Carl Zeiss
Carl Zeiss has a 150-year history of optics manufacturing, and there's no doubt about Germany's dominance of optics manufacturing.
Carl Zeiss, Leica and Rodenstock and Schneider
represent the cutting edge of optics.
Many of Sony's products have evolved based on Zeiss technology, a simple example being the
Sony DSC-F828's lens is based on Zeiss's exemplary large aperture lens, the Sonnar.