Re: [Leica] Lieca & Minolta - A perfect marriage, Maybe!

["Dan Post" <dwpost@email.msn.com>]

We're being too restrictive here! We tend to forget that both Minolta and
Leica are involved in many optical endeavors- My opthalmologist's office is
full of American Optical instruments, but there are a fair number of things
like the Minolta device for checking my visual field- being diabetic, I get
to have a lot of eye tests done! Leica makes refractometers and other
instruments. Remember the old process of looking at a chart, the doctor
switching in lenses and asking, "Which is better- this or this?"
Now for a simple refraction, I sit at a machine, look at a slide, the
machine focuses so the slide is clear and sharp, clicks and prints out the
correction for my eyes! Inside a minute! Fabulous!
I am quite sure that if Minolta and Leica worked together, the benefit to
both might be a shot at capturing more of the market share.
Now, Peter- to address Sigma ( a co-worker used to call them 'smegma' lenses
:o{  )- They seem to produce quite a few popular lenses that deliver as
promised, and while they my not be up to Leica's quality, I always found
them to be pretty nicely made, and if not sterling performers, at least
competent and possible better then most. They sold well at the store, and I
don't recall any complaints or lenses coming back!
If a company's only business is making lenses ( not counting the Sigma
cameras by Cosina!) they have to be competitive with a good mix of quality
and price to stay in business. I am sure that if they made Leica lenses to
Leica's specifications, then I wouldn't hesitate to use one. Inordinate
concern about where it was made seems silly to me; I personally don't
believe that just because it is made in Germany that it would be any better.
I recall pulling a bike out of the box- made by Puch in Austria, and having
a beer bottle cap fall out of the box, and wondering- "Did this get built
before or AFTER the beer break!?"
I Leica things Leica that,
Dan