Re: [Leica] country of manufacture (sorry, long rant)

[Tarek Charara <tarek.charara@wanadoo.fr>]

le 30.11.2000 3:34, Emanuel Lowi à mano@proxyma.net a écrit :

> John S. & Erwin P.:
> 
> Sorry we'll disagree on this one.

Emanuel, who is WE in the above? Your post reflects your personal choices
and that's ok. I admit that I used to function your way, but I changed my
mind. Not everything that comes out of Germany is as good as its reputation
(I should know, I'm half German ;-) and I certainly agree with you about
touring in Germany/Portugal... Nevertheless, concerning Leica, I have rarely
been deceived by their products and the fact that my MP4 was "made in
Canada" didn't make a difference in the pictures. I understand your point of
view even if I think that the reasoning behind it has more to do with myth
than with reality. I do not understand how the "out-of-the-factory-life" of
a Portuguese worker could in any way affect his skills or the quality of his
work...

Just a thought,

Tarek
- ---------------------------------------------------------

Tarek Charara
L'expo continue sur/The exhibition continues at
http://www.orients-unis.net




> 
> I  think culture remains very important, even in this homogenized and
> globalized
> world. Things haven't changed as much as our material world might suggest.
> 
> The Portuguese Leica worker may be very well-trained and supervised by Germans
> sent
> from Solms. Once out the factory door he/she lives in an entirely different
> world,
> with different values than those which shaped Leica in days of yore. As I
> mentioned,
> the Portuguese are renowned for a number of world-class products which I buy
> and
> enjoy with gusto. None of them are precision technological devices and I
> wouldn't
> want the Portuguese to be wrenched out of being who they are in exchange for a
> paycheque with a red dot on it. People are organic products of the place where
> they're born and raised. We are not interchangeable parts in a global machine.
> 
> By the way, I'd rather tour Portugal than Germany any day, partly because of
> the
> people who inhabit those lands. But buying a camera is no holiday trip.
> 
> Frankly, I would not buy a car with a Japanese manufacturer's name on it but
> made in
> the USA by Bud-swilling Superbowl-hollering Yanks who've grown up in a society
> that
> emphasizes get-away-with-whatever and punch-the-clock but no more, instead of
> car
> made by real Japanese workers steeped in a culture of lifetime responsibility
> and a
> work ethic that pervades their society.
> 
> If I wanted to buy a firearm, sure I'd buy American, as the product clearly
> speaks to
> something deep within the worker's upbringing.
> 
> I know when I buy a Canadian-made hockey stick, the guy who made it grew up
> since
> childhood with a clear sense of what a hockey stick is, used one since
> childhood, and
> lives next door to people who use them every day. He may even still own a few
> too.
> Not so the Portuguese Leica worker, I suspect (rangefinder cameras, not hockey
> sticks, in this case). At one time, one could say that a German would have
> grown up
> with a clear sense of his country's pride of place in the world of optics.
> Perhaps
> this era is over and I think Leica's realities reflect this, and not for the
> better.
> 
> There are beers made in Canada using duplicates of the Belgian methods. Same
> yeast
> and everything. We have nice clean water here too. Sorry, I'll have a Duvel
> please. 
> 
> Interesting that some of the parts that Bill R. reveals are subcontracted are
> exactly
> the things that have given users and repair people problems. The circuitry and
> RF
> hassles have been documented here before. I myself have noticed a decline in
> shutter
> performance in extreme climates - I have found that new M6 bodies perform
> unreliably
> in the cold temperatures where I often work, while older M cameras are very
> reliable.
> I queried Erwin about this some time ago and he told me that the mechanisms
> are the
> same but the curtain material was actually changed a few years ago. I wonder
> whether
> this and the other changes were design improvements or changes made by or for
> the
> convenience of the subcontractors.
> 
> My attachment to tradition is not zenophobia, Erwin, although it may be
> old-fashioned
> - a description I always take as a compliment.
> 
> Emanuel Lowi
> Montreal