Re: [Leica] Chance from R to Nikon?

[creadick@mindspring.com (Nowell Creadick)]

In my work, as in I am sure many others, the last 10% of the work takes 90%
of the time and only 1% of yur customers can tell you did it that well,
much less understand why you charge 50% more!!

>Dale,
>I think you pretty much have it. Leica designs a lens and assembles it to a
>higher standard, and to greater tolerances. They then charge you up the
>wazoo for them, and people will spend money on the because the result of
>using lenses made to these tolerances take better and more consistantly
>better photos. The Japanese, for the most part, make very good glass, but I
>can only assume that they utilize mechanical assembly, and testing with
>machines run by people who have little understanding of the actual process.
>I think the following anecdote might help explain my ranting here. Last
>week, while at the photolab, we got a call from a competitor ( read 'cheaper
>dealer' here) and their 'phototech' stated that they were doing reprints
>from some negatives we had done, and were trying to make their reprints
>match our originals. She said their machine was making the prints too dark
>and wanted to know if we had adjusted the negatives or what she could do to
>get lighter prints. Honest to God it happened! Our reigning Lab Queen
>retained her composure, and simply told the poor thing on the other end of
>the line that we weren't familiar with her machine, so we couldn't say!
>I think the Elves of Solms Know how to make a superior lens; The Japanese do
>too, but, they opt for a large quantity of lower priced lenses, made to
>standards lower than we expect, and they are made by folks on an assembly
>line who understand too little- only if the dial goes into the red, they're
>supposed to chuck the lens.
>WHEW, sorry about that!
>Hope it explains whatever it is you wanted to know about!
>Dan'l
>dwpost@msn.com
>Gettin' old and not being able to remember stuff is fun; you meet new people
>everyday, and they let you hide your own Easter eggs....
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Dale R. Reed <dale-reed@postoffice.worldnet.att.net>
>To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
>Date: Wednesday, January 28, 1998 4:21 PM
>Subject: Re: [Leica] Chance from R to Nikon?
>
>
>>Larry Kopitnik wrote:
>><snip>
>>> That's what makes the R system better. The glass.
>>
>>Larry I am a retired Electromagnetics Engineer.  Forty years of
>>engineering from the Antarctic to Marcus Island, Pacific Ocean to Great
>>Falls, Montana.  Antennas, Space Vehicles, Nuclear Electromagnet Pulse,
>>Induced Lightning protection of the 777, propagation, whatever.  And I
>>still receive the IEEE electromagnetics publications.  You cannot
>>convince me that the Germans are better engineers than the Japanese
>>engineers.
>>
>>So if it is not the glass(as in materials and manufacture) and it is not
>>in the mathematics then it must be in the specs.  They must be designed
>>to different requirements.  And I think this conclusion is reflected in
>>the LUG discussions.
>>
>>I have to assume that the numbers(specs) that the engineers design to at
>>the different companies are trade secrets.  They are not trade secrets
>>in Commercial Airplane design because the FAA is always nosing around
>>but cameras are not a public safety issue.  Actually that is not why
>>Boeing invented the FAA but we won't go into that right now.
>>
>>So us consumers of cameras and lenses must depend on tests done by
>>photography magazines, user experience(for example the LUG), and so on.
>>
>>But most important we have to decide what we want the camera for.  And
>>predict, the best we can, what we will want it for a couple years from
>>now.
>>
>>Have I got it about right?     Dale
>>--
>>$  dale-reed@worldnet.att.net   Seattle, Washington U.S.A.  $