This is some information I received today from Zeiss regarding a new 18mm Lens for the Nikon F and Pentax K mounts.

There is a bit more into on my website....Rob

Carl Zeiss expands its range of SLR lenses with the addi-
tion of the Distagon T* 3.5/18 super wide angle lens. With
an impressive field of view of 99°, this new, rectilinear lens
provides dramatic perspectives for architectural, landscape
and close-range photography for photographers utilizing
full-frame DSLRs or film-based cameras. The Distagon T*
3.5/18 is a derivative of the ZEISS designs for the Contax
RTS series of cameras, but utilizing all modern materials
and eco-friendly glass materials.

The Distagon T* 3.5/18 ZF for F-mount cameras is sched-
uled for delivery beginning September 2008 and the
Distagon T* 3.5/18 ZK for K-mount cameras will be avail-
able during the third quarter.

Any approx. pricing on the k-mount version? Not sure I have any use for something that wide, but just curious...

Interesting range of Nikon mounts there.

The f3.5 18 Nikkor, is a very, very sharp lens, I would be quite interested to see how the Zeiss lens stacks up against it. Rob, does the Zeiss have floating elements, as the Nikkor does?

I have the f1.4 85 Nikkor and we put it up against the Zeiss 85 f1.4 equivalent, last year. Possibly on an optics test machine you may notice a difference, but frame to frame there is virtually no difference. We also enlarged the negs and couldn't see any real difference.

There were differences, focal length was slightly different. We used the same camera on a tripod and focused each lens at infinity and received a slightly different field of view. Both of them also worked better ½ a stop down and really good at f2. Both worked brilliantly in the 2.5 metre to 5 metre distance wide open in lowish light, which is where I presume the manufacturers figured is where they would be most used.

does the Zeiss have floating elements, as the Nikkor does?

Yep, from the horse's mouth: "The precision floating elements design offers constant high performance over the entire distance range from 0.3 m
(0.98 ft) to infinity."

http://www.zeiss.com/C12571FF00438F7A/0/86462C3412F380F3C125746C0055852A/$file/flyer-slr-d-35-18-en.pdf

Everything else is accessible here:
http://www.zeiss.com/c12567a8003b58b9/Contents-Frame/e0943e181906e994c125746c0053918c

Too bad that they aren't making this for Canon EOS. I would love to see Canon get some competition on high-quality lenses.

I see mhv answered the floating element question.
The price is $1450.
I think zeiss would smoke EOS in the wide angle department.
-Rob