Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/07/09
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 05:17 PM 7/9/96 +0800, you wrote: >Perhaps good news for the users who might see a drop in the price of leica >lenses that are made by Kyocera. Definitely good for Kyocera whose >reputation will be enhanced by leica. It seems to be a win-win situation. > >I don't know whether this should be interpreted as a good sign or not. It >all depends on how one would feel if Mercedes and BMW were to be made by >Mitsubishi. We've lived with Minolta making them for years. The new 70-180 2.8 is made by Leica in Germany. That's all I'd care about if I was buying Leica zooms. Sigma makes one zoom. The 28-70. Panasonic must be making some parts for the other one, the 70-210 or whatever. It's still identical to the one Minolta made for Leica for years. But you seem to missing my point that Kyocera is the prime cermics maker in Japan. And not only that, they make most of Contax's Zeiss lenses (heck, they ARE Contax), except a few exotics like the 300 2.8 Tele Apo Tessar, the 15mm lens (made also for Leica - and the same design is made by Pentax and Nikon for their lines) and a couple others by Zeiss in Germany. My point, in case I haven't been clear is, of all independent manufacturers of lenses, I'd pick Zeiss's over any other. So this is very good news, and I'd bet Kyocera doesn't think Leica will enhance their reputation. They think they make the best lenses in the world, and in some cases, they're right. But we know better about the overall systems. ;-) ========================= Eric Welch Grants Pass Daily Courier NPPA Region 11 JIB Chair Bumper Sticker: "Horn doesn't work; Watch for finger"