Zeiss ZX1 Debuts With Full-Frame Sensor, Fixed Lens

Photokina's media preview 24-hour interval was rife with camera and lens news, so Zeiss waited several days to make its big announcement for the show. At an event in Cologne before today it announced the ZX1, its first camera release since the discontinued 35mm Ikon rangefinder, and its first digital camera.

The ZX1 certainly breaks the standard design mold, mostly due to its handgrip. Its front has a triangular shape, but with rounded edges, while the rear angles slightly back. I haven't had a gamble to choice up and hold the ZX1 every bit of yet, but information technology looks like it should conform quite well to the shape of your hand.

The body features a matte black end, with clean lines and bright yellow text marking control settings. There aren't a ton of dials or switches on the torso itself. The AF/MF switch is built into the fixed lens, along with a physical discontinuity ring and a rubberized transmission focus ring, similar to what we've seen in the manual focus Zeiss Otus and Milvus lens serial.

On the top you'll find a hot shoe, shutter speed and ISO control dials, and the shutter release. On the rear? A large, 4.3-inch touch screen, a single button (presumably to toggle the eye sensor), and an EVF with diopter adjustment. The EVF sports a 0.74x magnification.

The big screen is there to help photographers edit and share images in the field. Images are stored internally—the camera sports 512GB of internal memory. Zeiss hasn't yet published full specifications, then information technology's unclear if there's also a memory menu slot, but you aren't likely to be left wanting for extra space with that much internal memory. Information technology's plenty to hold vi,800 Raw images and upward to 50,000 photos in JPG format.

Wireless connectivity is included, both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, and there is a USB-C port for physical data transfer. Firmware updates will be performed over Wi-Fi, and the camera includes a customized version of Adobe Lightroom CC built in, so you lot can edit photos right on the phone's screen, just as you would with your Android device or iPhone using Lightroom Mobile. Additionally, the camera volition be able to transfer images to the internet without having to first copy to your phone, provided information technology is connected to a Wi-Fi hotspot.

The paradigm sensor is a new pattern, a 37.4MP full-frame chip tuned to piece of work in conjunction with the fixed 35mm f/2 Distagon lens. Zeiss says it has designed the sensor, but doesn't say who makes information technology. I'll speculate that it's most likely Sony, given the collaborative history between the two companies and Sony's all-encompassing sensor business organisation.

The camera supports Raw capture in the Adobe DNG format, along with JPG, for images. Video is included likewise, at UHD 4K resolution at 30fps, or 1080p at upward to 60fps. There'due south no mention of optical or digital stabilization, so nosotros'll take to expect and run across how stable handheld video looks.

There are a lot of question marks most the camera. How is the funky grip actually going to experience in the hand? How good is the lens? And how much volition it cost? We'll know closer to its ship date, which is targeted for some time in 2022.

I am intrigued by some of the features. The internal retentivity is a benefaction—it'due south something I'd like to see added to more cameras, non every bit the just storage choice, but to supplement the memory card slot. Pros hesitant to jump to recent single-slot models like the Nikon Z 7 and {{zffarticle id="363530"}}Canon EOS R—turned off past the lack of memory redundancy—would have their concerns ameliorated past a fast carte du jour slot coupled by ample internal retentivity.

The big-screen touch interface and integrated editing tools remind me of another promising, but ultimately flawed, camera, the Samsung Galaxy NX. Samsung'south endeavor at a premium, connected photographic camera was misreckoning. It had every tool a social media maven would want, including the ability to load Instagram and postal service directly from the camera itself. But I, forth with other serious shutterbugs, was turned off by the design. Its huge affect screen was great, simply where were the physical controls?

Zeiss seems to have gotten that right with the ZX1. No, you won't have a push button to change the metering pattern, bulldoze mode, or EV compensation, but the three legs of the exposure triangle—aperture, shutter speed, and ISO—are all accessible via concrete dials. I'd dear to accept seen one more software-configurable punch on the torso, but I'chiliad willing to give the visitor the benefit of the uncertainty. I'm intrigued to encounter how the bear on interface works to supplement physical controls.

In improver to the ZX1, Zeiss as well announced a new lens for the Sony FE mirrorless arrangement. The Batis 2/40 CF is a full-frame, 40mm f/2 prime lens with 9.5 inches (24cm) for one:3.3 macro magnfiication. As part of the Batis family it supports autofocus.

It volition go on auction in Nov and is priced at $1,299 in the United states of america.