RIP Utz Schneider (1943 - 2025)

[p.giannakis]

Utz Schneider (1943 - 2025) , the designer of the Pancolar 1.8/80 mm has died.



Never had the pleasure to use this lens but I am thinking of the German engineers working in CZJ which produced so many excellent lenses and we never got to know who they were.

 

[DownUnder]

He made it to his 80s, not bad innings for a long and productive life...

I believe he also designed many other lenses. I recall reading about him some years back, and I wish I had kept a link to the article as it included a lot of data on those underrated little 'sleepers' of the lens world. That Zeiss glass has held up well over many decades, even if the manufacturers' quality control was at times somewhat inconsistent. The lenses even work well on today's digital cameras, but it's good to thoroughly test them, as the QC can vary greatly between two of the same lenses from the same production run.

It would be truly good if we can look up and post more information about those East German lenses.


So yes, many thanks for posting this.

 

[p.giannakis]

He made it to his 80s, not bad innings for a long and productive life...

I believe he also designed many other lenses. I recall reading about him some years back, and I wish I had kept a link to the article as it included a lot of data on those underrated little 'sleepers' of the lens world. That Zeiss glass has held up well over many decades, even if the manufacturers' quality control was at times somewhat inconsistent. The lenses even work well on today's digital cameras, but it's good to thoroughly test them, as the QC can vary greatly between two of the same lenses from the same production run.

It would be truly good if we can look up and post more information about those East German lenses.


So yes, many thanks for posting this.

If you have plenty of free time and want to explore an interesting rabbit hole check the VEB website. It's all in German but Google translates it well. There is a wealth of information about East German cameras and lenses and some background stories and documents.

zeissikonveb.de

Webseite über die Technikgeschichte der Mitteldeutschen Photoindustrie. Kamerabau in Dresden, Objektivbau in Jena und Görlitz mit Schwerpunkt auf der Epoche zwischen 1945 und 1990

zeissikonveb.de

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