35mm SLRs with Zeiss lens

[neilt3]

Hear me now and believe me later: Carl Zeiss Jena lenses are optically equivalent to a Coke bottle. Everyone should send them to me for proper disposal.

If your in Europe and don't want the expense of shipping to the US , then send them to me , I'll be happy to take them off your hand's !

 

[neilt3]

Back to the O.P , I have a few Contax and Yashica bodies for my CZ lenses .
The Yashicas are especially cheap .
Repair and parts could be an issue , but not a problem really . All my cameras are fine and if I can't fix it myself I wouldn't send it for repair .
Some Contax bodies sell for about £40-£50 and some Yashicas for £15 .
The cameras just a light tight box to hold the film and lenses to , the lenses cost much more . Why worry ?
Probably cost £40 for someone to look at my £15 Yashica if it broke , and for them to tell me it's not worth repairing , that'll be £40 please !

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

My knowledge of cars is not that deep sorry, so don't get the analogy. Anyway, I particularly fond on the Rollei sl35e because its a pleasure to use and the Zeiss QBM are gorgeous. Unfortunately their electronics and dependability are not as gorgeous. I have something like 3 of the dont work or are unreliable but have one that I use regularly and has not as yet failed.

Regards

Marcelo

Put simply, a 1970s Fiat is horribly unreliable, prone to rust, and expensive to operate. By comparison, a 1970s Mercedes is very reliable, built like a tank, and is still a suitable road car today.

 

[ic-racer]

Not quite...
I got a west-german lens test from 1985 of 2.8 180mm lenses where the Zeiss-East model got higher resolution than its Zeiss-East counterpart, and much lesser distorsion. Even its centering was better (so much about workmanship).
But as others said, by the number of lenses we could do a many pages discussion. And who takes photographs of test-charts??
The Zeiss-West version had a shorter minimum focusing distance, which for instance to many photographers would be very important too.

Yes, there are some 'keepers' out there. Do you still have the lens? Which camera body did you use?

 

[ic-racer]

Indeed: that's when Carl Zeiss AG began having their lenses made in Japan and later in Thailand, and cameras made in Singapore...

That was in the late 2000s. In the 1980s the top end CZ lenses in Rollei mount and the Rollei cameras were all made in Germany. In the 1980s the Japanese lenses were "Rolleinar" and not of CZ design.

 

[Paul Howell]

Sony Zeiss lens are designed by Zeiss but made by several production plants in Japan, maybe other countries as well supervised by Zeiss staff. Does Zeiss still makes lens?

 

[pentaxuser]

I was waiting for that, now we can have 47 pages of debate on East German vs West German Zeiss.

I hope not but we can surely have 47 pages on which of the two cars has the worse colour scheme

pentaxuser

 

[GLS]

There is nothing stopping you from buying Nikon 35mm bodies and buying Carl Zeiss ZF lenses.


Zeiss Lenses by Narsuitus, on Flickr

Agreed.

The Pentax mount versions are much harder to find, and Leitax conversion kits aren't exactly cheap either.

 

[dynachrome]

I have had three Yashica FX-3 bodies overhauled as well as an FX-7. I also have two working FX-3 Super 2000 bodies if I need the 1/2000 shutter speed. My one Zeiss lens us a 35/2.8 AEJ. The 35/2.8 Yashica ML is also a good lens but the Zeiss lens has nicer out of focus rendition. As time goes by I might consider other Zeiss lenses but the ML and other lenses I have in Y/C mount allow me to handle many subjects.

 

[GarageBoy]

Just get a new zf/ze/zk lens and the corresponding body and go for it. Or have some fun with a m42 body and some Ddr Jena stuff. (If you think the contax bodies are sketchy, which they can be, don't even think about the ddr cameras)

The electronic rollei cameras were infamously unreliable... I still have a dead NOS sl35e in the box somewhere... The sl35 has a fragile winding mechanism, and the budget models are a bit agricultural ... Honestly, just use the lenses on a Sony a series digital camera (yeah yeah)

 

[RattyMouse]

Sony Zeiss lens are designed by Zeiss but made by several production plants in Japan, maybe other countries as well supervised by Zeiss staff. Does Zeiss still makes lens?

Zeiss ZF.2 lenses were made by Cosina.

 

[GLS]

As long as a production facility can build a lens to the required specifications, then where/by whom it is built is academic. The Otus range are also made in Japan, and they are easily amongst the finest 35mm optics ever. A lens doesn't somehow become magical because it was assembled by German fingers...

 

[RattyMouse]

As long as a production facility can build a lens to the required specifications, then where/by whom it is built is academic. The Otus range are also made in Japan, and they are easily amongst the finest 35mm optics ever. A lens doesn't somehow become magical because it was assembled by German fingers...

The high price of manufactured goods is often dictated by where it is assembled; Germany being one of the most expensive. Moving production to Asia doesnt get the customer much, but it does allow Zeiss to get higher margins. Same price for the consumer, a lot more profit for Zeiss.

 

[GLS]

The high price of manufactured goods is often dictated by where it is assembled; Germany being one of the most expensive. Moving production to Asia doesnt get the customer much, but it does allow Zeiss to get higher margins. Same price for the consumer, a lot more profit for Zeiss.

Sure, but that is a separate issue from the quality of the lens produced.