Umender Shah on Expanding Zeiss’ Reach

In conversation with Aditya Nair and Conchita Fernandes, Umender Shah, National Manager, Sports Optics and Camera Lens, Carl Zeiss talks about expanding the company’s reach and new lenses to look forward to.

Since its inception, Carl Zeiss has been major strides in optical lenses. This year at the 8th India International Photo-Video Trade Fair in Gujarat, they displayed their complete range of lenses for SLR cameras. They also had on display their range of cinema lenses, UV filters and polarizing filters, lenses for Nikon and Canon bodies, cleaning products and accessories like camera straps.

“This year our approach was simple. We wanted to get closer to our customers and give them an opportunity to see our complete range of lenses and have a hands-on experience,” said Umender Shah. In terms of extending their reach in India, Zeiss is planning to expand to smaller cities versus focusing on only key cities, which they did in the past. They plan to maintain this approach for the year 2015 as well.

They recently launched their Zeiss Otus 85mm f/1.4 Apo Planar T* lens, which is a part of their premium series of SLR lenses. The 85mm has a complex assembly of 11 elements and 9 groups. “It can match and outdo many medium format systems,” mentions Sandeep Bali, Photographer and Carl Zeiss Ambasaddor.  The lens will also be on display at photokina 2014.