[quote name='Klaus' timestamp='1285229475' post='3142']
Agreed but it's still not great to have less choices, isn't it ?
Cosina has nothing to do with it. They are merely an outsourced manufacturer. It is the design and QC that counts.
Apple doesn't manufacture their laptops either bu they're still Apples (well, maybe Lemons at times).
[/quote]
Cosina probably does have something to do with it, but in some different ways.
Likely what happened is that Zeiss gives Cosina a new manufacturing forecast for 2011 and there are no ZK lenses in the forecast and they inform Cosina that they are ceasing ZK production. Cosina, being a typical Asian OEM company in a culture based on rote learning, is "the student" and therefore follows "the master" (Zeiss) and therefore quickly also curtails it's future plans to market Voigtlaender PK lenses.
Further, it's quite possible that the Zeiss and Voigtlaender lenses share some common parts (machined lens mounts, electronics) and without both parties actively producing K lenses the economy of scale makes it non-viable for one to carry along alone. So, regardless of which of the Zeiss or Voigtlaender brands decided to kill their respective K mount lenses, the other had no practical choice but to follow.
Agreed but it's still not great to have less choices, isn't it ?
Cosina has nothing to do with it. They are merely an outsourced manufacturer. It is the design and QC that counts.
Apple doesn't manufacture their laptops either bu they're still Apples (well, maybe Lemons at times).
[/quote]
Cosina probably does have something to do with it, but in some different ways.
Likely what happened is that Zeiss gives Cosina a new manufacturing forecast for 2011 and there are no ZK lenses in the forecast and they inform Cosina that they are ceasing ZK production. Cosina, being a typical Asian OEM company in a culture based on rote learning, is "the student" and therefore follows "the master" (Zeiss) and therefore quickly also curtails it's future plans to market Voigtlaender PK lenses.
Further, it's quite possible that the Zeiss and Voigtlaender lenses share some common parts (machined lens mounts, electronics) and without both parties actively producing K lenses the economy of scale makes it non-viable for one to carry along alone. So, regardless of which of the Zeiss or Voigtlaender brands decided to kill their respective K mount lenses, the other had no practical choice but to follow.