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Thoughts on offbrand lenses

I'm new to photography, just 19. My first camera is my Contax 167, with a Planar lens, the 50mm. So I've been enjoying this conversation quite a bit.

Here's my question: If the Tamron lens are made in Japan and my lens is made in Japan, what's the difference? Aren't all the Contax lens made in Japan? So what's the difference?

I know they use to be made in Germany, but is there a lot of difference between Contax made in Japan and The better grade Tamron?

Just wondering
 
Thanks for all your thoughts. I really wasn't thinking about the decent companies like Tamron, Sigma, etc when I was talking about 3-rd party lenses (i was talking about the brands I have never heard of ie Samyang and Starblitz), but I guess you guys made a point.

This actually, would be very beneficial for me because I was looking to get a decent macro lens and my choices leave my wallet screaming (100mm... 1400).

Maybe I'll look at other brands, Zeiss maybe great but for occassional use, I don't see why I wouldn't invest in a decent Tamron lens for my occassional macro photography.

Ken
 
>for occassional use, I don't see why I wouldn't invest in a decent Tamro= n lens for my occassional macro photography.

If the issue is occasional use, another excellent option is rental. Here = in Minneapolis we have two shops that rent, and I know other cities do as= well. I have heard that some places rent by mail even, although I have= n't investigated those since I have a local source. Much as I love my Con= tax 35mm gear, I regularly rent a) a Contax 645 with the necessary lens f= or the job, and b) a big honkin' Canon EOS body and 300 or 400mm AF IS le= ns for birding. Buying a critical mass worth of either system would be pr= ohibitive, and rental rates are amazingly reasonable. If you're only goin= g to use something rarely, renting a good version is going to be cheaper = than even buying an off-brand, and the results will be better.

Question: I'm new to this forum and I notice that my posts acquire annoyi= ng random characters. Sorry! Does anyone have an idea about how this happ= ens? A function of my posting from MS Outlook? I send in "plain text", so= it shouldn't be picking up odd formatting....
 
If the Tamron lens are made in Japan and my lens > is made in Japan, what's the difference? Aren't all the Contax lens> made in Japan? So what's the difference?

One could spend hours discussing something like this!;-) This is a bit like saying whats the difference between a top of the range Lexus and a cheapo Mazda hatchback - they're both made in Japan too...... And by the way , the CZ lenses made in Japan are often superior to the usually older German made ones as they are newer updated designs . You really are only 19 arent you? ;-) Steve[wished he was 19 again!]
 
Ken , most people here and elsewhere have spoken reasonably highly of the Tamron Macro lenses , but if you only do macro work occasionally you could always consider Extension Rings of course . I get very good results with these..... Steve
 
Hi Ken,

esp. the Tamron 90mm macro lens is superb ! Even if not esp. the old 2.5/90 (which I have) - but some are saying that the new design of the 2.8/90 may even be better ! It's recommendable ! :) Paul
 
Contax lenses have outstanding mechanical build, but the 2nd tiers are actively designing with LD/AD glass and aspheric surfaces - at competitive prices. Since I also use Canon EOS, the latest offerings from Tamron, Tokina and Sigma are always worth investigating.

I rarely shoot long, so the 200/4 Yashica ML C is more than adequate, and $130 was the right price. I also snagged the Yashica 50/2 ML for $15: paperweights cost more than that! Smooth action, metal build - no complaints!
 
I use my Tamron SP90mm/2.5 macro a lot and it's a very good lens, even at f/32. I've done lots of insect and flower photography with it - I would like to see just how much better the Makro-Planar 100/2.8 is, but I know I can't afford one!
Mark
 
Ian,

as someone mentioned, it's like comparing Mazda to Lexus. Both are worse than M1 Abrams
happy.gif
Kidding aside, the difference is in design, manufacturing, quality control and tradition. Zeiss is a company with deep scientific roots. Every lens that they make have gone through a lengthy design phase, where engineers made sure that what they had created on computer can be actually manufactured. They use optical glass of superb quality, their manufacturing facilities are state-of-the-art and quality control is outstanding. You can pretty much get any Zeiss lens and expect it to perform well. With any other lenses you're playing lottery. Variation from batch to batch can be also significant.

Exception is Leica and some Canon "L" series lenses. It's also Zeiss's tradition to make good products. As they say "superior German engineering". They built that reputation over a century and their products stand by it.

Look at most other manufacturers - you have to know which products are even worth looking at, not to mention buying!

A lot of 3rd party lens manufacturers started using advanced materials (like aspherical lenses, fluorite elements, ultra low dispersion glass, newer type of anti-reflective multicoating, etc). However, all this is just bells and whistles. It takes skill, experience and know-how to design AND produce a lens that would benefit from these materials. It takes great manufacturing tools to properly assemble it and test it. And it takes even more to stand by it (how many lens manufacturers out there will be even willing to repair your lens after warranty period is up?). So, using advanced materials and super-duper-new-computer software has nothing to do with final product. If it's not done right, it won't be anywhere near the blueprint specs.
People working at Zeiss are like craftsmen. They know exactly what they're doing and that's why they make such excellent products. Here is also another hint - most of successful lens designs offered by other manufacturers are clones of Zeiss design.

Mike.
 
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