RoamingScott wrote: DWOfPaul wrote: RoamingScott wrote:
I’m not sure why anybody expected these lenses to make a splash. Bigger, heavier, and more expensive by a factor of 2 to 3X than most people are willing to spend on a similar auto focus lens.
Whatever marginal gains you may get in IQ are easily offset by everything else.
Like I said verbatim in the original thread, who is asking for these?
Sadly, the name Zeiss is largely a running joke in the industry now.
Outside of Leica, Zeiss probably has the best build quality in the game. IQ wise, there is something to the "Zeiss look" that no other lens company fully replicates. People are still enjoying MF lenses like the Voigtlander lenses. The original Otus lenses are still highly regarded by many to this day. I may be completely wrong, but I think if the ML line had been released in 2022 instead of 2025, the reaction would have been quite different.
"If the market was totally different, this product would have been received totally differently"
Yes, I agree
The shift has been towards cheap, small, and light, mostly because the IQ hasn't suffered all that much in this latest batch of Chinese glass. Yes, the Otus is the bomb proof option, but people are looking for the disposable options right now. Bought a tank of gas lately?
It's wild how much the photo market has changed in the last 3 years. I feel it's even a bigger change than when we initially went from DSLR to Mirrorless. Sure, the mirrorless transition kicked it all off, but the first mirrorless cameras and lenses were nowhere near as game changing for the most part as the gear we have gotten in the last few years. Then add in how many more lens manufacturers have joined and are making decent to good lenses, and the market has totally changed.
I do have to wonder, though, how many people are buying Voightlander lenses and Chinese AF lenses. For the most part, I feel like these are two different market segments.
As for Gass, thankfully, in my area, we are still not as high as we were in 2022, but it's getting too close for comfort.
Mar 27, 2026 at 03:32 PM
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