robert smith wrote:
>Hi,
>I have noticed a lens on an OM10 for sale on "b*y (3877257766)
>I know nothing about Carl Zeiss lenses and am wondering what it is,
>
It is a Japanese lens, not real top tier, with a top German brand name.
There is a carefully detailed post in the archives about all this. Short
version, after WWII, Carl Zeiss was split into two entities, Carl Zeiss
in W. Ger. and Carl Zeiss Jena in the East. The Jena company was not
allowed to use the Carl Zeiss name in the US (at least). The lenses they
continued to make in E. Ger. based on the existing designs are a story I
know little about, but htey did not continue to advance the state of the
art like the W. Ger. company. They also licensed the name to someone in
Japan, so there are some lenses floating around with the great name that
have no relationship whatsoever to the lenses produced by either German
company.
Carl Zeiss never made lenses for 35mm in mounts for Japanese SLRs. Their
lenses for MF are legendary. Any lens labeled Carl Zeiss (without the
"Jena") and made in Germany will be at least very good when new, with
many being excellent or best in class. Sony is selling prosumer DCs with
Carl Zeiss label lenses. Heaven knows what exact mixture of German and
Japanese optical an mechanical engineering goes into them, but I believe
they are entirely manufactured in Japan.
The reason you haven't run into Carl Zeiss zooms for 35mm Japanese SLRs
is that they were never sold in the US.
Moose
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