I feel sad to hear this news. For more than 30 years, I only use Zeiss lenses in my job as photographer. I remind you that it was Carl Zeiss who invented all the most beautiful technical formulas for optics: Planar, Biogon, Sonnar, Distagon, Vario-Sonnar. All other manufacturers have taken inspiration from these lenses with their own names. I hope that Zeiss will one day return to photo optics. It's as if Porsche would stop making a certain type of sports car. Sony which collaborates with Zeiss must save the photo department of Zeiss.
the thing is that soy are fully committed to the G master line. Why would sony produce their premium lenses and then have a collab with a brand that has been known (in previous sony lenses) to be expensive. it makes no business sense from sony now
@@phodge9985 Sony has worked with Zeiss for years. Everyone was a winner. It can continue. I agree with Andrea a New Zeiss Ikon camera designed by Sony will be great.
I have a 40mm Batis on E Mount and I got it for a significant discount. It's a great lens for the price I paid. However the full retail on Zeiss glass is frankly absurd. They got left behind and were poor value. Customers are not stupid, the blue logo is nice to have but the game has changed and Zeiss didn't attempt to keep up or be relevant. They banked on brand recognition and nostalgia and the world has moved on.
Unlike Leica, Zeiss may be a one horse pony. A premium line of manual lenses in today's AF marketplace with low market penetration and profit may not go well with the shareholders. Another thing is that there will be new heroes in every continuum.
Zeiss hasn’t done anything worth getting excited about since their Otus and Batis lineup came out. The entire industry has largely switched to mirrorless technology. Instead of seeing a new opportunity to make an AF Otus line for the surviving 3-4 camera makers, Zeiss decides to hang it up on traditional photography lenses. Sounds like Zeiss needs new leadership and then lenses. If Leica can thrive on selling $6-12K lenses then Zeiss should stop feeling sorry for themselves and grow a pair.
in the cinema world, Cooke lenses are held high, very high and they dropped a mirrorless line for 1/4 the price of their existing lenses, they have so much of that cooke look in them but at a fraction of the price and Zeiss could actually do the same, drop a mirrorless line that doesn't have to be autofocus for 1/4 the price of the Otus, they would be very famous amongst both photographers and videograpers.
Great points. And absolutely, the competition that sunk their pro/pro-sumer sales was not smartphones but rather Sigma, Tamron, and the rest. These manufacturers have been creeping up in image quality, build quality, and autofocus over the years and Zeiss was either unwilling or unable to compete. Could they still compete and be successful? It's hard to say but I think they calculated that it was too risky. Zeiss never competed on value (which they decided wasn't consistent with their brand image of uncompromising quality) or autofocus (which they must have decided was unsuccessful with the Batis line). Also, image quality is becoming devalued in the smartphone era (so some truth in their statements there) and Sigma and Tamron are so good now. I think innovating is hard and the there's not much left to chase after to offer a uniquely competitive and compelling products. So it's disappointing but not unexpected. The smart camera they produced was an interesting experiment - maybe they'll revive that, I hope.
This is the time when they are supposed to level up their game and make unique lenses, using their experience and expertise! They are quitting early. Even if they make good commercial manual lenses with unique apertures, they will be in the race except for the fact that they’ll have to shred that “premium” tag !
Even in 2023 the image quality of smartphones is really horrible. Those photos only look good on a screen zoomed out, but if you pixel peep, they are either very noisy or have an aggressive noise reduction applied. I recently saw a group photo taken with very high end smartphone and on group photos you want to zoom in on individual people. When you do that, it is shocking how bad that looks. Zeiss making lenses for smartphones is as if Porsche decided to develop a Bobby Car. Zeiss is a small company and they know they can make a lot of money by putting their name on a smartphone lens. Maybe those lenses are really better than other smartphone lenses, but it basically still is a marketing thing. The rising image quality of Sigma lenses for example may be the main problem of Zeiss. The OTUS 85mm lens may still have the best image quality, but only if you nail the focus and that can be hard at f/1.4.
Well they don't make cameras and that's a big problem I think. A lot of companies have gotten better at making their own lens. And that's because of computer and lasers now to measure parts. Leica makes their own cameras and high end lens so there is a good market for them. With Zeiss they have to go to other camera companies and workout a deal to make lens for them like they did with Sony. Zeiss kind of reminds me of Kodak in some ways. Kodak made sensors CCD back in the day and they decided to sell sensors to other companies and you always need that good relationship or everything falls apart. Kodak should have entered the camera market with their own DSLR and went mirrorless but they never did.
Zeiss have to go the Cooke's route, Cooke lenses are impressive but expensive and they released mirrorless lenses that are lightweight and have so much of the famous cooke look for 1/4 the price of the lenses they already had out. Zeiss could follow the same strategy they followed making the Otus lenses but the other way, instead of making a lens without compromises, they could make a lens that its sole purpose is a competitive price and sure that line of lenses will eventually balance things for them. just imagine 799$ mirrorless Zeiss lenses for E, L, RF, M mounts...doesn't have to be Autofocus either...that line will take the cake away from a lot of Photo and Cinema lenses at that price range.
The fact is that most "pro" photographers cannot get $5-10K for a day shoot let alone more these days. Expectations have dropped, Magazines are out, and marketing has shifted to celebrities more, and those that are getting high dollar are far and few. Those are the fact reasons. Zeiss is over priced for sure. Schneider and Rodenstock make great LF lenses, I can see them still feed a small neiche, but even they can be on same path. I wont even buy Canon RF, lol and I used to get the big money back in the days. All those guys who did now make money either doing workshops teaching or something else...maybe AirBnBing the properties purchsed from making big$ back then. Photography is maybe still more profitable than drawing and painting, perhaps , but maybe less enjoyable and relaxing, lol.
I shoot with a number of Zeiss lenses. I also use Sony E mount cameras. Having to adapt my best lenses from a Canon mount to an E mount is a compromise that sucks.
I don’t think this rumor is true. I really hope they at least revise their batis lineup. I have the zeiss batis 85mm f1.8 and it is incredible, always extremely beautiful.
They lose to the likes of Sigma, Tamron, Samyang, Laowa and Viltrox. Before modern era, these companies are viewed as cheap options while Zeiss is the art lens. But these 'cheap option' lens manufacturer invest in RND and rethink their business plan. What did Zeiss do? Nothing. They do nothing. They simply wank themselves romanticizing their past glories while the competitor git gud and match Zeiss quality for lower price. And the market simply vote with money. Zeiss has lose. They can no longer compete with everyone on large scale. They can only do small scale stuff and call these products as 'premium'. Similar thing happen to Leica. Leica lose to Japanese camera manifactures and had to resort to this 'premium stuff' gimmick.
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It's not like nobody else is making great photo lenses. Let's not get caught up in nostalgia.
I m using C/Y Carl Zeiss lenses 😂… Am I nostalgic or just lens collector
I feel sad to hear this news. For more than 30 years, I only use Zeiss lenses in my job as photographer.
I remind you that it was Carl Zeiss who invented all the most beautiful technical formulas for optics: Planar, Biogon, Sonnar, Distagon, Vario-Sonnar.
All other manufacturers have taken inspiration from these lenses with their own names.
I hope that Zeiss will one day return to photo optics.
It's as if Porsche would stop making a certain type of sports car.
Sony which collaborates with Zeiss must save the photo department of Zeiss.
the thing is that soy are fully committed to the G master line. Why would sony produce their premium lenses and then have a collab with a brand that has been known (in previous sony lenses) to be expensive. it makes no business sense from sony now
@@phodge9985 Sony has worked with Zeiss for years. Everyone was a winner. It can continue.
I agree with Andrea a New Zeiss Ikon camera designed by Sony will be great.
@@pascalkrzeminski7341 yeah before they went full in with G master,
I have a 40mm Batis on E Mount and I got it for a significant discount. It's a great lens for the price I paid. However the full retail on Zeiss glass is frankly absurd. They got left behind and were poor value. Customers are not stupid, the blue logo is nice to have but the game has changed and Zeiss didn't attempt to keep up or be relevant.
They banked on brand recognition and nostalgia and the world has moved on.
Unlike Leica, Zeiss may be a one horse pony. A premium line of manual lenses in today's AF marketplace with low market penetration and profit may not go well with the shareholders. Another thing is that there will be new heroes in every continuum.
Zeiss hasn’t done anything worth getting excited about since their Otus and Batis lineup came out. The entire industry has largely switched to mirrorless technology. Instead of seeing a new opportunity to make an AF Otus line for the surviving 3-4 camera makers, Zeiss decides to hang it up on traditional photography lenses. Sounds like Zeiss needs new leadership and then lenses. If Leica can thrive on selling $6-12K lenses then Zeiss should stop feeling sorry for themselves and grow a pair.
in the cinema world, Cooke lenses are held high, very high and they dropped a mirrorless line for 1/4 the price of their existing lenses, they have so much of that cooke look in them but at a fraction of the price and Zeiss could actually do the same, drop a mirrorless line that doesn't have to be autofocus for 1/4 the price of the Otus, they would be very famous amongst both photographers and videograpers.
Great points. And absolutely, the competition that sunk their pro/pro-sumer sales was not smartphones but rather Sigma, Tamron, and the rest. These manufacturers have been creeping up in image quality, build quality, and autofocus over the years and Zeiss was either unwilling or unable to compete. Could they still compete and be successful? It's hard to say but I think they calculated that it was too risky. Zeiss never competed on value (which they decided wasn't consistent with their brand image of uncompromising quality) or autofocus (which they must have decided was unsuccessful with the Batis line). Also, image quality is becoming devalued in the smartphone era (so some truth in their statements there) and Sigma and Tamron are so good now. I think innovating is hard and the there's not much left to chase after to offer a uniquely competitive and compelling products. So it's disappointing but not unexpected. The smart camera they produced was an interesting experiment - maybe they'll revive that, I hope.
Bad news for me. I still haven't completed my collection of the Zeiss Classic lenses. Things are about to get expensive.
You may find it's the opposite, I just bought a mint 85mm f1.4 ZE Classic for £400. I think I now have enough: 4x Otus, 3x Milvus, 9x Classic.
This is the time when they are supposed to level up their game and make unique lenses, using their experience and expertise! They are quitting early. Even if they make good commercial manual lenses with unique apertures, they will be in the race except for the fact that they’ll have to shred that “premium” tag !
Even in 2023 the image quality of smartphones is really horrible. Those photos only look good on a screen zoomed out, but if you pixel peep, they are either very noisy or have an aggressive noise reduction applied. I recently saw a group photo taken with very high end smartphone and on group photos you want to zoom in on individual people. When you do that, it is shocking how bad that looks.
Zeiss making lenses for smartphones is as if Porsche decided to develop a Bobby Car. Zeiss is a small company and they know they can make a lot of money by putting their name on a smartphone lens. Maybe those lenses are really better than other smartphone lenses, but it basically still is a marketing thing.
The rising image quality of Sigma lenses for example may be the main problem of Zeiss. The OTUS 85mm lens may still have the best image quality, but only if you nail the focus and that can be hard at f/1.4.
Well they don't make cameras and that's a big problem I think. A lot of companies have gotten better at making their own lens. And that's because of computer and lasers now to measure parts.
Leica makes their own cameras and high end lens so there is a good market for them. With Zeiss they have to go to other camera companies and workout a deal to make lens for them like they did with Sony.
Zeiss kind of reminds me of Kodak in some ways. Kodak made sensors CCD back in the day and they decided to sell sensors to other companies and you always need that good relationship or everything falls apart. Kodak should have entered the camera market with their own DSLR and went mirrorless but they never did.
Zeiss have to go the Cooke's route, Cooke lenses are impressive but expensive and they released mirrorless lenses that are lightweight and have so much of the famous cooke look for 1/4 the price of the lenses they already had out.
Zeiss could follow the same strategy they followed making the Otus lenses but the other way, instead of making a lens without compromises, they could make a lens that its sole purpose is a competitive price and sure that line of lenses will eventually balance things for them.
just imagine 799$ mirrorless Zeiss lenses for E, L, RF, M mounts...doesn't have to be Autofocus either...that line will take the cake away from a lot of Photo and Cinema lenses at that price range.
The fact is that most "pro" photographers cannot get $5-10K for a day shoot let alone more these days. Expectations have dropped, Magazines are out, and marketing has shifted to celebrities more, and those that are getting high dollar are far and few. Those are the fact reasons. Zeiss is over priced for sure. Schneider and Rodenstock make great LF lenses, I can see them still feed a small neiche, but even they can be on same path.
I wont even buy Canon RF, lol and I used to get the big money back in the days. All those guys who did now make money either doing workshops teaching or something else...maybe AirBnBing the properties purchsed from making big$ back then. Photography is maybe still more profitable than drawing and painting, perhaps , but maybe less enjoyable and relaxing, lol.
I shoot with a number of Zeiss lenses. I also use Sony E mount cameras. Having to adapt my best lenses from a Canon mount to an E mount is a compromise that sucks.
I don’t think this rumor is true. I really hope they at least revise their batis lineup. I have the zeiss batis 85mm f1.8 and it is incredible, always extremely beautiful.
Or sell the brand to Cosina. 😆
they've flushed the economy
They lose to the likes of Sigma, Tamron, Samyang, Laowa and Viltrox. Before modern era, these companies are viewed as cheap options while Zeiss is the art lens.
But these 'cheap option' lens manufacturer invest in RND and rethink their business plan. What did Zeiss do? Nothing. They do nothing.
They simply wank themselves romanticizing their past glories while the competitor git gud and match Zeiss quality for lower price. And the market simply vote with money.
Zeiss has lose. They can no longer compete with everyone on large scale. They can only do small scale stuff and call these products as 'premium'.
Similar thing happen to Leica. Leica lose to Japanese camera manifactures and had to resort to this 'premium stuff' gimmick.
Zeiss MF lenses will still be working perfectly when a lot of AF ones are broken.
Zeiss was wanking when companies like 7artisans , TTartisans , Mayer Optics were putting efforts to recreating Zeiss's legendary history