Availability of the new Zeiss 25mm ƒ/2 Distagon for Nikon and Canon

Straight from Zeiss USA, December 5th:

The targeted delivery dates for the 2/25 have not changed, with the ZE version (Canon) scheduled for January 2012, and the ZF.2 (Nikon) in February, 2012. We're already receiving dealer orders, which we will ship on a first-in, first-out basis.

I have more material coming on the Zeiss 25mm ƒ/2 Distagon in my Zeiss Guide. At present, I have only the Canon mount version to work with, so I will not be comparing to the Nikon 24m ƒ/1.4G until I have a Nikon-mount version.

ALSO, I have added this image (below) and one other to my White Mountains examples page for the Zeiss 25mm ƒ/2 Distagon.

Illumination

Illumination courtesy of the outstanding 2600-lumen Lupine Betty II LED light. For this image, I put one Lupine Betty inside the cabin, and used another to walk about and around to illuminate the background. The 26° lamphead is the best choice for such work (18° and 22° are too narrow a beam for closer work). The 7-LED Betty lampheads use the very top grade LEDs matched to within about 200° K of each other (but with a green tinge, add about +20 magenta). Along with the outstanding lens system, the lights are terrific for portable night-time photography.