p.1 #1 · Zeiss lens, Why do you have to pay for extra premium price for it?
often in time, i would ask myself that question? Why the crazy $4000 for the Otus, $3000 for the 15mm? $2000 for the 135? On top of it, no AF and heavy. Most people here would say it is the optic that make the different. Well, after the recent incident i have with Zeiss, i would have to say it is their customer service. It is second to none.
I recently bought the Zeiss 15mm lens. Since i have so much gears nowadays, i kinda lost control of how to organize all the boxes. One lovely day, my wife clean out the garage and the box of my 15mm just disappear. Without the box, my Zeiss 15mm feels so naked. I contacted popflash, lensrental, borrowlens to see if they, by any chance selling the box and they all said "no". I went to Zeiss website and shot them an email to ask if they would sell me the box. It was my last hope. The next morning i received the email from the sale manager at Zeiss USA with one short sentence: "what is your mailing address". I was shocked. Surprised and happy at the same time. Couple days later, this show up at my front door.
What can i say? Zeiss went above and beyond for their customer. In my book, they're the best.
Now, my 15mm can hang out with her big brothers without feeling nake. lolz..
p.1 #2 · Zeiss lens, Why do you have to pay for extra premium price for it?
Well, they said they have no more ZM 15 box for me . Nonetheless, I think if it's more readily available, it's really nice of Zeiss to send it out promptly like that. Congrats on a nice set-up as well.
p.1 #6 · Zeiss lens, Why do you have to pay for extra premium price for it?
That's classy which is what one would expect from Zeiss. Correction, that is way more than one should expect from any company. I definitely would have expected to at least pay shipping. Awesome customer service! Just makes me appreciate my Zeiss glass that much more.
p.1 #7 · Zeiss lens, Why do you have to pay for extra premium price for it?
The inner spring and locking disc of my hood for my 1.4/35 got misaligned, and in spite of some fairly clear directions from a nice customer service person, I could not figure out how to reset it. I assumed that was it, and I was just out a lens hood. Same situation as you described, he asked for my mailing address. I thought perhaps he was sending me a diagram. Instead, a new hood showed up via FedEx with a return postage covered box to send back the old one. Inside, there was a nice hand written note apologizing for my inconvenience and thanking me for my patience.
Since that day, I have purchased four Zeiss lenses and talked them up to friends who have purchased another four or five. Dealing with their customer service is no small factor in those purchases.
If a company stands by its product, its customers will stand by that company.
p.1 #8 · Zeiss lens, Why do you have to pay for extra premium price for it?
Zeiss customer service is second to none, and light years ahead of the much more expensive Leica.
I've only had excellent and generous service from them.
Some of the more recent dealings with them:
- Free CLA of ZM 35/2
- Free CLA of ZM 25/2.8
- CLA of second hand discontinued ZM 85/2 and fixing of wobble issue, only 95 euros.
- Free plastic blue dot for my ZM 50/2
- Free lens mount for my ZM 25/2.8 that brings the 28mm framelines.
And earlier, when I was dissatisfied with the ZE 50/1.4, they sent me 2 copies to compare with free shipping to Thailand.
p.1 #9 · Zeiss lens, Why do you have to pay for extra premium price for it?
I think I read it here or another forum where a user had an issue with a lens and they had archived photos tied to that serial number to confirm any potential issues. Seems like their service and QC is pretty darn good, only heard of a few lenses having issues and needing to be sent back.
But really if something is wrong and you can depend on the company to make it right, sometimes that is worth a premium. How many Canon or Nikon users can say the same? It's heavily mixed that's for sure.
For me the price is worth the optics. I never really bought into the "Zeiss look" until I got my 100MP. The rest is history, along with my wallet
p.1 #10 · Zeiss lens, Why do you have to pay for extra premium price for it?
I had one ZF lens that had a loose part; Zeiss fixed it for a reasonable price.
When I saw, back in 2008, that Zeiss was coming out with a line of manual focus prime lenses, I just started buying them. I had had previous experience with Zeiss lenses for a Contax film camera back in the 1980's, so I already knew.
p.1 #11 · Zeiss lens, Why do you have to pay for extra premium price for it?
I also have nothing but good things to say about Zeiss. I once dropped a ZE 85 4ft. onto a hard surface, and it was damaged. After repair at an approved facility, it was optically correct, but focus throw wasn't uniformly smooth, and that was all that could be done. They let me trade it in and buy a new one for much less than I would have expected. When they had distribution issues in France, Zeiss themselves pitched in instead. They really exceed my expectations.
p.1 #14 · Zeiss lens, Why do you have to pay for extra premium price for it?
I had a ZF.2 18/3.5 which had developed what looked like de-centering to me. I had bought the lens used on eBay, it looked as good as new. Zeiss fixed it for 95 Euros + shipping. They did some adjustment and the lens was 100% excellent optically, when it came back.
Zeiss' service is excellent and the turnaround is quick.
p.1 #15 · Zeiss lens, Why do you have to pay for extra premium price for it?
one thing i didn't mention at the first post is that my wife "clean out" total of 2 boxes. The zeiss and Canon 85mm f/1.2 mkii. I emailed both Zeiss and Canon at the same time and i just got the email from Canon yesterday. This is what they said:
Dear Alex:
Thank you for contacting Canon product support. I understand that you are looking for a replacement box for your EF 85mm f1.2L II USM lens. I can address this.
Unfortunately, we do not have replacement boxes. You should be able to find a suitable replacement from FedEx Office or the UPS Store.
Please feel free to contact us should you have any other questions or concerns. Thank you for choosing Canon.
Really? i didn't know Fedex Office and UPS store now selling Canon boxes. This would tell a lot on how a company running/treating their customer. Don't get me wrong, i have 3 times Canon lenses vs Zeiss.
p.1 #16 · Zeiss lens, Why do you have to pay for extra premium price for it?
Honestly, that's not surprising. Sad, yes. Surprising, unfortunately no. Check on the board here as Canon boxes are listed from time to time. Better yet, make a WTB listing. By the way, very nice Zeiss collection.
p.1 #18 · Zeiss lens, Why do you have to pay for extra premium price for it?
Keith B. wrote:
You know that, really, the boxes have no technical or monetary value, right?
The box absolutely has a real monetary value if you decide to sell the lens later on. You get alot more for it if the box is included, and it's also much easier to sell. I don't think it's the monetary value that's important though, it's more of an emotional value.
p.1 #19 · Zeiss lens, Why do you have to pay for extra premium price for it?
Bubble wrote:
i haven't have issue with the lens yet but for a small thing as box, Canon, Nikon, Sony doesn't bother to answer.
Well, years ago I bought a secondhand Canon flash at B&H. It came without a manual. I wrote Canon if they could send me a manual and I offered to pay for it. A week later they sent me the manual for free
p.1 #20 · Zeiss lens, Why do you have to pay for extra premium price for it?
Fifty years from now when your great grandchildren are using your Zeiss lenses, the focus will still be functioning unlike your plastic Nikon with the broken AF motor. AF lenses just have too short of a turning radius and sloppiness to be accurate for focusing manually.
Without the box, my Zeiss 15mm feels so naked. I contacted popflash, lensrental, borrowlens to see if they, by any chance selling the box and they all said "no". I went to Zeiss website and shot them an email to ask if they would sell me the box. It was my last hope. The next morning i received the email from the sale manager at Zeiss USA with one short sentence: "what is your mailing address". 
I was shocked. Surprised and happy at the same time. Couple days later, this show up at my front door.
