Most camera veterans and equipment enthusiasts are familiar with the two German companies Carl Zeiss and Leica. Although the former no longer produces camera bodies like Contax in the digital age, the latter still produces high-end medium format cameras. and full-frame cameras. However, in terms of optical technology, Carl Zeiss, also a German company, is globally recognized as unsurpassed in this field. Carl Zeiss 35mm lenses are now manufactured by Japan's COSINA. They used to use German SCHOTT glass. Now they mainly use glass raw materials from Japan's HOYA to process ordinary civilian lenses for the SONY ZA series, or as lenses. ZE, ZF and other subsidiary factory lenses are provided to consumers. Unless very special assembly and calibration processes are required, Zeiss will manufacture them in the original factory in Germany. For example, the design difficulty of an ultra-wide-angle lens is greater than that of a wide-angle lens, and even more difficult than a standard lens. Because ultra-wide angles can easily cause severe distortion of images, manufacturers usually use lenses to correct them. Generally speaking, it is common for ultra-wide angles below 20mm to use multiple or even dozens of lenses to correct distortion. However, Zeiss’ Hologon lens uses only 3 lenses to achieve the level of distortion correction. This can not but be said to be the best in the world. State-of-the-art optical technology. For example, Zeiss provided the 15mm f/8 Hologon lens to Leica, the 300mm f/2.8 SA lens that Zeiss provided to Sweden’s Hasselblad, and an oil tycoon in the Middle East specially customized a high-quality lens with an 8-digit price tag from Zeiss (some Interested girl), Zeiss provided optical instruments for NASA's moon landing and multiple space projects, and Hollywood customized German movie lenses from Zeiss with extraordinary image quality (such as those used in "The Lord of the Rings" Hundreds of Zeiss lenses of different specifications), etc., fully illustrate the top level of Carl Zeiss in the global optical field.
The current Leica P is neither, the symbolic significance is greater than the actual significance. Except for the M series, the body design and production are all completed by Panasonic. Since the lens joined the L-mount alliance, it has also been replaced by Sigma. And Leica's m series. Completely unable to adapt to today’s fast-paced work style and photography. When it is in focus, everyone else has finished taking pictures and moved on to the next round.
If you change the Leica camera lens to a different logo, I’m afraid no one will even consider it.
Leica is a luxury product, right? It has the highest technical level? Metaphysics, right? I don’t understand some special technologies. Let’s give a brief analysis. The optical design of the lens can be previewed on the computer. It is not too difficult to design the lens in the professional field. What is unsatisfactory is the result of compromise. The lens processing can be done at the nanometer level to achieve the design requirements. It is not difficult to be a first-class manufacturer. What is good or bad is a matter of cost. The level of coating technology should be a matter of precision. Those who can achieve nano-coating are not bad. Leica is not the only world-class factory with these technologies, right? Then, as for electronic technology, Leica can’t do it, right? Can it be considered equal? The core of digital cameras is electronic technology. Leica doesn't have any advantages in this aspect, right? So why is Leica so awesome? expensive! A status symbol! The so-called German taste, I personally think is the color deviation, because it is a Leica, and color is metaphysics [what] many times people will deliberately adjust the color! Pretty good looking. Is there a camera company with a higher level of technology than Leica today?
The core of the question is, is there a camera company with a higher technical level than Leica? First of all, I personally don’t think Leica is the strongest in terms of camera technology, because currently there are many brands in the camera market, such as Japan’s Sony, Canon, Nikon, and Germany’s Zeiss. They actually all have their own strengths and characteristics. There is no doubt about Leica’s strength, but it is not comprehensive. Let’s talk about it in detail: First, there are camera companies with higher standards than Leica.
Because no matter which industry it is, there are many brands. Just like mobile phones, although many manufacturers are competing, there is no mobile phone or brand that can make the mobile phone perfect or have no shortcomings. Is this not the case in the camera market?
Let’s take Zeiss as an example. It has many advantages over Leica.
First of all, from a development perspective, for example, we can see from the historical process that Zeiss was founded in 1846, when 30-year-old Carl Zeiss established a precision optical instrument processing factory in the town of Jena, Germany (Zeiss' predecessor), and produced the first microscope in 1847. Of course, the most important thing about a microscope is the optical lens module. After 1866, with the assistance of Ernst Abbe and Otto Schott, Zeiss began to make great progress in the field of microscopes and also began to produce optical glass. In 1888, Zeiss began to get involved in the photography industry. During World War II, Zeiss upgraded telescopes, rangefinders, and shooting sights for the German army and navy. Zeiss's T coating process was also used in fighter jets because of this. This technology can reduce reflection and prevent enemies from detecting it.
Leica was actually founded in 1849, when 23-year-old mathematician Carl Kellner set up an optical research institute in the town of Wetzlar, Germany, which mainly produced microscopes and camera lenses. This research institute was the predecessor of Leica. . In 1865, mechanical engineer Ernst Leitz became the main partner of the institute, and in 1869 he obtained management rights and changed its name to Leitz Company. At the same time, in 1913, Oskar Barnack, director of Leitz R&D, created the legendary Ur. Later, in 1954, Leica released the M3. Its era-changing design influenced the manufacture of most cameras in the next 50 years.
But we must also understand that although there are many factors that affect photography, the decisive factors are the quality of the sensor and lens, including optical algorithms. In terms of optics, there is no doubt about the strength of Zeiss, whether it is from Judging from the development time or its current positioning, Zeiss' capabilities are second to none, and it can be said to be an optical giant. For example, many of the lens structures we use were invented by Zeiss, such as the famous Kirk, Tiansai, Double Gauss (ie Plana), etc. Many current lens designs are their variants or still use its design. In addition, in the development of optics, Zeiss produces many types of photographic lenses, and the product line is extremely long, covering various fields such as film, television photography lenses, medical care, military, surveying, microscopy, astronomy, etc. Photographic lenses for cameras are only one of its big trees. of a branch. Of course, we have to talk about a set of data:
In 1920, the 1-meter telescope of the Hamburg Observatory in Germany was manufactured by Zeiss.
In 1976, Zeiss built the world's first digital computer-controlled astronomical telescope.
In 1979, Zeiss built the world's first astronomical telescope with a gearless friction drive system for the right ascension and declination axes. In 1985, Zeiss built the 3.5-meter aperture telescope of the Karaato Observatory.... .. Zeiss has the world's unique zero-expansion glass "Zerodure" that is not affected by temperature. Its customers include organizations such as NASA and the European Space Agency. Zeiss is mainly responsible for manufacturing optical lenses for satellites and space shuttles. It was used when the United States landed on the moon. It's a Zeiss lens. In addition, the photolithography machines currently used to produce mobile phone chips include optical modules also provided by Zeiss.
Of course, we are not saying that Leica is useless, because we also know that Leica was indeed a famous film camera manufacturer in the past, and its lens and body processing technology can be said to be unparalleled in the world. In addition, the UR and M3 series we just mentioned do have a profound impact on subsequent camera production and design, but they are only limited to the commonly used focal lengths of the Leica M and R series... If you use some telephoto, ultra-wide, and cinema lenses In other fields, Zeiss beats Leica instantly. In addition, among the several factors that affect photography we just mentioned, among them, lens lenses do have advantages for Leica and Zeiss, including the CCD that many people may mention, which is the sensor size, but This actually depends on how big you use it, but the optical characteristics algorithm requires technical accumulation and research and development capabilities. Just like algorithm and optimization, it does not mean that it can be surpassed in a short time. This is the advantage of Zeiss.
In addition, Sony, Canon, Nikon and other manufacturers are included.
In fact, they all have their own advantages and characteristics in terms of cameras. We will not give examples one by one here, because we only need to know that although Leica currently has advantages, it is indeed not the leader in the camera industry. That's it. Second, in terms of mobile phone photography, is there a big advantage in cooperating with Leica or Zeiss and brand camera manufacturers?
I think this is what many people want to know. After all, mobile phone manufacturers are now cooperating with some large camera manufacturers, such as Huawei and Leica, and now vivo and Zeiss.
But what we need to understand is that mobile phones and cameras are still different. After all, only a few solution companies are making lens modules, such as Sunny Optical, Taiwan's Largan Optoelectronics, etc., sensors and lens groups The solutions are all mature, and they all get CMOS from Sony anyway... Each mobile phone company can add its own customized features based on their existing modules, so this depends on the cost you pay.
In addition, no matter how strong Leica or Zeiss is in camera lenses or optical algorithms, their advantages will be reduced after they are actually used in mobile phones. So I don’t think it’s necessary to delve deeper. Just like Huawei, although it has the support of Leica, in fact, it most importantly relies on the IMX600 and IMX700 series lenses jointly developed with Sony.
The same is true for vivo, which relies on Zeiss’ T-coating process and its algorithm strength including optical lenses, and after all, Sony is the main lens manufacturer. Of course, from an objective point of view, with the support of major manufacturers, it is indeed better than ordinary mobile phones. This is also beyond doubt. However, mobile phones are limited in size after all, so the lens module cannot be made very large. What is more important is to rely on With the support of its own strength, for example, why vivo is so strong in taking pictures, on the one hand, it is the blessing of Zeiss this year, and on the other hand, it is its own support for the algorithm, including the anti-shake blessing of the micro gimbal module in the past two years. Summary:
First of all, we must know that there are people outside the world, and there is a sky outside the world. Although Leica does have an influence on current camera design. But there are many factors that affect camera photography. In this regard, with the development of technology, Leica is no longer the leader. It can be said that there is no absolute leader in every industry, because no manufacturer can do it all. Overwhelm the strength of friendly merchants. In addition, in terms of mobile phone photography, although many manufacturers are now seeking to cooperate with some outstanding camera manufacturers, in reality it mainly depends on their own R&D and innovation capabilities.
Answer completed
Leica's lenses are still very good. It cannot be said that they are unique in the world, and they are indeed among the best lenses. But the body, especially the digital body, Leica There is nothing technologically advanced about digital bodies, and many autofocus technologies originate from Japan. Speaking of the body, the Leica M3 camera, produced in the 1950s and 1960s, is the pinnacle of mechanical cameras. The 8-piece, 50F1.2 film lens is also the optical pinnacle of Leica.
In fact, the core technology of modern digital cameras is in the hands of Japanese production companies. Old camera companies such as Hasselblad, Leica, and Zeiss have no advantages at all.
Leica cannot be ranked in terms of pure technical level. Leica mainly sells brands.
If a Leica camera can do it, other mainstream cameras can do it. What other mainstream cameras can do, the Leica may not be able to do.
The black plastic bags in the supermarket cost 50 cents. They are big and strong and not easy to break. It can also be rolled up into a ball when not in use to reduce space. Isn’t it more fragrant than tens of millions of LVs?