Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/02/20
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]> The tester is a pro who is a Leicaphile. Those of you who own these lenses > may want to confirm or further elaborate on the above evaluation. Please > let us know what you agree to or disagree to. > > The same issue features a ten-page article on Bessa-R and its development > history (interview with Cosina people and some prototype pics included). I > am not a Cosina freak but find it intriguing! Do you know that all the > optical componens of the Bessa-R rangefinder are made in their factories > (Cosina is one of the three Japanese lens manufacturers that produce "glass" > themselves.) Sorry, I have no more time to summarise it in English here. Interesting. I am only vague aware of the alliance among Cosina, Kenko and Hoya, but what I understand is that Hoya is a glass manufacturer (like Schott), Cosina is a lens designer/assembler, and Kenko a marketter. Hoya has a big factory making everything from stemware to optical components in western Tokyo. However, Cosina does melt its own glass at its laboratory that was built in 1968. So, Mikiro's translation states that Cosina made all the optical components of the rangefinder. I wonder whether they designed and assembled the mechanism, too.