Re: [Leica] Noctilux (from Canada or Germany?)

["Dr. Joseph Yao" <joseph@yao.com>]

Horace,

All the Noctilux, up to the ones I received two weeks ago, are still
Canadian, although they all had the Leica Solms issued 'Test Certificate'.
I have never seen a German Noctilux.  Has any LUGgers?

Cheers,

Joseph

on 26/2/01 8:57 PM, Dr H L Lau at shllau@hkusua.hku.hk wrote:

> After the ELCAN plant was sold to Raytheon in 1998, it was believed that the
> production of
> the 75mm Summilux and the Noctilux would be moved to Solms; Stephan Gandy on
> his
> website also stated this "expectation".  So far the "new" German-made 75mm
> Summilux has
> appeared (order no. changed from 11815 to 11810, same optical design, but a
> slightly
> different mechanical design in the helicoid resulting in some 40g reduction in
> weight).
> But the German-made Noctilux has yet to come, at least as far as a
> newly-shipped-in-from-Solms Noctilux (which my friend bought from the
> respectable Dr
> Joseph Yao a couple of weeks ago) went -- it was "made in Canada".  My
> Noctilux bought
> last year (serial no. 3814xxx, which includes the signed Test Certificate
> introduced in late
> 2000) was also made in Canada.
> One speculation was that Leica is just selling the unsold stock from ELCAN.
> This is an
> interesting topic to follow, especially now when all Leica M lenses are
> supposedly made in
> Germany.  The recent thread on LUG concerning the 35-75 mm f/2.8
> Vario-Elmarit-R ASPH
> also shed light on the technical "problems" Leica has faced with. The dealers
> that I know in
> Hong Kong, Japan and Germany also maintain that the Noctilux is being made in
> Germany.
> This added to the "mystery" of where the Noctilux is currently produced (those
> who couldn't
> care less of the country of manufacture can save their time and stop reading
> on).
> When I enquired ELCAN of any currently produced lenses for still-picture
> photography, their
> answer is that the Noctilux is still being made there!  I enclose their e-mail
> reply in the
> following.  The big question now is not WHERE anymore, but WHY?
> 
> Horace Lau