Carl Zeiss Jena (CZJ) ceased their telescope production in 1995.
Although there are regular rumours about them starting up again I assure you this is not going to be the case anytime soon.
There is no one that makes anything that is anywhere near their capability today. Even in the nearly 20 years since their closure no one has equalled ......... yet alone surpassed .......... their capability and design excellence.
The world's best refractors are - APM or Officina Stellare using LZOS's OK4 glass, which is simply sensational. Plus TEC using a mix of glass types including a range of ED's. Then when you go lower down the scale you get AP & Tak. Then below that WO & TV.
The issue with refractors is that you need to be very careful about what you read, and what you believe. As there is such a lot of trash that is written on the internet about the different Strehl performance and glass types such as ED and Fluorite and their capabilities. It is disappointing that the more research you do the worse the data gets. Those that are truly specialist in this area have grown more than bemused, they are these days a little cross.
There was even one supplier here in Australia claiming that his triplet refractors have a Strehl of 0.998, which is ridiculous ......... as this breaches the laws of physics. He has changed his webpage - I just checked. Does he know what he is doing - you be the judge.
My personal CZJ's ..... my apologies if I gave you the wrong impression - they are not on offer, and are not going to be on offer anytime within the next (likely) 30 odd years. My comments were in no way a marketing blurb to achieve any form of sales interest.
If you want a CZJ you will need to achieve some fairly extensive personal links into both Europe and the US. Personally - my links to achieve my goals took decades upon decades to achieve. The amount of time and work to achieve my personal holy grail .... actually owning one of the 2 pcs of CZJ AQ ever made, was the culmination of a life's work in astronomy & specialist optical physics.
I recommend you stay with current production gear, it's going to save you megabucks anyway. But make sure the people you talk to actually understand and know what they are talking about.
Clear skies
