Their cultural relevance is IMO upstream of the ring-fenced stills world. It's clear which direction cultural influence comes from. They did not manage the transition from the end days of the film era at all well, a personal view of course. They were also of the pro -> consumer trickle down mindset, all the monster Otus/Milvus lenses.
All these optical companies are heavily diversified these days.
Zeiss might welcome a pathway back into the main volume game. But even in cine, they were in the forefront of the now fading 'sharpness above all else' paradigm. As with Leitz Cine (formerly CW Sonderoptic) and Cooke, they are now working hard to leverage off the magic of great looking film era imagery into the mirrorless mount world (though not stills - yet).
The imagery will drive the optical trends, as it of course should. The fast developing hybrid / content creator / light cine field is the conduit for this change that most stills photographers are unaware of, until it hits them in a year or two.
For them, it's still all about aberration control equals better images, instead of the quality of the imagery. Maybe for birds, bugs and stars, but street and people might make a comeback. Leica's lead and great influence would also help Zeiss in the cine field, should they get interested.
EMH2025 wrote:
Leica makes many things that most are unaware of for instance they have been one of the go to for ultramicrotomes for electron microscopy to cut thin sections of cells only a few thousand atoms thick with diamond knives, I acquired one in 1987- it functioned until obsolete, and retired like me, now just sitting in my home office both of us out of the electron microscopy game. But new and better ones are still made- for younger current investigators complete will sorts of digital stuff I could never imagine-
there is a lot of other stuff, too.... medical technical etc.... but me, it is just Ms now M3-M11...Show more →
That’s right. Both Zeiss and Leica make a wide range of products, but Zeiss is much larger. Which is why I’m still wondering what buying Leica would bring to Zeiss, other than still cameras.
RoamingScott wrote:
The optics division of CZG is only 13% of yearly revenue and that umbrella includes more than camera lenses. While it’s true they are still a player in the cinema world, their cultural relevance amongst casual to professional still photographers has dwindled to nearly nothing.
Even more of a reason to consider Leica Camera as add-on for Zeiss - to get a bigger bite into this segment if they consider this direction being of value. Since they already made/make E-mount lenses for Sony, what might stop them from potentially expanding with Leica's L-mount (assuming legally they can due to the existing Leica alliance with Sigma and Panasonic, not sure!). In the end it comes down if both companies see a benefit from a merge or acquisition and if Zeiss has the pockets to go after Leica at least for some partial ownership. Remains to be seen.
johnvanr wrote:
That’s right. Both Zeiss and Leica make a wide range of products, but Zeiss is much larger. Which is why I’m still wondering what buying Leica would bring to Zeiss, other than still cameras.
Well Zeiss could reverse engineer the M6 to see how Leica was able to make a $7000 camera scratch film. In case they want to add that feature to a possible re-boot of the Zeiss Ikon.
