Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/02/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Marc, Since your are the resident Zeiss expert, would your explain the relationship of Zeiss to Contax to Yashica. Who owns what and is responsible for what? Is it similar to the Leica/Minolta arrangement or if not different in what ways? (Keeps it related, or if you feel no one has an interest, please e-mail me privately. Thanks in advance. > 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! > > > Brian Levy, J.D. Scarborough Ont.