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Re: [OM] Off-brand zooms for OM

Subject: Re: [OM] Off-brand zooms for OM
From: "Robert E. Woodburn" <woodburn@xxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 07 Jan 2000 01:51:33 +0000
Thanks, John. Exactly what I wanted to know...


John A. Lind wrote:
> 
> At 17:22 1/6/00 , Bob Woodburn wrote:
> >Hi OM'ers -
> >
> >Have any of you had any experience with the Zeiss 28-80 f4 zoom for OM?
> >If so, how would you evaluate it?
> 
> Be careful about the "Zeiss" name.  "Carl Zeiss" makes lenses.  Bear with
> me as I explain what this lens really is.  It was made and sold prior to
> the reunification of Germany, so the terms and names used about Carl Zeiss
> in this posting are ones used prior to the reunification.
> 
> It was *not* designed or manufactured by Carl Zeiss, Stuttgart (West
> Germany) or VEB Carl Zeiss Jena (East Germany).  It is a run-of-the-mill
> Japanese designed and manufactured zoom with VEB Carl Zeiss Jena's name on
> it.  You haven't seen them in the U.S. because VEB Carl Zeiss Jena couldn't
> use their name here (a U.S. Supreme Court decision prohibited it).  It was
> most likely sold to its original owner somewhere in western Europe where
> the name could be used legally.
> 
> In manufacturing this lens would be referred to as a "pass-through" which
> is something made by someone else that you buy from them and put your name
> on (or have them put your name on) before reselling it.  It is not a Bad
> lens, but about average among the aftermarket lenses made for the OM in its
> era (e.g. Vivitar, Tamron, etc.).  Neither does it deserve association with
> the reputation that Carl Zeiss (Stuttgart) lenses have and that *some* of
> the VEB Carl Zeiss Jena lenses (designed and made by VEB CZJ) have.
> 
> --- Lengthy Explanation Begins Here ---
> 
> After about 1952 the Russian Sector became East Germany and the
> French/British/U.S. sectors became West Germany creating the 40+ year
> split.  The U.S. had anticipated this and a number of years earlier had
> quietly relocated key personnel of the Zeiss Foundation and the companies
> it controlled (Carl Zeiss, Zeiss Ikon, Schott Glass, et al.) out of the
> Russian Sector (Dresden and Jena) to areas around Stuttgart where the Zeiss
> Ikon Contessa Works were located.  The Zeiss Foundation was reestablished
> along with the companies I mentioned and chartered as corporations again in
> West Germany.
> 
> In East Germany, the state owned VEB Carl Zeiss Jena was eventually
> reconstituted with former Carl Zeiss employees (who weren't relocated) at
> its core.  This created *two* *separate* Carl Zeiss companies.  Lawsuits
> between the two regarding intellectual properties, including trademarks,
> ensued in various countries.  Ultimately in the U.S., VEB Carl Zeiss Jena
> was prohibited (went to the Supreme Court) from using any form of Zeiss
> Foundation trademarks or the word "Zeiss" on its products.
> 
> A number of countries in Europe allowed both to use the word "Zeiss" and
> the name "Carl Zeiss" in their trademarks.  Within countries that allowed
> the East German VEB Carl Zeiss Jena to use the name "Carl Zeiss" on lenses
> typically marked them "Carl Zeiss Jena."  *The* Carl Zeiss prior to
> reunification was the West German company and often marked its products
> "Carl Zeiss Stuttgart" to differentiate them from the East German VEB CZJ
> products.
> 
> This zoom lens was a product sold by VEB Carl Zeiss Jena in East Germany.
> However, it was not made in East Germany, nor is it a Carl Zeiss design of
> any type, East or West.  At some point between the middle 1970's and middle
> 1980's, VEB Carl Zeiss Jena "prostituted" its name on inexpensive lenses
> made in Japan.  They did this to generate badly needed revenue and sold
> them mostly in European countries that allowed VEB Carl Zeiss Jena to use
> "Carl Zeiss" as trademarks.  They sold these lenses in a number of popular
> SLR mounts, the OM among them.  You never saw them in the U.S. because VEB
> Carl Zeiss Jena was prohibited from using the name "Carl Zeiss" in the U.S.
>  Note that some stuff from VEB CZJ did enter the U.S. under names like
> "Jenoptik."
> 
> Again, these lenses are not bad.  They are about on par with other third
> party Japanese lenses for the OM from that era.  Neither are they
> world-class Carl Zeiss (Stuttgart) lenses or among *some* of the VEB Carl
> Zeiss Jena lenses that were also world-class (albeit often with lesser
> materials like aluminum instead of brass and steel).
> 
> -- John
> 
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