The optics industry in Russia is not new, despite being rather young on the international market. For decades, they have honed their crafts filling orders in large part for the military during the Cold War era. It's no coincidence that Russian Maks started making their mark around the world after the fall of the Soviet Union. Very early models were made with may have been "military specs" still fresh in the makers minds. Robust construction remains a trademark of Russian Maks to this day. Continued improvements to scope mechanics have been made to meet the demands of the amateur market. Each subsequent generation of scopes exhibit refinements to issues that are important to the amateur astronomer. Their optics are reknowned for their quality and consistency. You just don't find that with mass produced catadioptric telescopes. The makers that made the biggest impact were Intes, and their sister company Intes-Micro. After the Intes MK67 was heralded around the world as a force to be reckoned with, the company opted out of the consumer optics business. Intes-Micro continued on with the reputation they had earned with their Alter line of Mak-Cassegrain scopes, and showed the world what could be done with a little known design called the Mak-Newtonian. Intes-Micro continues to expand thier lineup each year and produces a wide variety of Maksutov telescopes. It took a bit longer for a couple of other Russian optics companies to become as well known in the West, but they have done so with a vengeance. The apochromatic refractor began to gain widespread appeal around the same time Russian Maks did. Since that time, the demand for apos has risen each year. An enterprising German optics dealer knew full well of the incredible quality that could be produced by the Russian companies LZOS and LOMO. He teamed up with an American that had been studying lens design. This Russian-German-American collaboration produced a lens of incredible quality. For most, this level of quality had only been available on a limited basis and after years of waiting. What had been accepted as the norm had been turned around. The apo market has not been the same since, with world class optics being readily available. LZOS lenses have a well earned reputation as world class. They made all the lenses at first, but the size range which began with 80mm and 100mm objectives has expanded dramatically. LOMO now makes the popular 80mm objectives and LZOS continues to make all the larger, more demanding lenses. LZOS also makes large optics for professional observatories around the world. Oberwerk Binoculars | Russian Optic | Maksutov Newtonian Telescopes | Russian Scopes Retailer |
