Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Zeiss Lenses for Nikon F Mount. After a mini-teaser campaign and numerous leaks it's now official. Zeiss has announced that is to introduce a range of new 'ZF' lenses which will have a Nikon F Mount (although it's not clear at this stage how much communication will go on between the lens and body). These new lenses appear to be the result of Kyocera's decision to ditch Contax. The first lenses to be introduced will be the Planar T* 50 mm F1.4 ZF and the Planar T* 85 mm F1.4 ZF. These lenses are slated to become available in 'Spring 2006'... [Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)] I'll take a look at the 50mm when it comes out. I've had a Nikon 50mm f1.4 AF-D lens for years, and it's okay visually, but a real pain to focus manually. I recently bought a 50mm f1.8 AI-S used, and as the reviews had promised found that it has much higher build quality and is very easy to focus manually, besides being much cheaper than the newer autofocus lens. If this new Zeiss lens turns out to perform better than the AI-S lens, while still being at least as well made, I'll probably buy one. comment () trackback ()  2:11:20 PM     Minister Arrested in Organ Procurement Scandal. Take a look at this article, which (briefly) describes the arrest of a Korean minister who was implicated in a black market organ transplant ring. According to the story, this clergyman and his cohorts were taking "premiums from terminally ill patients in return for arranging tours to China for transplant surgeries." How dare anyone actually find organs for desperately ill patients! What was the compensation to the conspirators? Again, according to the article, It was uncovered that Koh and his collaborators earned W120 million (US$120,000) from 28 liver cancer patients. Perhaps $4200 per patient wasn't adequate to generate the required protection money. [Mises Economics Blog] Sadly, it's not surprising that a priest who actually did something good for people ended up getting arrested for it. comment () trackback ()  10:53:42 AM

© Copyright 2006 Ken Hagler. Last update: 2/1/2006; 1:31:16 PM.

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