New ZEISS industrial lenses

[Dr Klaus Schmitt]

http://www.zeiss.com/corporate/en_de/press-and-media/news/press-releases.html?id=zeiss-interlock-eng_2016


(C) ZEISS

also with NIKON mount

[Akira]

Apparently they are for the factory automation for which Nikon F mount is the standard.  Pentax also makes F-mount 50mm and 35mm lenses for the purpose under Cosmicar brand name.

[pluton]

I've always liked the idea of having a focus lock.  It should be built into most lenses.

[Akira]

I've always liked the idea of having a focus lock.  It should be built into most lenses.

I agree.  I'm not sure of your use of a focus lock.  But, for example, I want to lock the focus whenever I do panos.

Also, (though this is a bit off-topic) my problem with the current AF-S primes is that you cannot disable MF (the focus select switch only offers M and M/A), and the focus ring is wider, so it is easy to touch the focus ring to mess up the focus done by AF.

[Bruno Schroder]

I've always liked the idea of having a focus lock.  It should be built into most lenses.

3 years ago I bought an "unknown Nikon lens" which was in fact a 105/1.8 modified to provide focus lock and focus click. I was a bit perplexed by its use case, even more so when the seller told me he got it from a fashion photographer. Out of curiosity, I'd be interested in your use case.

Sorry for being off topic, Klaus.

[pluton]

I can see the usefulness of a focus lock in several scenarios.
With a handheld wide angle lens for zone focusing, especially in crowd situations where the focus can easily be bumped-off from where I set it.
In a landscape setup where the focus is set and now just waiting for changing light, clouds, etc.
Any locked-off  setup where an accidental brush of the hand against the lens barrel could knock the focus off.
Panos, as Akira has mentioned. 
Close-up setups (like slide duping) using bellows or extension tubes, where the lens barrel is not used for focusing due to the close range. 

[Tristin]

3 years ago I bought an "unknown Nikon lens" which was in fact a 105/1.8 modified to provide focus lock and focus click. I was a bit perplexed by its use case, even more so when the seller told me he got it from a fashion photographer. Out of curiosity, I'd be interested in your use case.

Sorry for being off topic, Klaus.

I think that lens deserves it's own thread!

[David H. Hartman]

A wedding photographer in New York featured in American Photographer magazine had his lenses for his Hasselblad 500/CM all locked with set screws at a 7 foot focus (2.1 meters). He simply stood 7' (2.1m) from his subjects and shot (focus with you feet). He carried two of each lens he needed and two or more bodies.

[Dr Klaus Schmitt]

I enjoy that function, my UV Nikkor 105mm has that, too