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Zeiss on Panasonic L-Mount, the Nikon Z-Mount or the Canon R-Mount

Tim

Active member
I was not sure where to post this as its lens related not camera brand so much

I emailed Zeiss to ask --

"Will Zeiss be making the Zeiss Loxia line in other new mirrorless mounts such as the Panasonic L-Mount, the Nikon Z-Mount or the Canon R-Mount ?"

Here is their response.

"Thanks for your inquiry.
Panasonic, Nikon and Canon have not published any specifications about their new mounts. So at the moment, it is not possible to know if any 3rd party manufacturer will be allowed to make lenses with those mounts."

So it looks like not for now. I do hope this changes as the Loxia lens I do like, the Sony body's not so much.
What will be interesting is to see which if any of the more recent lens brands like 7Artisans, Venus optics or Laowa move to these mounts in time.
 

iiiNelson

Well-known member
I was not sure where to post this as its lens related not camera brand so much

I emailed Zeiss to ask --

"Will Zeiss be making the Zeiss Loxia line in other new mirrorless mounts such as the Panasonic L-Mount, the Nikon Z-Mount or the Canon R-Mount ?"

Here is their response.

"Thanks for your inquiry.
Panasonic, Nikon and Canon have not published any specifications about their new mounts. So at the moment, it is not possible to know if any 3rd party manufacturer will be allowed to make lenses with those mounts."

So it looks like not for now. I do hope this changes as the Loxia lens I do like, the Sony body's not so much.
What will be interesting is to see which if any of the more recent lens brands like 7Artisans, Venus optics or Laowa move to these mounts in time.
Zeiss is in a unique position of only supporting camera mounts that license their mounts for Autofocus lenses - as such this is why they only make/made AF lenses for Sony and Fuji. It doesn’t look like Canon or Nikon will license their mount to anyone though I’m sure there are Asian companies that have no issues with reverse engineering to sell products. There was an interview out that Leica and the L-Mount consortium are open to adding the “right” partners onboard but I don’t know if that comes with some sort of exclusivity with coming onboard. Seems like if you’re making a new mount though adding alternative partners make your system that much more attractive and I don’t see the negatives to allowing a premium brand like Zeiss onboard.
 

Tim

Active member
Zeiss is in a unique position of only supporting camera mounts that license their mounts for Autofocus lenses - as such this is why they only make/made AF lenses for Sony and Fuji. It doesn’t look like Canon or Nikon will license their mount to anyone though I’m sure there are Asian companies that have no issues with reverse engineering to sell products. There was an interview out that Leica and the L-Mount consortium are open to adding the “right” partners onboard but I don’t know if that comes with some sort of exclusivity with coming onboard. Seems like if you’re making a new mount though adding alternative partners make your system that much more attractive and I don’t see the negatives to allowing a premium brand like Zeiss onboard.
could perhaps an agreement that Zeiss have with Sony preclude them for making for other mounts also ?
 

iiiNelson

Well-known member
could perhaps an agreement that Zeiss have with Sony preclude them for making for other mounts also ?
No... Sony isn’t preventing anything. Zeiss makes/made Autofocus lenses for Fuji X.

The only thing that prevents them for doing the same with other mounts is that their policy is to not reverse engineer. I’ve read this in a past interview with a Zeiss executive and I’ve heard this from a Zeiss Ambassador. If a company wants to open up their lens protocols and mount to Zeiss then full support can/will happen. If not then maybe they’ll only produce manual focus versions. It’s really a shame on part of those other OEM manufacturers but I blame them for their own policies. I assume hey don’t want Zeiss lenses eating into their own lens sales and they can continue to push the idea that Zeiss doesn’t produce AF lenses.
 

iiiNelson

Well-known member
After reading this interview I wouldn’t hold my breath on Zeiss making any L-amount lenses... it’s not in either Leica’s or Sigma’s best interest for them to do so.

https://www.l-rumors.com/interview-...ica-l-mount-alliance-is-a-closed-partnership/

On a side note I find it interesting that everyone is jumping on the “E-mount is too small” bandwagon when M mount is even smaller and there hasn’t seemed to be an issue with designing fast/high quality lenses on that mount for over 50 years now... I don’t know if that’s just targeted marketing or all of these companies wanting to become more aggressive, as Sony now owns 50% of new FF camera sales, or this is the way a handful of companies are actually feeling. One thing is for certain is that I can jump in a “fun with...” whatever brand thread and find good images in literally every section from smartphones to large format cameras.
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
The policies of most camera manufacturers are very understandable. They want to protect their lens sales plus their technologies. Sony's position was totally different, since they started with a tiny market share even after acquiring Konica Minolta's camera division, and needed to do anything possible to widen the market potential for their new mount.

Panasonic, also a newcomer, solved this in a totally different way by going into alliances, first with Olympus, Leica etc. with 4/3 and m4/3 and more recently with Leica and Sigma. Not that it has helped Panasonic gain much when it comes to market share, but it remains to be seen how much the "open skies" policies will help Sony long term, now that there is some serious competition around.

Where does the claim that Sony has 50% of the full frame market come from? They had 40% of the American full frame market first half of this year, but I haven't seen any figures indicating that they are even close to that worldwide. Not that it matters much. Full frame digital has until now stayed below 30% of the total market, and the crop sensor market is totally dominated by other players. In addition, the market is changing dramatically now with all the new full frame mirrorless models being launched.

https://www.sonyalpharumors.com/sony-now-has-40-of-the-us-full-frame-market-share/
 

iiiNelson

Well-known member
The policies of most camera manufacturers are very understandable. They want to protect their lens sales plus their technologies. Sony's position was totally different, since they started with a tiny market share even after acquiring Konica Minolta's camera division, and needed to do anything possible to widen the market potential for their new mount.

Panasonic, also a newcomer, solved this in a totally different way by going into alliances, first with Olympus, Leica etc. with 4/3 and m4/3 and more recently with Leica and Sigma. Not that it has helped Panasonic gain much when it comes to market share, but it remains to be seen how much the "open skies" policies will help Sony long term, now that there is some serious competition around.

Where does the claim that Sony has 50% of the full frame market come from? They had 40% of the American full frame market first half of this year, but I haven't seen any figures indicating that they are even close to that worldwide. Not that it matters much. Full frame digital has until now stayed below 30% of the total market, and the crop sensor market is totally dominated by other players. In addition, the market is changing dramatically now with all the new full frame mirrorless models being launched.

https://www.sonyalpharumors.com/sony-now-has-40-of-the-us-full-frame-market-share/
Wait... are you actually advocating anti-consumer company policies to stick people with limited lens manufacturersz!?! I don’t have any protective feelings towards their bottom line of it means increased costs for me. I’m not saying we should all run out and buy any and every Chinese knockoff available but Zeiss is a reputable premium lens brand. There’s no reason they shouldn’t be on the short list of companies that you’d want to license to your brand. I don’t really see Canon or Nikon lenses being in direct competition with Zeiss... Leica or Schneider Kreuznach maybe but not Canon or Nikon. Now regarding Fuji, the Fuji X lenses were often better than the Touit lenses. The Loxia and Batis lenses are great on Sony but I’d argue the G-Master lenses are as good or better optically. Sony’s relationship with licensing the Zeiss name on their premium lenses is the exact same as the Panasonic and Leica relationship prior to the L-amount Consortium. Licensing the E-Mount is different because they provide specs for manufacturers to release officially licensed lenses - this is good for the consumer and options at different price points are good. Some may love the Samyang/Rokinon options but others may choose the premium sony or Zeiss options instead to meet their needs.

The 50% is based on European full frame sales and I’m sure they’re selling every A7III they can make for the last 6 months or so.

The Nikon was just released a couple weeks ago, the Canon May be shipping out now, and Panasonic is still 6 months from launch or so... there’s hardly many other new options in Mirrorless right now and the D850 has perpetually been on backorder. Sony does a decent amount of cropped body sales as well... clearly not as much as the less expensive big box specials of Digital Rebels of D3xxx Cameras from Canon or Nikon (which I assume are the bulk of the cropped market) but I’m sure they do just fine too.

https://www.sonyalpharumors.com/son...n-and-app-implementation-is-being-considered/
 
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