Who Made Your Lens?
Posted: Fri 31 Jul 2015, 10:52
Based on a Zeiss blog article, DPReview lifts the lid on some of what goes on behind the scenes in lens manufacturing. This type of arrangement is far from new. Leica did not produce all the R lenses for its SLRs, for example, and some were made by Minolta and Sigma. Inevitably those emanating from Leica's own factory in Germany by Leica usually have a higher reputation and secondhand value, typically far in excess of the price when new. Even today, lenses for its T range of cameras are made by an undisclosed third party based in Japan. All Leica will say is that it is not Cosina.
I have also heard suggestions that neither Canon nor Nikon manufacture every lens bearing their names themselves; I would not be surprised if there are other camera makers doing this as well. From what I can make out, there seem to be a number of different companies which are not household names producing lenses in Japan.
http://www.dpreview.com/articles/255537 ... production
* Minolta was also responsible for the early R models and some other cameras bearing the Red Dot logo.
I have also heard suggestions that neither Canon nor Nikon manufacture every lens bearing their names themselves; I would not be surprised if there are other camera makers doing this as well. From what I can make out, there seem to be a number of different companies which are not household names producing lenses in Japan.
http://www.dpreview.com/articles/255537 ... production
* Minolta was also responsible for the early R models and some other cameras bearing the Red Dot logo.