[Leica] leica production location and repetitive stories

[Erwin Puts <imxputs@knoware.nl>]

Antony wrote in part:
"I am disappointed, then.  No matter what anyone might claim, assembly in
"Portugal is not the same as assembly in Germany.
In a very trivial sense this statement is of course true, the 
assembly is in a different location. The implication however might be 
that assembly in Germany is of some ephemeral superior quality.
Well it is not. Production quality in Portugal is as high as if not 
higher than that in Germany. The few fortunates who have visited the 
Portugal factory can support this view. It might be seen as an insult 
to the workers and their managers at the Portugal factory  to imply 
any inherent inferiority in their ethics, ability or  propensity for 
striving for and attaining the Solms quality. I personally would 
attest that they equal the Solms criteria in all respects. The Solms 
workers  are very dedicated to their job and proud of the products 
they produce. So are the Portugal people. Both work under the same 
rules of inspection and quality control and are trained by the same 
people who work partly in Solms and partly in Portugal.

This topic has been discussed extensively on the Lug as have the 
other current issues (exposure metering, ethics of street photography 
and tripod use and selection and the true speed of D3200). As is to 
be expected we find the usual mix of miserably wrong and sound advice 
and it is up to everybody to make sure that (s)he can identify what 
is true and what is false.

It might help however if contributors to this list would refrain from 
posting about any topic unless they have looked into the archives 
what the current state of the discussion is.

This list progresses because of added value, not by walking in 
circles. There is simply no substitute for research and reflection 
before going public.


Erwin