Zeiss question

dusty61

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I was wondering what makes the differance between a Zeiss scope made in the USA and one made in Germany. Are the optics better in the ones made in Germany? I myself can see no differance except in the price.
 
Then there are (were) also Zeiss labelled scopes made in East Germany (DDR) as opposed to those manufactured in West Germany and ones made in West Germany but for the "US" market versus those made in West Germany for the German/European markets.

Anyway lots of variants - and I have used all of these "lines" of scopes extensively (Except the US made Zeiss scopes) and they all work well.

The West German manufactured scopes (or at least labelled as West German made) function fine and have very good optics.

The East German Zeiss (Jena) are good performers and, when multicoated, are great optically (even the non-multi-coated Zeiss Jena scopes are still better than the last generation Leupold VXIII - but then I have not used the most recently released Leupolds).

The quality of fit and finish was lower on the East German Zeiss Jena scopes and they are not nitrogen purged or well sealed BUT I have never experienced fogging with them.

I doubt if the US produced Zeiss scopes will be any less capable than the German scopes - primarily because Zeiss has always been very concerned about it's brand recognition and would try to avoid a poor quality product (regardless of origin) to be distributed with it's label....

Zeiss (Oberkochen) West Germany spent a lot of money unsuccessfully trying to get the Jena located Zeiss plant, that fell into communist hands at the end of WWII, to discontinue the use of the Zeiss brand name. Since the end of the cold war the Zeiss Jena name has reappeared as part of the Zeiss corporate brand as - apparently - they are now re-united.
 
new zeiss scopes are the
conquest line made in the US and diavari made in germany (not sure where)...
typically the conqest line is like half the price of the diavari line, now i'm no scope expert but the conquest line does not even compare to the diavari line when looking through it (clarity and brightness)....
 
HR said: the Conquest line does not even compare to the diavari line when looking through it (clarity and brightness)... I admit I have not looked through a conquest scope ... but I am very surprised to hear this. The 6x Jena versions were retailing for around $200 when the 6x,42 Zeiss Diatal was selling for around $1250 - optically they weren't that different - at one time I owned them both but sold the Jena. Still have 3 of the Jena 4x scopes though. Both of the 6x made the Leupold's look pretty sad by comparison ... but then so did the B&L Balvar's fwiw. I must have a look through a Conquest now to satisfy my curiousity. Thanks for the observation... AP
 
When talking with my Zeiss reps they told me that the scopes use the same lenses. Conquest line is assembled in the US. Thats the difference I was told by my zeiss lab
 
i'm not saying the conquest are no good, but just that in my observation the diavari line glass looks better through it...

and if some one told me they were in fact the SAME glass, i would be VERY surprised
 
Zeiss got rid of the most expensive labour in the world by assemblying them in the USA. The chromatics are not as good as in the Diavari, but the price is 449 U$. Try a leupy for that money. ha!
 
The chromatics are not as good as in the Diavari, ... the term chromatics certainly opens up an interesting area. Is my Zeiss scope better than my Swarovski scope or worse? The Zeiss is more "colour correct" (eg more neutral) to my eye than the Swarovski. But the slight yellow tint that my Swarovski image displays improves image contrast beyond 100 or so yards on overcast days -- which are predominant during hunting season (November). I once compared light transmission with a Metrastar meter (said to have sensitivity closest to a human eye) and found some interesting information when measuring light "output" from a Zeiss, Nickel Supra, Swarovski and Leupold scope. The Leupold did not fare as well as the others. AP
 
dusty61 said:
I was wondering what makes the differance between a Zeiss scope made in the USA and one made in Germany. Are the optics better in the ones made in Germany? I myself can see no differance except in the price.

Try them out at dusk, on a higher power setting.
 
I haven't been overly impressed with the conquest line. One one of our precision rifle courses, the only scope to fail was one of their target scopes. I appreciate that this could have been a fluke, but it was still a pretty expensive scope and if failed to perform.
 
Redleg said........but it was still a pretty expensive scope and if failed to perform.......That can certainly be a bummer when that happens and put you off a line of scopes. My problem with wandering zero and bad flare on 2 Leupolds caused me to reassess their reputation. So far I have had good luck with Zeiss (and Swarovski, and S&B etc etc and B&L and Super Snipers and an old ScopeChief IV fwiw) .....AP
 
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