When we decided to go to Japan in late August and the new Zeiss Batis 2/25 was still impossible to obtain in Singapore, I decided to try my out my Japanese writing on camera stores in Tokyo to see if I could get one to hold the lens for me until my arrival. After many attempts, (to no fault of the camera stores – they were all very polite, they just didn’t have the stock), I finally received a positive response from the brilliant フジヤカメラ店 (Fujiya Camera Store) in Nakano who thought they’d be getting a shipment before we arrived! A few days later, they emailed me to confirm and, so, on our first day in Japan, we took the train from where we were staying near Shinjuku Station, a couple stops out to Nakano to find their shop and, sure enough, they had the lens there waiting for me! As you can guess, I was ecstatic!

When I first decided I wanted the lens, I suspected that living in Singapore, I would be able to get it earlier than I would have if we were back in the UK and probably for a bit cheaper, but by going to Japan at just the right time, I got it much earlier and much cheaper, and, even more importantly, I had it in time for our travels in Japan!

I plan to share some images from the trip in chronological order, but before I get into those posts, I thought I’d dedicate this one to the Batis 2/25 itself. I love this lens. A few random samples from its first days in use: