> Japanese quality? No question it could be one of the best in
theworld.
Many of we Japanese still believe that the Germans make better
products. True or not, we want to believe that way <g>.
As I read in a photo magazine recently, a journalist found some
*ikon lenses and *eica lenses made in the same factory (of maybe
*amron or *igma) at around Nagano, Japan. This guy says one reason
the *eica lenses are more expensive is because they have a stricter
quality standard and trash more "out of standard" elements.
I don't know if this is true, but at least this guy says he was
awakened from his dream and stopped lusting after *eica lenses (for
a few days).
kazuya matsumoto
I used to own a Leica M3 when I became interested in moving over to
an SLR design. My awakening came when Leica dropped their own SLR
efforts and started selling rebadged $250 Minolta bodies, with minor
reworking, as Leica SLRs for $1200. I suddenly realized that all
that extra money was not just buying intrinsically better quality. :-)
Also interesting in the history of the rise of the Japanese camera
industry is that Nikon got their initial status boost when they
manufactured their own lens with a Leica mount which news pros
snapped up because it was cheaper and sharper than the Leica lens. It
is interesting too that most of the development of miniature cameras
in the last 25 years has come out of Japan. Through the lens
metering, reasonable size(we know who did that) through redesign of
the camera, exposure automation, autofocus, special lenses such a
the Canon TS lenses and lens stabilization designs add up to a
revolution in camera design that enables people to make excellent
photographs in a wider variety of conditions than ever before. The
result is that the widely used pro systems come out of Japan and the
Europeans a satisfied with the exorbitantly expensive high quality
boutique lines. To use the car analogy, the real engineering prowess
is not building a $50k Audi S4 for instance, but in building a $24K
Subaru WRX that plays in the same league.
--
Winsor Crosby
Long Beach, California
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