Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/04/11

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To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
Subject: Re: nikon/canon lenses on SM leicas
From: Marc James Small <msmall@roanoke.infi.net>
Date: Thu, 11 Apr 1996 21:57:14 -0400
Cc: Arthur Wouk <wouk@alumni.cs.colorado.edu>

At 06:27 PM 4/11/96 -0600, Arthur Wouk wrote:
>well, zeiss is gone, and leica, if not for
>the collectors, would probably be gone by now too. 


Zeiss is hardly gone:  they are probably the largest industrial, scientific,
and medical optics firm in the world, and they dominate the high end of
consumer optics such as binoculars and rifle scopes.  In fact, they are
still cheerfully producing quite a few camera lenses, for Hasselblad, and
design lenses which are made under license by Rollei (at the old Voigtlander
plant in Braunschweig, I believe) and by Yashica in Japan for the Contax SLR
cameras.

I believe Mr Wouk meant to refer to Zeiss Ikon, a totally different company
owned by the same educational foundation which owns the Zeiss optical works.
Zeiss Ikon ceased camera production in 1972, but continued to produce slide
projectors and the like until 1992, when these were hived off to a
Scandavanian firm, who continues to produce these under the Zett brand.  The
Zeiss Ikon name remains a proprietary Zeiss trademark.

Interestingly, very few cameras ever bore the simple Zeiss name, and only
the tail end of the Contaflex and Contarex series did so properly.

Best,

Marc
msmall@roanoke.infi.net  FAX:  +540/343-7315
Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!