Carl Zeiss optics vs others pertaining to lens construction?

3 years 2 months ago #707274 by Karen Comella
Back in the day, Carl Zeiss simply used better materials when making lenses right?  If true, does that still hold true today?  What is the attraction for buying a lens made by Carl Zeiss? 

I have come across a few photographers lately who have talked about Carl Zeiss glass.  Kind of reminds me of buzz you hear from Leica owners.  

Same thing?  


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3 years 2 months ago #707278 by Nikon Shooter
Some makers have the nasty habit to never make bad stuff. Zeiss
and Leica are among them… but time went by and others did join
the list. Swarovski, Nikon along with a very few others.

Nowadays, the question is more in the colour of the glass; some
are warmer, others are colder, and there are the neutral ones. I do
prefer the neutral ones… but I'm not a birder, just a photographer.

Light is free… capturing it is not!
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3 years 2 months ago #707282 by Ozzie_Traveller
G'day Karen

As with the motor car industry, there are the top-flight companies whose products are expensive for various reasons, and the regular companies whose products sell at rates acceptable to 'the masses' (like me).

Whether the top-flight products were actually 3x or 4x 'better' than the others as shown by their selling price is sometimes questionable, but most certainly, side-by-side tests do show that the more expensive items usually show better results

As NS says ... Zeiss and Leica from Europe were soon joined by Nikon and Canon in Japan and all their products are highly regarded and sought after. The -but- in today's computer controlled manufacturing world, is that the other companies are now producing products that seem to be (in my opinion) 90% as good but for only 50% of the price

Just as a simple example - Tamron make extraordinary lenses that easily compete with the big names

For many years I ran Ricoh camera bodies in preference to Pentax, as I found them better for my sort of photography. I also ran Tamron lenses as I found them also to be very good value-for-money. Would I have taken better images with a Zeiss lensed system? --- don't know, as it comes back to me and my visual and conceptual abilities

ps- today I use Panasonic cameras with Leica lenses and I am very happy with the results

Hope this helps
Phil from the great land Downunder
www.flickr.com/photos/ozzie_traveller/sets/

Phil from the great land Downunder
www.flickr.com/photos/ozzie_traveller/sets/

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3 years 2 months ago #707287 by John Landolfi
Add Schneider to the list of quality lenses. They made a line of great lenses for the Kodak Retina Reflex cameras which work very well with adapters on modern DSLR and mirrorless bodies, and can be bought at "mass consumption" prices.


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3 years 2 months ago #707417 by db3348
And Rodenstock ,  although ( I believe)  not  available for mass-market SLRs & mirrorless  without extensive modification .
But fantastic on large and medium format film cameras  and  medium format digital cameras .


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3 years 2 months ago #707430 by Macon B
Expensive lenses


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