OFFICIAL statement from Zeiss: “not withdrawn from the photo lens market. But we have to face the facts…”
Zeiss photographer Greg Watermann shared to me the official answer he got from Zeiss about the rumor of their photo market withdrawal:
ZEISS has not withdrawn from the photo lens market.
A simple look at https://www.zeiss.com/consumer-products/int/photography.html or amazon.com shows that we are still promoting and selling our photo lenses.
But we have to face the facts. In the first months of the pandemic, the global market declined significantly and irreversibly. And companies have to adapt.
And, of course, we are bringing our unique expertise to mobile imaging. Because it is also clear that consumers, as well as ambitious and professional photographers, increasingly prefer their smartphones for all-day photography.
Full disclosure by Greg Watermann:
Zeiss recently renewed my Lens Ambassador status and assured me of years of continued inventory, spare parts, repair and tech support, and customer service. They’re only responding to where the photography market is Already heading. I’ve been using Zeiss lenses for 40 years; they’re not going anywhere.
My take:
What really worries me is the statement “the global market declined significantly and irreversibly“. Suggesting that there is no hope at all in any kind of recovery. It also sounds like they stopped developing new lenses for this market, at least for the time being.
To me this sounds more like a self fulfilling prophecy: Tamron, Canon and others proofed via their financial reports that lens sales are strong. And Zeiss lenses now lag behind in terms of autofocus performance, and price-quality balance. Kind of obvious their sales are weaker if they don’t make new updated lenses!
And here is my video I published before I got this official note from Greg, where I actually suggest Zeiss WHAT they should do to bring back some excitement in the photo industry:
