Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/03/16
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I enjoy using several Voigtlander items which were made by Cosina. I feel
that they are in fact a tribute to the brand name more than simple
exploitation: I mean who is losing out here? Voigtlander is a name that
would be otherwise lost and unknown to all but a few camera historians these
days and I would venture to suggest that the LTM items Cosina is producing
under this brand name are at least as capable performers as anything
Voigtlander of yore ever made. I certainly have no problem using images
produced by their lenses alongside Leica ones and I am not alone. I
understand that Solms is actually rather impressed by the quality of the
lenses and the helicals in particular.
If Marc has any legitimate beef it must be to the German trademark owners
who allowed the Voigtlander brand to be used on a considerable amount of
really low-end stuff which was paradoxically foisted upon an uncomplaining
German public for a couple of decades. Prior to this the brand was shuttled
about a series of owners who brazenly used the name on their products in a
manner at least as questionable: the tie-up with Rollei being a case in
point. So what? Where is the damage? Are members of the Voigtlander family
turning in their graves? Are they hurt or honoured by the LTM lenses coming
out of the Cosina factory? Is the engraving on the Bessa bodies 'Voigtlander
Germany since 1756' or whatever it is any sillier or more unethical than the
stuff Leica put on the bodies like my Leica R5 which says 'Leitz Wetzlar'
when it was made by a factory in Portugal or my Noctilux which says 'Leica'
but was not made by Leica or even a subsidiary of theirs?
Now how did the Leitz name get to be affixed to a recent offering from Solms
(the '0')? Sheer chutzpah! And my Leica R8 motor battery chargers have
'Leica Camera Germany' prominently printed on the exterior whilst they were
actually made by a third party company in China: ethical issues galore!
As for the questioning of Tom A's ethics and the LHSA's editorial policy I
for one respect both quite sufficiently. I have had grave doubts about the
gushing reviews by others of certain Leica lenses which I know from
experience to be less than stellar but then the articles are only as good as
the contributors, who are evidently thin on the ground but I would not go so
far as fling brickbats at them.
It is rarely the people who make positive contributions who take it upon
themselves to rip apart others...
Just my 1/250th's worth,
Adrian
- --
Adrian Bradshaw
Corporate and Editorial Photography
Beijing, China
tel/fax +86 10 6532 5112
mobile +86 139 108 22292
e-mail apbbeijing@yahoo.com
OR adrianpeterbradshaw@compuserve.com
website: http://www.apbphoto.com
http://www.liaisonintl.com/bradshaw.htm
http://www.liaisonintl.com/bradshaw_e.htm
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