p.1 #2 · Does Zeiss Actually Have Their Own Factories in Japan?
I believe almost all the lenses are made by Cosina who also makes the Voigtlander lenses on the same machines. Zeiss may contract to have extra levels of checks for QA.
Sony also produces Zeiss lenses in their own factory lines.
It seems Zeiss Germany produces a few of the high end cine lenses and possibly a few of the high end DSLR lenses although I'm not sure if anyone has verified it.
p.1 #3 · Does Zeiss Actually Have Their Own Factories in Japan?
FlyPenFly wrote:
I believe almost all the lenses are made by Cosina who also makes the Voigtlander lenses on the same machines. Zeiss may contract to have extra levels of checks for QA
Out of curiosity, do you know if it was the same deal for the Contax brand?
p.1 #4 · Does Zeiss Actually Have Their Own Factories in Japan?
The FE 55 is made in Thailand, which shows that ultimately where the lens is built doesn't matter, as long as zeiss manufacturing standards are respected.
p.1 #5 · Does Zeiss Actually Have Their Own Factories in Japan?
Spyro P. wrote:
Out of curiosity, do you know if it was the same deal for the Contax brand?
Contax SLR lenses were manufactured in various locations --- you'll find lenses marked both "Made in Germany" and "Made in Japan" (leading to designations such as "AEJ" or "AEG" for AE-coupled lenses made in Japan or Germany, respectively). The Contax brand SLR lenses for the Contax-Yashica (C/Y) mount "made in Japan" were made in cooperation with Yashica (under Yashica's optical division Tomioka, which also produced lenses under its own name), which was later bought out by Kyocera. So, in short, Zeiss has been relying on Japanese manufacturing for a lot of its SLR lenses for a long time.
p.1 #6 · Does Zeiss Actually Have Their Own Factories in Japan?
In the present day, besides the limited numbers of ciné lenses, only the highly complex and compact ZM 2,8/15 is made in Germany ever since the ZM 2/85 went out of production. Zeiss operates more like a R&D institute, creating designs others make real and has been so constituted for a long while. Seems to work well for them as they aren't hurting financially. Kodak might have emulated this model more closely and lived to see another day (given the American obsession with quarterly reports, it is doubtful as a publicly traded company, this might have occurred).
While Cosina makes all the rest of the Z* lines of SLR and RF lenses, it is my understanding that Sony manufactures the Zeiss designs all on their own to Zeiss specs. I imagine Samsung does similarly with its Schneider-designed lenses.
p.1 #7 · Does Zeiss Actually Have Their Own Factories in Japan?
j.liam wrote:
While Cosina makes all the rest of the Z* lines of SLR and RF lenses, it is my understanding that Sony manufactures the Zeiss designs all on their own to Zeiss specs. I imagine Samsung does similarly with its Schneider-designed lenses.
The only caveat is that Samsung's Schneider lenses are branded, not designed, unlike Sony's Zeiss lenses (which all have significant design input from Zeiss and usually are pure Zeiss designs). For example all of the K mount Schneider-branded lenses from Samsung were in fact Pentax designs rebadged for Samsung.
p.1 #8 · Does Zeiss Actually Have Their Own Factories in Japan?
mawz wrote:
The only caveat is that Samsung's Schneider lenses are branded, not designed, unlike Sony's Zeiss lenses (which all have significant design input from Zeiss and usually are pure Zeiss designs).
Thats not correct. Write Zeiss an E-Mail and ask about it and they will tell you that some lenses are designed by Zeiss, some by Sony.
p.1 #9 · Does Zeiss Actually Have Their Own Factories in Japan?
Phillip Reeve wrote:
Thats not correct. Write Zeiss an E-Mail and ask about it and they will tell you that some lenses are designed by Zeiss, some by Sony.
+1 I was going to say the same. Not all Sony Zeiss lenses are actually designed by Zeiss. Heck, I would not be surprised if it turned out the newer FE lenses were actually Sony designs. Doesn't really matter though since Sony inherited a lot from Minolta...and didn't someone recently mention that Sony had hired one of Nikon's top optical designers?
p.1 #10 · Does Zeiss Actually Have Their Own Factories in Japan?
Phillip Reeve wrote:
Thats not correct. Write Zeiss an E-Mail and ask about it and they will tell you that some lenses are designed by Zeiss, some by Sony.
Tariq Gibran wrote:
Not all Sony Zeiss lenses are actually designed by Zeiss. Heck, I would not be surprised if it turned out the newer FE lenses were actually Sony designs. Doesn't really matter though since Sony inherited a lot from Minolta...and didn't someone recently mention that Sony had hired one of Nikon's top optical designers?
I guess it would account for the Minolta/Leica-like rendering of some of their Zeiss-badged SLR lenses
p.1 #12 · Does Zeiss Actually Have Their Own Factories in Japan?
Phillip Reeve wrote:
Thats not correct. Write Zeiss an E-Mail and ask about it and they will tell you that some lenses are designed by Zeiss, some by Sony.
Some of the Zeiss-badged lenses are designed by Sony only??
p.1 #13 · Does Zeiss Actually Have Their Own Factories in Japan?
carstenw wrote:
Some of the Zeiss-badged lenses are designed by Sony only??
This was their reply:
In der Entwicklung von Produkten teilen sich beide Firmen die Aufgaben - einige Objektive wurden hauptsächlich von Carl Zeiss entwickelt, andere wiederum überwiegend von Sony.
So yes.
Sorry I am in a hurry, maybe somebody else could translate it?
p.1 #14 · Does Zeiss Actually Have Their Own Factories in Japan?
Thanks for all the info. I thought it was Cossina but I wasn't certain. Wonder if Zeiss has any personel at the factory level
to insure quality control?
p.1 #15 · Does Zeiss Actually Have Their Own Factories in Japan?
Google translation:
In the development of products, both companies share the tasks - some lenses were mainly developed by Carl Zeiss, others mainly by Sony.
Phillip Reeve wrote:
This was their reply:
So yes.
Sorry I am in a hurry, maybe somebody else could translate it?
p.1 #16 · Does Zeiss Actually Have Their Own Factories in Japan?
serhan_ wrote:
Google translation:
In the development of products, both companies share the tasks - some lenses were mainly developed by Carl Zeiss, others mainly by Sony.
thats the first time that I see a decent google translation.
p.1 #17 · Does Zeiss Actually Have Their Own Factories in Japan?
Well, I think the keyword is "überwiegend", i.e. nothing Zeiss-badged is designed exclusively by Sony. That would make sense, otherwise why the Zeiss badge?
p.1 #18 · Does Zeiss Actually Have Their Own Factories in Japan?
carstenw wrote:
...otherwise why the Zeiss badge?
Hmm, besides $$$ for both companies to cash in on the Zeiss brand, I can't think of any. I'm sure Zeiss must somehow "qualify" any lens with their name on it, no matter who actually designed it.
I'm sure Zeiss must somehow "qualify" any lens with their name on it, no matter who actually designed it.