carl zeiss jena 35-200mm jenazoom a realy great surprise on my G1

[andrew_spence1]

<p>Hi all<br>

ive had this lens in FD fit for years bought it pre internet days. I always thought it was a good lens because it was a carl zeiss but the internet said differently so I was a bit disappointed<br>

it was described as a Japanese sigma lens "" nothing special"" and ""mediocre only a handful good"" and"" there wasn't a good one... its not sharp"" how ever I did a test with it against my GI 14-45mm and an fd fit tokina at-x 28-85mm this evening all at f5.6 just to see how bad it was,after my comparisons i would now consider them all to be sharp enough and totally usable<br>

however the zeiss is very noticeably sharper than the other 2 lenses <br>

The Tokina at-x is just a tiny tiny bit sharper than the lumix kit lens<br>

perhaps i got a good one ..the zeiss that is...but then the other 2 id consider good as well.<br>

Id definitely recommend this zeiss and i think of it very differently now its definitely not mediocre to me<br>

that's for sure<br>

regards Andrew</p>

<p> </p>

[NetR]

<p>Carl Zeiss Jena is not the same Zeiss that makes the Hasselblad and now other lenses.<br>

Carl Zeiss Jena (CZJ) was the (former) East German company. The other Zeiss is from the (former) West Germany. CZJ were very competitive against the west and made optical products of quite high quality. </p>

[fred_c1]

<p>It's a rebadged Sigma lens. Zeiss Jena had nothing to do with its design and manufacture.</p>

[fred_c1]

<p>BTW, CZJ predates East Germany itself. Jena was the town where Carl Zeiss started his business in 19th century.</p>

<p>There is no more "the other Zeiss" either. Oberkochen and Jena reunited more than 20 years ago: http://www.zeiss.com/corporate/en_us/history/corporate-history/20-years-of-reunification.html</p>

[NetR]

<p>Thanks, Fred. I know CZJ is no more, but I hadn't realized they had rebadged Sigma lenses.</p>

[Karim Ghantous]

<p>Perhaps with a bigger sensor, the lens would not perform too well. But because you're using the 'sweet spot' of the lens, which might be quite good, you're getting very good results. The M4/3 system has many benefits. You've just found one of them. :-)</p>

[harold_gough]

<p>I found some of the Jenazooms good for macro with my E-P2.</p>