At 18:33 9/22/00 , Richard wrote:
>
>No licence, the only authentic Zeiss lenses "Made in Japan" are those
>of the Contax brand made by Yashica-Kyoceria.
>
>
>Regards
>
>Richard
All lenses marked "Carl Zeiss" are made by Carl Zeiss, not Yashica
(Kyocera). Yashica makes the Contax *body* and affixes the "Contax" name
to it under license from the Zeiss Foundation (Stiftung), an arrangement
set up shortly after the Zeiss Foundation dissolved Zeiss Ikon in the
1970's (Secret Project 130). The Zeiss Foundation still owns all the
rights to the "Contax" name. Carl Zeiss also makes lenses for Hasselblad
(MF), Rollei (MF and 35mm), Arriflex (Arnold & Richter; 16mm/35mm/65mm
cinema), Alpa (MF), and Sony (digital and camcorder).
Yashica also makes two models of SLR body *and* lenses for them under the
"Yashica" name. The 35mm SLR bodies use the same mount as the Contax
SLR's. A Carl Zeiss MM lens for a Contax SLR can be mounted on a Yashica
body. Not certain why someone would do that; if you can afford the lens,
you can certainly afford at least an Aria body to put it on!
To give you an idea how carefully the Zeiss Foundation and Carl Zeiss
controls its trademarks (applies to the pre-WWII Carl Zeiss and post-WWII
West German Carl Zeiss in Oberkochen):
The Carl Zeiss license granted to Rollei for Rollei 35 production allowed
Rollei to manufacture Carl Zeiss designed and formulated 40mm f/3.5
Triotar, 40mm f/3.5 Tessar, and 40mm f/2.8 Sonnar lenses for the
subminiature Rollei 35 and its subsequent variants. Carl Zeiss at least
periodically monitored Rollei's lens production for these cameras.
Although these lenses were marked with Carl Zeiss "Triotar, Tessar and
Sonnar" trademarks under the license, Rollei also had to mark them with
"Rollei," because Rollei actually manufactured them, not Carl Zeiss. Some
very early 40/3.5 Tessar lenses on the initial "Germany" made Rollei 35
have "Carl Zeiss" marked on them, because they were made by Carl Zeiss
before Rollei began its lens production. Just allowing Rollei to use the
trademarked lens names (Triotar, Tessar, and Sonnar) was highly unusual,
and AFIK the *only* time Carl Zeiss has ever allowed it. The Carl Zeiss
lenses on the Rolleiflex TLR's and for the MF SLR's always were (and still
are) made by Carl Zeiss. Carl Zeiss has licensed its designs to other lens
manufacturers in the past, but *never* with one of their lens names or any
form of the "Zeiss" name.
-- John
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