I went to Kashiwa today to try out the new lens and to have a look at the Bic Camera shop which has opened there this week.

I was contemplating about a new 50 for a while, since I had sold the 50/1.4 USM for the Canon which I used for Two Sundays a long time ago. So when I saw the new Zeiss in the shop after just having read about it in a magazine, even under list price and at the same price of a used Summicron and double of a used Hexanon, I thought “why not?”.

The lens handles very nicely indeed. Very solid build. 3rd stop clicks very smooth and quiet. The focus “bulge” is a very nice compromise for tab lovers -myself included- and haters. I also bought the hood, even though it is the 10th of the price of the lens itself, but it is metal and has a spring-action bayonet mechanism, so again “why not?”. I was pleased to notice that the lens cap can be put on and off while the shade is on, which is unusual. Good thinking on design.

The box comes with a thick instruction manual in all languages for the whole range of lenses. Fun to see the final QA inspection report in English and German, signed by a Japanese. I enjoy reading Zeiss and Made in Japan on those boxes somehow. This is how it should be – the best of all worlds. Warranty is covered by Cosina by the way, according to certificate.

Diversity is my motto for this year, by the way. Last year it was control. I always wanted to write something about that, but just thinking about how long that would take to explain always puts me off.

The Bic in Kashiwa is very big, taking over a large chunk of a part of the Sogo department store. It changes the Station Plaza completely, to my disappointment. It looks less interesting now, more standard suburban town than the eccentric Kashiwa I have grown to like so much to photograph. Especially since the plaza is my favourite turf and it is now very hard to keep the shop out of the picture. Fortunately I have plenty of material from the pre-Bic era to use. Even so, Kashiwa will always be Kashiwa and the countryside boys and girls are still cruising as they always have. I shot two rolls of APX 400 and was a little uncomfortable with the restricted angle of view when compared to my standard 35mm. After a while I had gotten used to it and realised the in frame/out of frame thing that everyone says about rangefinders. So let’s see what comes back from those.