Hey!
What's wrong with the name Hektor?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hector
, ok it was really named after Oscar's dog but at least it was better than
Tamron's AF XR Di VC Aspherical IF Pzd gibberish

Eurygon and Ysarex always struck me as odd names for lenses,but great names for cats.

[Horst]

Awesome, thanks, but Ill rather keep my 1970s Leica 35/2 Summicron M.

The lesson learned? Buy Leica in the first place and you wont have to bother "what lens to get" for the rest of your life.

[Thingo]

Hmm. Reminds me of another lens, though this one covers the full 24x36mm 'K-mount':
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/394223-REG/Pentax_20290_smc_Pentax_FA_31mm.html
[ I'll leave Mike to massage the link to include the TOP reference:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/?BI=2144&KBID=2882 ]

The Pentax Limited 31/1.8 is a wonderful lens. I trust the Zeiss measures up.