They certainly are not going to steal Zeiss' designs but It would surprise me if they didn't take a close look what a top-notch lens is supposed to deliver and where their own creations are lacking in comparison. It would be a an impossible oversight if Cosina's designers are serious about their own busines, which they obviously are.
Otus thing was DOA, never seen it even mentioned at forums or else. They were huge, ugly and overpriced. IMO.
You can see thus from the designs too. Voigtländer (by Cosina) lenses are more similar to Leica designs than Zeiss designs.
The Otus lenses have sold fairly well according to my local Zeiss distributor. And the Milvus 50/1.4 is the nicest slr manual focus normal lens I’ve ever used. All the Zeiss spectacle lenses for Australasia are made at Tonsley in Adelaide and the local support for us here in South Australia is therefore very good because the service centre and staff are nearby.
Really? I remember when the first Otus was released (55/f1.4) and the forums positively gushed over the perfection. I recall more than a few claims of ‘best normal ever’…
I see this as driving the CZJ clone market. Some KMZ J8's are just great. And Skyllaney has the Bertele project going, but it will be expensive. The smaller Chinese companies, TT and 7Artisan and LLL, seem to be competitive. An interesting time in lenses. But there are so many good vintage lenses out there at good prices. CZJ's and CZJ clones are out there. Perhaps the Chinese will start more CZJ clones.
Good question.
Agreed but second is still quite high on my personal list of things that are needed for a good photograph.
C'mon, we all know the answer to that. It's just one more... 🤣
Maybe the users of these lenses are just out there using them rather than spending all their time on forums? A lot of technical and scientific photographers are using them.
Ko Fe, I dig your signature! Running 49/19 over here
42/15 on a vintage Panasonic DX-500 fixed gear conversion over here.
Whilst true it is a simplistic statement because we need gear in order to be creative and so we all have to make choices about what gear we use. Photography has always been gear orientated and photographers have always discussed gear. The trick is to have sufficient gear which works well for what you want to do with it and use it. Some are ocd on gear, others anything but. Whatever works.
