Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/02/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 08:06 AM 2/10/97 -0600, Glen M. Robinson, Ph.D. wrote: >Carl Zeiss is the owner of Zeiss Ikon, the camera body manufacturer. Carl >Zeiss made the lenses for Zeiss Ikon cameras. Cameras have always been a >small part of both E. Leitz's and Carl Zeiss' businesses. Wrong on one count, partly wrong on the other. Carl Zeiss is a lensworks whose main plants are located in Oberkochen and Jena. It is owned by the Zeiss Foundation, an educational trust located at Heidenheim and Jena. The Foundation formerly owned Zeiss Ikon, a camera company with plants at Dresden, Stuttgart, and Berlin. The Foundation also owns Hensoldt in Wetzlar, Albert Gauthier in Munich, Leitz Woodworking Tools (no kin to Leica, by the way) and formerly owned the F&W Deckel concern, now bankrupt. Today, Zeiss manufactures scientific and industrial optics. Camera lenses are a minuscule portion of their product line. Hensoldt now makes all Zeiss binoculars. Further information can be found in Barringer and (a-HEM) Small, THE ZEISS COMPENDIUM, Hove, 1995. As to Leitz, by the early 1960's -- the period under discussion -- I doubt if microscope and binocular sales made up 15% of their output. So successful was the Leica, that the company completely changed course. You may want to consult the US Strategic Bombing Survey report on Leitz, which indicates the percentages as of 1945, when camera output exceeded 90% of their product line. Marc msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315 Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!