Another fly with the Zeiss

[billtils]

Not much new on the site today so thought I'd upload this.

C&C welcome

[xpatUSA]

Nice shot with DOF just right, Bill.

Is that lens a Jena model?

[billtils]

Thanks Ted. It's a Carl Zeiss AG product made in Japan ...

[xpatUSA]

Thanks Ted. It's a Carl Zeiss AG product made in Japan ...

Ta.

My experience with two well-respected Zeiss-Jena models was less than perfect but not typical, of course.

I had a used M42 50mm f/1.8 Pancolar for about twenty years, the last ten of which had it sitting in a non-airconditioned space here in Gulf Coast Texas. Imagine my surprise when the aperture started sticking at f/22! Sold it for parts. Then lately I bought a used M42 35mm f/2 Flektogon (where do they get those names?) which was good until I sold it on ebay and it arrived with shutter problems, grump. Full refund on that one and I let the dude keep it.

They both took seriously good pictures and I'd still buy another "CZJ" if I needed it ...

[xpatUSA]

.... Then lately I bought a used M42 35mm f/2 Flektogon (where do they get those names?) ...

Found just now:

Zöllner and Solisch at Carl Zeiss Jena dubbed their lens Flektogon, which originates from the Latin Flecto, a verb meaning ‘bend or curve’, and the Greek γωνία (Gonia) a noun meaning angle or corner. This naturally refers to the wide angle of view of this type of lens. The exact translation would be “Curved Angle” which very accurately describes what wide-angle lenses do with light. Zeiss Oberkochen, in what was then West Germany, chose to use the same retrofocus design. They dubbed their lenses Distagon, derived from “distance” and the previously mentioned Greek word for “angle,” (a wide-angle lens with a large distance to the image).

https://casualphotophile.com/2019/04...n-lens-review/
.

[DanK]

Hence words like “pentagon”


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[Manfred M]

We have to remember that Sony has licensed the Zeiss brand and so far as I can tell, these are not Zeiss designed glass any more than the Panasonic Leica lenses are designed by Leica.

Zeiss has contracted out all manufacture of small format Zeiss lenses to Cosina in Japan; these Cosina built lenses are Zeiss designed and built to Zeiss specs.So far as I can determine, Zeiss Germany designs and manufactures high end prime and zoom lenses for the television and feature film business as well as for industrial equipment..

[billtils]

Thanks for the information Manfred - very interesting. If I read it correctly Sony and Leica have bought the Ziess name to use with their glass, and Zeiss still "make" lenses insofar as the design is concerned but the manufacture is contracted out to Cosina?

[Manfred M]

Thanks for the information Manfred - very interesting. If I read it correctly Sony and Leica have bought the Ziess name to use with their glass, and Zeiss still "make" lenses insofar as the design is concerned but the manufacture is contracted out to Cosina?

Not quite that simple Bill. Leica still makes its own lenses for Leica cameras. They also have a separate division that makes high end lenses for the motion picture industry. Panasonic has licensed the the Leica brand name to use on Panasonic designed and manufactured lenses. The terms of the original licensing agreement included making some Panasonic lenses using Leica approved equipment and specs. For example, Panasonic used in-camera lens correction algorithms to create the raw data, but Leica branded lenses had to achieve this through optical technology alone. Leica camera does not own the Leica brand; a separate company,Leica Microsystems (they build microscopes and other other optical instruments), owns it. That goes back to the days when the Leitz company was broken into three separate companies; cameras and lenses, microscopy and surveying equipment

There was far less out about the Sony / Zeiss deal, but what is known is that Sony designs and builds the Zeiss branded lenses for its own cameras. Zeiss is still in the glass (through its Schott subsidiary) and lens design and build business. The in house design / manufacturing (Zeiss Germany) is primarily aimed at the high end television and motion picture industries and industrial use. The lenses for small format cameras are built by Cosina in Japan, to Zeiss specs using Zeiss designs.