DxOmark tested the Sigma 50mm ART lens on a Canon camera and it performs almost as good as the Zeiss Otus! And this is a very good news for us because it’s rumored that also the new 85mm and 35mm f/1.4 Zeiss Otus lenses will NOT(!) be available in A-mount (although E-mount owners will be able to use it via adapter). So let’s go with the Sigmas!!! 🙂
The Sigma ART 50mm lens is now available for preorder at Amazon US too (Click here). Other US preorder options at BHphoto (Click here) and Adorama (Click here).
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Admin, last time I checked, the rumored WA would be a 28. Did you get the rumored 35 recently?
The Otus’s are no deal for me. I mean I don’t have the money now, but never, not even when I do. The ZE doesn’t have an aperture ring, the ZF’s focus goes backwards. Definite deal breakers.
And from previous posts they’re made in Japan? They want to sell a standard prime made in Japan at $4000? They should be cutting the price in half for that.
I’m probably getting the ZM 15mm though, when I have the budget for it. Hope it doesn’t get discontinued or kicked into Cosina factories anytime soon.
Because… why? Because Japanese labor forces are more expensive and better educated than German ones?
http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/japan/
http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/germany/
What? So you base this on statistics of entire nations? Why do you think Zeiss gradually moved all DSLR lens production to Japan starting from the 70s and kept them there, while their cine lenses are all made in Germany? Is it because they’re gonna manufacture their cheaper offerings with more expensive and better educated engineers? More like they’re relying on Japanese low cost automated production. Use your brain bro.
And “People in Japan work 1728 hours a year, less than the OECD average of 1776 hours”? “In general, the Japanese are more satisfied with their lives than the OECD average”You actually believe this crap? Either people in third world countries living unimaginably difficult lives are put into account in this “average”, or Japan’s playing with numbers. If you really know at least a little about the corporate culture of this country you’d know that people are more often unhappy than not, and they kill themselves while at it too.
On second thought, maybe the most stressed readily commit suicide so they’re not taken into the picture.
Sorry to say, but I sense an undertone of disdain that goes beyond Japanese labour; almost seemingly touching the Japanese themselves as the recipients of this disdain as you try to associate their suicide rate and “happiness” as QC factors with CZ lenses made in Japan.
You should keep the “country of origin” rhetoric out of your preferential cultural choices if that is what is based on.
You’ve mistaken my intentions of mentioning that. I mention that because, as I said, numbers are merely numbers and could be played with to suggest tendencies that may in fact not exist. My point is that the index is pointless in this discussion. It had nothing to do with the QC which I only discussed in the paragraph before.
It’s not even completely about QC, I just appreciate manual labor over automation, that’s all.
I personally, in general, do appreciate Japanese aesthetics, and the uniqueness of the Japanese culture. The Japanese have a way of working with subtle details, their native industrial designs are similar in elegance to German designs, but often not so…stiff. They often come up with ideas in areas where no one’s ever thought of before.
In that case then your generalization of “automation” at Cosina and “hand made” at Carl Zeiss may be ill informed or ill conceived. I remember very clearly reading in several publications that the RX1’s are hand assembled (body and lens?) to make sure the very tight tolerances with the extreme design are kept as perfect as possible. I would imagine that the tolerances for such a high performing design as Otus are at least as high, if not higher, so whatever they see fit to keep the constant quality, I am sure any customer can live with it.
It is not unheard of that Leica and Zeiss lenses made in Germany have misalignment issues as well since not all of them come out from the factory 100% perfect. I would believe deficiencies are noted more and more these days as sensor densities and resolutions make all of these issues more apparent.
I have owned ZE and Contax lenses (G, 645, N and C/Y) for at least a decade and not one of them has ever produced anything inferior to make me a lesser photographer or a lesser human.
Alright, alright. The issue about methods of manufacture, I think I’ve made myself clear enough in the last two replies to the other guy.
Now, whatever you say, you’ve got to let go of the “lesser human” tone of speech. I assure you that I’ve got absolutely nothing against the Japanese. Almost all of my consumer electronics are Japanese, I think I’ve mentioned this before, but a long time ago. Laptop, camera, smartphone, speaker, Walkman(3, counting previous ones), dock, tablet, earphones, headphone, battery pack…in fact many of them were purchased on my trips to Japan, the number of which is 3 as of now, with one more coming up this July.
I have my eyes on a wallet, hand-made in Japan, and a pair of earphones, from a small company, hand-made, in very small batches in Japan, that I plan on buying as a gift to an important friend of mine. Now this thing about country of production, it’s not against Japan either. I know that for the usual consumer electronics, those made in Japan are the premium offerings, and those in Thailand, Malaysia, and China are the lower-tier offerings. The same goes for lenses from a German company, the German made ones are premium, and those out-sourced to Japan are cheaper. When they blatantly cut down costs like this on their flagship product, and still charge a ridiculously high price for it, wouldn’t you agree that some would be dissatisfied?
Sigma’s charging their offering 1/4 of what Zeiss charges for this. The extra cost of German labor put aside, even with the extra metal(aluminum really isn’t much, in terms of cost), the slight edge in performance, the brand, I really think that $2000 would make a reasonable price, still reasonable up to $2500.Sigma even has less vignetting and a pretty good AF.
Ok. Now I believe I get your point.
In that case, then, all I can say is this:
I don’t believe the salary/labour price between Germany and Japan for the manufacturing of these lenses is THAT much different. Japan is still a developed country and salaries are not so considerably lower as to make anyone believe Zeiss “can” charge so much less to compete with the Sigma offering.
However Sigma is making this lenses. That’s their prerogative. Do they use exotic elements? exotic glass? or how much do they pay for the sourcing of the rest of the stuff that goes into that lens…that’s their business issue. Same goes for Zeiss. Maybe Zeiss didn’t get the sweet deal Sigma got for X Y Z material and from X Y Z source. Maybe Zeiss has to pay more per item/piece that goes into that lens because their forecast may have been for an amount of X lenses sold over X months/years. I am sure Sigma thought they will definitively outsell the Zeiss so they planned their economics of scale accordingly to arrive at a price point.
Those are business decisions that go beyond performance and country of origin. Branding is even another factor that tops that list. Too many variables to arrive to one single reason of why the Otus cost that much and why the Sigma costs that much.
Let’s not forget that when the Otus was announced, not one single photographer had ever seen anything anywhere near that class, at this speed, with that performance. Not even the apparently famed Leica 50mm AA lens that costs so much more and yet performs near to, but not as good as, the Otus. So, does Leica justify their pricing just because it is Made in Germany?
Beyerdynamic (a headphone manufacturer) makes all of their headphones in Germany (hand assembled) and they don’t cost the earth compared to, say, skanky Beats by Dre.
I wrote a response but it hasn’t been approved yet.
I understand what you mean, now.
In short. There are many more factors for pricing than just salaries and automation. Branding, as you mention, is one but also logistics, materials, sourcing, economies of scale also count.
I forgot to add this…I understand that you saw me show signs of contempt in that post. I admit it. But it was not because of the Japanese, but because of some ridiculous argument that sounded like:” I estimate that my neighbor has two kids, because according to census data every household in this country averages two children.”
I got…pissed.
The statistics are quite close to the reality I know. Indeed it reports Japanese to have a worse life-work balance and worse life satisfaction than Germans. I dunno what they count into their overall average but that’s not the point when comparing German and Japanese labor is it? And as to Cine lenses: cutting edge tech is expensive wherever it is produced. Moving low-volume production sites rarely improves anything so why should they?
I’m saying that different industries differ, and general data of the entire nation says very little about one particular industry. It’s highly likely that different industries in one country differ more than the overall difference between two countries.
It’s like the research a few Americans did on intelligence. The result was that Asians are, on average, the smartest, followed by Caucasians, followed by Africans. Many people went to the streets for this calling it “racism”, but the truth is that the numbers are after all, only averages. You could be some random Africa and still be over 40% as likely to be smarter than a random Asian. The average means nothing, the uncovering of such is certainly nothing to protest about.
If you are going to argue like that you should think about where your own beliefs come from. Or do you know for certain that Cosina employs heavy automation for the production of the Otus 55 1.4 (which is imo unlikely given the extremely limited volume)? You seem to be talking just based on (your personal) statistics that Japanese production uses more automation than German production.
Did I get you? I think I got you. Your argument started off with “Japanese labor forces are more expensive and better educated than German ones”, now you say Zeiss could lower production costs by moving the same amount of manual labor from Germany to Japan.
LOL
No worries, you didn’t get me. I said that MOVING production sites doesn’t make sense because cutting edge is expensive EVERYWHERE. How that translates to ‘Zeiss could lower production costs by moving the same amount of manual labor from Germany to Japan’ is beyond me.
Also, I’d prefer if you would post answers as answers instead of randomly editing posts. It’s difficult to follow your line of argumentation.
I think I explicitly wrote that I think the Otus is low volume (before you started to edit your posts). Cutting edge is relative. Otus is not cutting edge compared to Cine lenses. That should be quite obvious from the pricing.
The difference in price also makes it rather obvious that the production processes of Cine and Otus are almost completely different (or Zeiss have ridiculously huge margins on Cine lenses compared to Otus, pick what you think is more likely).
I do edit my posts. I often proofread my posts after I post them that’s why, but I don’t edit them once one is replied to. It doesn’t interfere with you continuing the argument, so I don’t know what you’re trying to infer here.
I think still got you. Why bother moving production to Japan if
1. same amount of manual labor put into Otus regardless of country of production
2. manual labor is more expensive in Japan?
3. You know as well as I do that all raw material in Japan is imported. Raw material may even be cheaper in Germany.
4. There’s no chance Cosina workers are “better educated” than Zeiss workers ,because then why not leave the cine lenses to Cosina too? Because it’s cheaper left in Germany? Seriously? They’re cost-cutting on their pride here.
5. The CP series does seem to be overpriced, if it’s true that they use the same optical formula as ZEs just with cine housing and additional floating mechanisms, but that doesn’t exactly make the Otus fairly priced, they could be both overpriced, just with different trade-offs, since the Otus is very similarly priced to the CPs.
Well, I felt like you did edit it after I posted so I complained. If that wasn’t the case then I’m sorry.
1. I think by and large it’s simply a problem of manufacturing capacities. Zeiss Germany probably has only quite limited capacities (for the Cine lenses). Cosina is larger and will be more flexible.
2. Same reason as 1: generating new capacities is always rather expensive so they use what’s already available.
3. Cosina has probably more throughput than the German Zeiss facilities. More throughput makes materials cheaper so I don’t think the difference would be huge. In general, the cost of material is a rather small portion for these kinds of lenses.
4. I don’t think that either workers are better or worse. I think that they are probably more or less equal and therefore should be priced equally (which is why disagreed to your statement made in Japan -> should be cheaper than Zeiss Germany).
5. That’s just your personal opinion. I think that since people are buying/renting them, they must be priced correctly in general. About the qualities, I have honestly no idea as I have never used one. For you and me personally, they are way overpriced. When my supervisor told me recently that he’s doing a trip to Wetzlar to get new microscope optics for our lab, I was scared as shit to ask him how much theses would cost too… but people there just are people who buy that stuff.
Maybe there was a lag in Discus, or in the automatic reminder system so I didn’t immediately know when you replied.
You do realise that your ” available capacity” is Cosina’s, right? As I said in a post below, Cosina could make the exact same product, at least of the exact same quality, without Zeiss. It has its own Voigtlander brand that it bought, and everybody knows that CV isn’t the of the same quality as CZ. So why not make it better when it’s clear that it’s within their capabilities? It’s obvious. They earn more producing for Zeiss than producing for themselves. The profit in making a more solid product, and pricing it higher accordingly is lower than the profit made making for Zeiss, pricing it a Zeiss, and after Zeiss claims its share. So you know how high a price Zeiss is asking for its products, or how cheap it could actually be produced. Plenty of cake, plenty for both Zeiss and Cosina, just not for the customer.
About the cine, again why not move everything to Japan again? Especially the CP series which is almost exactly the same as the ZE, it would be undoubtedly cheaper and ” of the same quality”, as you claim. Made in Germany is a sell point. Tell me you’ve been to Zeiss’s site.
They’re priced according to the budget of film makers, with ridiculously high margins, that’s why I’m saying they’re overpriced, not that they wouldn’t sell. But in the case of Otus, and a competition like the Sigma? I can’t say the same.
By what metric are you basing your ignorant assumption that Japan is a member of the “third world”?
I don’t believe I was being vague here. You’ve completely misread that sentence.
You could have stopped a “I don’t have the money” and added “and I never will”. All the other comments are to compensated for “I don’t have the money”
Uh-huh, very interesting. Funny how you seem to attribute anybody’s decision to not purchase the lens, to poverty. This is certainly a reflection of your own state of living, I wonder where you get your next dinner.
We have no lack of poor people like you here on SAR. I’ve seen numerous comments like these before.
Sorry, it is true that reality bites. Making excuses because you cannot and never will afford something is petty and foolish. It may make you feel better temporarily but you really need to get past this childish behavior. It adds nothing to the discussion and only highlights your insecurities.
I fully understand that you’re cold and starving, but you’re free to stop trolling now.
>with no A-mount option
Why bother then?
Are you asking Carl Zeiss this? Sony or SAR? us?
If you focus manually, and need to use an adapter on e-mount, no need for an a-mount. It is designed for FF sensors, then you look how many cameras in a-mount and FF exist at Sony and how many of those lenses they expect to sell, they just forget it. Even Sigma is quiet lazy to produce a-mount lenses. What would be nice is that such lenses are made with exchangeable mount tube at the end, so you had the choice. With MF lenses that must be possible. Samyang adapts it’s lenses that way.
Sigma produces many a-mount lenses. Have they produced any e-mount lenses.
The advantage of an a-mount version of Otus is the IBIS (plus focus peaking /magnification). Zeiss would have to put little effort to produce an a-mount version given the Sony partnership. I’m sure they could obtain the mounting hardware directly from Sony if both desired it.
Woah, Otus and Sigma can both out-resolve a 22MP sensor?!?!?! Shocking!!!
😛 Gotta love DxO
You’re confusing the overall rating with the “Mpix” rating. Both scored 21 Mp on the 5DmkIII.
Yeah, that’s what I actually meant. It is quite pointless to test them on any Canon as this is not they’re designed for.
It is impossible to tell which lens resolves better by looking at these test results. The body is the limiting factor.
I am not ready to pay that much for these great lenses. However, it is more a testament of the present unfortunate insignificance of the A-mount. I am really interested in the sigma 50mm/1.4. I have a 99 that I love to use for most of my shooting. I also have a 1Dx for sports and such. I want the 50 for my 99. If history repeats itself, we will see the Sigma 50mm for the Canon this May and the A-mount version in June 2015. It will be hard to hold out waiting for this lens for my Sony. Sony makes arguably the best sensors now they need to put them in the best camera. Sony is not privy to these third party offerings in a timely fashion and in some cases availability is not even an option (Sigma 120-300/2.8 HSM).
If it was available for the A-Mount you still could not afford it. But you would have had to make up another excuse for not purchasing it.
I already got the Sigma 35mm in the A-mount after waiting several months after the earlier release of the Canon version. I have no idea what you are talking about or if their is any meaning at all to your thought process. I added a a canon camera just to get the Sigma 120-300mm lens. So I think the affordability issue of your comment has sailed. But maybe you were thinking I was talking about the Otus lenses when I was actually talking about waiting for the Sigma lens. I will give you the benefit of the doubt.
Except Zeiss already made a 85mm for A mount. We simply don’t know how it compares because Dxo didn’t test it on several Alpha bodies, such as the A7r.
Are you referring to the Sony Zeiss 85mm? Sony makes all of the Sony Zeiss lenses. Zeiss makes their Otus lenses.
Yup, that’s the one.
Dxo has no testing. So how do we know if the Otus/sigma is really that much better?
The sony/zeiss 85mm works pretty amazing on the A7r as is.
Well the Otus 85mm has not been shown (at least publicly) or tested at all yet.
Everyone is basing the leap in IQ on the Otus 55mm versus the lenses that preceded it and Zeiss’s reputation. The Sony zeiss 85mm is a top notch lens, but lenses are getting better each year.
Why not so much Sigma E-Mount lenses?
http://www.dpreview.com/articles/2466682090/cp-2014-sigma-interview-we-have-survived-because-we-make-unique-products
Why should Sigma even bother with E-Mount lenses. After all we are assured that Nikon and Canon mount lenses can be used on E-Mount cameras with just an adapter. It’s more profitable for Sigma not to bother with E-Mount for that reason. Sony will evolve into an adapter only camera perfectly well.
And now that we have good data, we can actually see how Sigma compares to Sony 55mm FE. Direct comparision between 36Mpix A7r and 24MPix 5D is a bit unfair, but lets see how the lenses behave when they are used in APS-C cameras with 20Mpix-sensor: http://www.dxomark.com/Lenses/Compare/Side-by-side/Sigma-50mm-F14-DG-HSM-A-Canon-on-Canon-EOS-70D-versus-Sony-FE-Carl-Zeiss-Sonnar-T-STAR-55mm-F18-on-Sony-A3000___1306_895_1252_906
Why would anyone care how lenses of this quality designed for full frame 35mm performs on a APS-C (bargain) camera.
you speak for yourself, I presume
People who own and operate APS-C cameras will obviously care. You realize that full frame lenses work just fine on APS-C bodies, right? A lens designed for a higher density full frame sensor is ideal for an aps-c sensor since they tend to have higher densities.
I use a Medium Format Camera. Your Full Frame 35mm is a (bargain camera).
I am not trying to diminish Sigma’s achievement here. In a similar vain as their achievement with the 35mm 1.4 before, it is important to have in mind that the 35mm’s (at least the early batches) had alignment issues and this still cast a shadow over Sigma’s achievement.
A shame, really, because it would be nice to know that Sigma had really cast away the shadow of their past QC issues.
Then again, apparently neither Canon nor Nikon open up the protocols to their AF systems to anyone so Sigma may be achieving this much with reverse engineering which is a laudable achievement.
Now, the original question still persists…how does the Siggy perform on a 36mp body compared to the Otus since the Otus’ raison-d’etre is a lens that can truly perform in high density mp sensors now and in the future.
The flaw in DxO’s testing methodology is that the lens is tested as a lens/body combination. While this may be useful to some who own this body, it does not show the true potential of the lens and how it will perform on future higher resolution sensors. DxO needs to develop a method using laboratory grade extremely high resolution sensors mounted on calibrated fixtures (one for each mount). The camera body should be taken completely out of the testing process. The lens should be the only unit under test.
While I see that as a great way of “knowing” the lens for what it is…it doesn’t really translate well to practical photography today where a potential customer would want to see X lens on X body.
Canon users today don’t have more than 22mp so, for them, this is useful.
For Sony A7r users, not so, but DxO can produce a comparative result on a D800 at least.
There was a time when technical pan and other panchromatic super fine films were used to communicate the lp/mm performance of lenses. That was all nice and good for the small group of photographers who not only used those films but also took the effort in developing those films to their utmost potential (I think it may have been a very small group)
While those tests said “this lens can be REALLY sharp”, the information laid out was overly technical and often the average photographer just did not know how to relate beyond the word “sharp”.
While I am not advocating for a dumb down lens resolution comparison, I do approve of DxO’s comparatively balanced approach to suffice practical photography today and technical aspects for more advanced photographers.
Do you guys really think that Sigma tests lenses for a specific body? They test it on one or few and then use an algorithm, which is based off previous results, to build an approximation of performance for all other bodies. There is no way they can test one lens on all bodies that they list, which are current or 1 gen behind, bodies of all compatible brands.
It is physically impossible. There was a very good article on SAR a while back, which gave example of amount of time it would take to test on all bodies.
So I actually agree with @Dodge here. It would have been better to have a universal test bed.
Didn’t use a login, can’t correct the post above.
What I meant to say is that DXO tests Sigma’s lenses, not Sigma…
It’s called Lenscore and uses a 200 mp camera: http://www.lenscore.org
So, no Sony support, and this is on SAR because?
Nikon lenses dont come in a Sony flavor, either…
So, why is this story posted here?
Nikon only makes lenses for Nikon. Zeiss makes lenses for Canon, Sony, Nikon and others aside from the partnership in the Sony Zeiss lenses.
It can be likely that the Zeiss contract with Sony implies that all Zeiss branded lenses for Sony will be exclusive to Sony and so far (except the Touit lenses) all Zeiss AF lenses have been exclusive to Sony.
No ZE/ZF version of the Zeiss lenses have ever made it to Sony so that should tell you the direction where things go.
The AF system is Sony’s, not Zeiss’s. SSM is derived from the Minolta IP. Sony Zeiss lenses will be exclusive because Sony owns all rights to them.
I have no hope for ZF / ZE lenses making the leap. The Touit line that preceded Otus did give a glimmer of hope for the Otus to make the leap since it set the precedent of a Zeiss direct release for a Sony ILC.
The Otus line would be better on the SLT cameras than another other thanks to the IBIS, focus peaking and focus magnification.
You better name them Sony-Sony
a little confused by the 35/1.4 zeiss… they already have a very large and competent 35/1.4 distagon in ZF and ZE flavors so why another lens? I would have thought a compact version of the 35/1.4 distagon aimed at mirrorless cameras would have made more sense … hopefully that’ll still be one of the supposed 5 FE lenses that Zeiss is working on
That gives no sense. Either its 1.4 or its more compact. How do you want to make it more compact without loosing light and/or sharpness?
I doubt that Zeiss is willing to create a unsharp lense just to make it compact. The 35mm f/2.8 shows that
compare the size of the Leica 35/1.4 asph M and the Distagon 35/1.4 ZF…. both cover “full frame”… both are wonderful lenses in sharpness, color and unique rendering however they’re not really comparable in size. Given that Zeiss will not have to waste space on AF, yes, I think they can make a fairly compact (a bit bigger than Leica) FE 35/1.4 which is sharp, stays true to the unique rendering of their 35/1.4 distagon and is more compact than the SLR lenses. So yes… it actually makes sense… whether Zeiss chooses to go that route or not is another matter. They do tend to be fairly conservative in their designs however the mere release of the Otus line signals to me that they’re willing to show of their design muscle and makes me hope for a relatively compact 35/1.4 FE. The 35/2.8 you point to was a compact compromise that had to sacrifice speed for size in the context of full automation. Thankfully the manual focus lenses will not have some of these limitations.
Distagon is not in summilux 35 league
Whatever happened to the ZA50/1.4?
Why no love for her?
It was quickly overshadowed by the Otus, FE 55mm and the new Sigma.
But, is it a good lens after all?
Not at that price, no… Just like the new Nikno 58… But the ZA doesn’t have as good of a bokeh.
Shame.
Good, yes. Great build quality. The IQ probably isn’t worth the price given the CA potential and distortion. The Sigma is promising, I’m looking forward to samples.
No one cares about the Otus line anymore. Sigma has just stolen their thunder permanently. If it were 30% cheaper maybe you’d still have a chorus of praisers. If I were Zeiss I’d stop right in my tracks and rethink my stupid overpriced strategy.
No one? That’s a pretty broad statement!
Not as dangerous a statement as your name. That’s risky.
@THKPIC – fully agree with you. Who in his/her right mind will waste such a lot of money on a lens when the sigma can do a similar job?
I think that just as with Leica gear there will always be a select { read tiny lol} group of rich individuals that would never even consider a Sigma, no matter how good
It makes little sense testing this lens with a 22 megapixel sensor when much higher resolution models are available to test with. Neither the Otus nor the Sigma are resolution limited at that pixel density. And then on top of that, they use a model with a relatively strong AA filter. Unless these are tested on an a7R or a D800E, I would not expect to see a difference since the 5D Mk III simply doesn’t challenge their resolution capability.
I typed this really long reply on my smartphone only to see that your comment here’s gone though…I made a few changes and I’m just putting this here as is.
————————
So it’s still a matter of cutting costs…I don’t know if I’m right but it seems to me like Otus is Zeiss’s new “signature” lineup. You don’t do such obvious cost-cuts in your signature lineup. You price it as high as the market could accept(which I think Zeiss has already overdone) and make everything flawless, or at least seem flawless. It may be just a matter of stereotype but I think Made in Germany is still a better symbol of quality than Made in Japan. Even the everyday consumables(like Staedtler stationery) are of notably high quality. On the other hand, I’ve seen some everyday consumables in Japan that are labeled “Made in Japan” but is only on par with Made in China quality. And I don’t mean the best China could do, only average Made in China quality, which is pretty flimsy. This means that either these sub-par products are either really made in Japan, that these people don’t care about the reputation of their country’s industry, or somebody’s being dishonest, neither leaves a good impression to a foreigner like me. If I’m seeing this, certainly others see this too.
German cars also have a much lower recall rate than Japanese and American cars. It still happens, but rarely, and it influences what people think.
When you sell(and market) a product of this positioning, this should be put into consideration too, you know how much influence the irrational mind has on a purchase right? Cosina has the capacity to make the exact same product, just without the Zeiss label(legal matters aside), obviously they can’t command nearly the same price. The brand is part of the package. As is country of production, when you make it in Germany, you could price it higher, when you make it in Japan, not such a good idea. Leica manufactures defective units, but still the brand is very strong, so they continue to sell their products at a very high price. If they suddenly give up the brand and use another, people could become very skeptical about the products, and of course the pricing. You do know about the toilets in Germany right? The water tanks are usually built into the wall. This saves space and brings some simplicity to the interior. This also means confidence in quality in every corner of the construction process, that their work stays solid for decades( or else they’d have to tear down the wall to fix it, right?). Japanese cities are in desperate need of space, but the only place I’ve seen with this feature is actually the airport, which is another thing, public facilities could be monitored independently, while residential buildings, the ones actually in need of extra space, don’t have this feature. I think this says something about what locals think about the reputation of their industry, they don’t have such confidence about the quality.
When k3003’s production got moved from Austria to China, street prices dropped 20%, while the remaining Austrian batch got a 10% increase in price. Austrian made AKG has been known to break down pretty easily too, AKG has never been known for stable QC.
Of course AKG ensures that everything stays the same, but look at how the market responds when they move their flagship’s production from their country of origin to other places.
Btw beats is a total joke, any knowledgeable person knows that it’s feeding off the ignorance of people and caters to people who want a flashy accessory instead of a decent headphone. They’re not decent products and I don’t even know if this counts here, this is more in the fashion category where price is more influenced by brand than anything else. Look at the made in China Prada.
Unfortunately, Sigma’s autofocus found inconsistent at Lenstip’s test.
To be honest I have found with both my D800 and A7R that to achieve the best results critical manual focus is the way to go