Introduction
If there is one thing not to like about the Zeiss Loxia lenses it is that there is nowhere to grab them to mount or unmount. Lutz from PocketPano came up with the idea of the “Loxia Lens-Grip” that I will review here.
Disclosure: I received the Loxia Lens-Grip for free.
The Problem
The Zeiss Loxia lenses have a sleek design with constant diameter of 62.5 mm, but unlike most other lenses there is no non-moving part to grab which makes changing lenses a bit of a hassle.
Personally I have usually grabbed these lenses by the aperture ring (set to f/22) to mount the lens and by the focus ring (set to infinity) to unmount the lens, but this is far from ideal.
The Solution
Lutz from PocketPano thought the same and so he came up with the “Loxia Lens-Grip”. He contacted me asking whether I think people might be interested in this product and I immediatley wanted to try it out.
The Loxia Lens Grip is a small band of Polyoxymethylen (POM) with adhesive on the back:
It comes with an instruction sheet (German and English) and with these instructions it is very straight forwarded to apply it.
You put it on the part where the aperture markings for the distance scale are. In terms of design it is as close to the original Loxia design as possible and barely noticeable, have a look at the direct comparison below:
It does also not affect the operation of aperture ring or focus ring.
I have now used it for a few weeks and it makes a big difference, the handling is greatly improved.
I know some of you are a bit skeptical when it comes to adding glue to your lenses, so I made the test for you and removed the lens grip on my Loxia 21mm 2.8:
The manufacturer claims you can remove the Lens-Grip without trouble and I confirm this is in fact the case. You end up with a bit of glue residue that is easily removed and won’t leave any traces.
Conclusion
Whenever I was out shooting these last weeks and changed lenses, everytime I mounted or unmounted a Loxia lens I had to tell my girlfriend how good it is (you guess she would have complained, but as she was also using Loxia lenses she wants some herself now). I don’t want to use any Loxia lens without this anymore.
If you want one you can get it for 12.90 € on amazon.de (affiliate link) or for 9.90 € directly at the manufacturer’s homepage. As the latter is cheaper I recommend buying it there.
If you want to support this blog you can always use one of our affiliate links before you buy anything, we will get a small commission, and it won’t cost you anything extra.
Other Articles
- Review: Zeiss Loxia 21mm 2.8
- Review: Zeiss Loxia 25mm 2.4
- Review: Zeiss Loxia 35mm 2.0
- Review: Zeiss Loxia 50mm 2.0
- Review: Zeiss Loxia 85mm 2.4
- Review: PocketPano Vario XL pano adapter
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Interesting, thank you! How did you remove the glue remains?
To me it would be also interesting if the glue is resistant to cold temperatures (say -20°C) or if the lens grip peels off then.
I removed it with my thumb, nothing else needed.
I will also ask for the stability in cold temperatures, I could only test ~-5° C so far.
The adhesive is the 3M 9626. You can have a look at the datasheet here:
https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/589505O/adhesive-transfer-tape-with-adhesive-360-9626-9627.pdf&fn=70071345436.pdf
There seems to be no loss in adhesion down to -40°C (cycle test). In my tests, the Lens Grip never peeled of accidentally. It really gets part of the lens barrel.
For removing the glue, like Bastian said: just peel it off with your thumb.
Best regards,
Lutz from pocketPANO
Many thanks, that clarifies a lot. I will possibly order some of these for my Loxia lenses…
Hi, I just checked out the website and it looks like it’s out of stock. I would really love to have this grip for my loxia, when is it going to be back in stock for shipping to US?
Best
Is there an easy way to order this for people living in the US?
Hi Matthew! Yes, all our products are shipped worldwide. You can buy it at our shop: https://www.pocketpano.de/english/shop/lens-grip/
For the US, please choose “Vereinigte Staaten” as country (unfortunately the shop system is in German only).
Glad I read this even though I don’t have any Loxias (fingers crossed for a Nikon Z adapter!). But I do have a Voigtlander 180/4, which also lacks something to grip. I bet it’ll work, there’s about 5mm of space on the DOF scale band. I’ll find out in a week or two!
Update: fit on my Voigt 180/4 is perfect! No trimming required. A big ergonomic improvement, and it looks right at home, I don’t know if a casual observer could even tell it’s an addition.
The only thing I’d change is making the bumps slightly higher, they sit ever so slightly below the machined bumps from the aperture ring.
Order is out for all my Loxia lenses ?
You won’t regret!
I was looking for something like this to use in my Leica Summilux 35mm (FLE). I hate using focus tab in the Sony and this could be a better solution than attaching a focus gear but I’m afraid the adhesive could damage the lens painted engravings…
Any ideas ? would you recommend it in this case ?
I don’t see that glue damaging anything, especially not the painted engravings, as there won’t be direct contact. So yes, give it a try.
Thanks for replying Bastian, I’ll try it 😉
Finally! These guys deserve a pat on the back. I had an idea as well for MF lenses that would allow you to glue a similar patch at your favorite F stop and a corresponding patch at the F stop marker on the base of the lens. In practice, you could focus wide open and then locate the patch with your index finger in order to stop the lens down very fast. Even a bigger benefit with adapted MF lenses.
So goes my thinking.
See on the Zeiss website how they mount a Gear wheel on the lenses. It’s done with a rubber strip and GumGum…, kind of glue
– – – – –
ZEISS Lens Gears make ZEISS Otus, ZEISS Milvus and ZEISS Loxia lenses a proper cine-style lens for professional filmmakers. The ZEISS Lens Gears are available in four different sizes: mini, small, medium and large.
They are supplied with a rubbercovered band, the GumGum, which features an adhesive surface. This means the inner diameter can be reduced according to the lens diameter, thus supporting multiple lenses. The GumGum also protects against scratches and other damage to the focus ring of the lens.
https://i2.wp.com/www.nicolas-beaumont.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/BlogNicolasBeaumont-NAB2016-003.jpg
Prompted by this review I purchased these lens grips for my three Loxia lenses and could not be more satisfied. They go on quite easily and look almost as if the lens came with them. I had to reach down pretty far to recall my high school German lessons (I’m 68 now) to get through the ordering process but it all worked out. Very prompt shipping as well.
Hi Jim! Thanks for your comment regarding the ordering process. Now we added the option for automatic translation during the checkout process and hope it helps. Sorry for the german shop system.
Best regards, Lutz
Looks simple yet excellent! My good friend bought the Loxia 35mm f2.0, i got the chance to test it and decided to buy the grip as a present. Let’s see how he likes it, it looks great! And the price and service is just right. Thanks!
I use Cool-Lux follow focus gear rings. Easy on and off no glue residue…grip vs. ring, no contest…the ring hands down winner.
Great for Milvus and Otus as well.
It seems that I am the only one that bought it and have now removed it. It does work as advertised, making installation and removal on my 21mm Alicia easier.
My issue is that the aperture ring, which is difficult to grab, becomes just a little bit more difficult.
Also note, the adhesive was very difficult to remove after having been installed for quite a while (9 months?). Careful work with fingernails and Bounty paper towels did the trick without risky chemicals. The paper towel was used mostly to hum up the adhesive, making it easier to scrape off.
Sorry, iPhone spell check renamed my Loxia…
I have used anti-slip tape of the sort that skate boarders use. It’s cut to size and placed on my Loxia lenses as shown above for the “Grip tape”. I have used this anti-slip tape for all sorts of applications for the past decade or so, i.e. for “grip” patches on small cameras, inside the grip edge of lens caps, even on some step-up rings that are prone to sticking.