[Rover]

They copied it almost to the last bit... WHY?!

http://photorumors.com/2014/12/16/this-n...50mm-f1-8/

I guess that Canon is going to drop the hammer on them real hard (wonder why they didn't when YN ripped off the 50mm f/1.4)

[Klaus]

What drives them ? Well, that's easy - money.

 

They have their moments of existence and make their bucks. Then they are shut down and the factory owners enjoy their life overseas at the beach while starting their next copycat project.It's a calculated risk I'd say.

[davidmanze]

  Makes you wonder if they pay "any" bills, Canons version is a very good value for money $100, can't see a lot of profit there, Youngnou are asking $40,  that can only give them a couple of gin and tonics with straw hats in on the beach!

[Klaus]

Well, do you think that they are using glass elements ? ;-)

But yeah, they will need a couple of those ventures.

 

I'd say that this one is probably an easy business.

I am more wondering about the copycats in the car industry.

 

e.g. this copy of a Land Rover Evoque:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rYo_oM1jxVc/U-...d-X7-0.jpg

It takes quite an effort to do this and Landwind can't really run away so easily. Feels like a wasted effort.

[Rover]

I really did think that the era of cheap Chinese copies is over, and they turned to doing their own stuff (like the Huawei etc. smartphones, and Zhongyi lenses which are authentic designs and not copies of anything). Apparently I was wrong (at least partly).

 

Now, Klaus, howsabout testing one of these... Gucci & Gabbana sorta lenses? 

[wxr]

I would guess that the patent protection on the original design of these lenses has expired.

[Scythels]

50/1.8, 50/1.4, and 35/2 copies for canon on the way.  They claim to be moving to clone nikon's 50/1.8 AF-S.  That will be interesting, as there is an asphere involved and there is no cheap way to manufacture an asphere.

[popo]

Is it an optical copy? I haven't looked closely but vaguely recall seeing a comparison somewhere suggesting the Yongnuo looks better wide open than the original.

[Scythels]

They most likely copied the design and then tried substituting acrylic for a lens or two.  If taht worked without wrecking the performance it could perform better after optimization, since the material change would force it into a different design space.

[Rover]

Lenstip was the first one to test it, and their overall impression is... "Ship High In Transit".

http://www.lenstip.com/425.1-Lens_review...ction.html