p.4 #1 · Does Zeiss Actually Have Their Own Factories in Japan?
carlitos wrote:
So today, the math and physics of lens design is pretty much all computer generated, based on marketing and R$D objectives, the resulting product being tested either in house or at a contractors facility. Probably the documentation can be emailed anywhere for review. I would assume Zeiss has a backlog of projects in house.
So the "magic sauce" seems to be the lens coatings, and combination of glasses. How else could Zeiss get so much "bite" in some of the ZF lens designs. It would seem that Sigma or Tamron, etc. could simply copy the coating chemistry and achieve the same result.
I used to see the Nikon brochures back in the day where they championed their glass making technology. I wonder if then they had their own glass foundry. I would think that lenses like the 35/1.4 or their CRC concept came from hand generated math and in house physical testing of the results....Show more →
Well basically you are right. Just like any car manufacturer could make a Ferrari with different types of metal, glass, all types of plastics, rubber, electronics, etc Some replica builders even make their Ferrari copy, although most of them will have to compromise in the use of some materials and hard to fabricate components. The key is the design and quality control is Ferrari for the real one. That is no different for lenses. Sigma or Tamron, if they had or bought licenses for some of the technology, they could make Zeiss lenses. It's no doubt they have a great part of the production capacity in house. Zeiss has that kind of license production with Cosina for example.
But, let's not oversimplify things. The coating is not just the magic sauce. Some of the glass used is really rare and if it's coming from third parties like Schott, it most certainly is protected by patents. Zeiss patents or third party patents that Zeiss bought licenses for with in many cases some mutual exclusivity deal. Also the various machines being used during production of the lenses, like the CNC, molding, grinding, MTF measurements machines etc. are from Zeiss. And just like the welding process for some exclusive metal in the Ferrari needs other equipment or other processing than the standard metal for a Fiat, even so the molding and grinding, coating etc. of the Zeiss lenses needs different machinery than other lens manufacturers use.
So it's not like any lens company buys a file with a design from Zeiss, orders the types of glass from glass manufacturer and buys a few barrels of Zeiss chemical to spray over the lenses and have T* coated Zeiss lens It's much more complicated than that. That is exactly why a company like Zeiss can exist in a market niche with their own characteristic products, while many other companies make and sell different lenses with their own characteristics.
p.4 #2 · Does Zeiss Actually Have Their Own Factories in Japan?
I think that the lesson to be learned here is that brand names are much less important then they were
in the not to distant past; and that each individual product needs to be evaluated on it's own
meritts. Therefore,a broad acceptance by brand, is an unwise approach to the market place.
Manufacturers have, in effect, devalued their own names by giving up control of the process.
p.4 #3 · Does Zeiss Actually Have Their Own Factories in Japan?
jim allison wrote:
I think that the lesson to be learned here is that brand names are much less important then they were
in the not to distant past; and that each individual product needs to be evaluated on it's own
meritts. Therefore,a broad acceptance by brand, is an unwise approach to the market place.
Manufacturers have, in effect, devalued their own names by giving up control of the process.
That would definitely not be my conclusion. Brand names are important and manufacturers did not per se give up control over the quality of the production process and maybe for some brands even got more and better than in the past. Zeiss is a company that went through deep crises in the past, and it seems they are stronger as a brand than ever before, Yes, they are less a manufacturer that makes all parts of their products themselves, they don't make their own cameras like the Contax anymore, but the lenses from Zeiss are sold in volumes they never did before, Zeiss lenses, Zeiss integrated units in third party camera manufacturers, Zeiss camera modules are in smartphones, who would have predicted that in the late 70-ies when Zeiss was in a crisis and sold / licensed a part of their camera production technology to Kyocera? Zeiss kept focus on their core business and is still going strong. And in my opinion they still make lenses that compete at the highest level as they did in the past too.
It's much more complicated than that. That is exactly why a company like Zeiss can exist in a market niche with their own characteristic products, while many other companies make and sell different lenses with their own characteristics.