[Leica] BESSA R3A or M7

[billgem at hotmail.com (Bill Marshall)]

Jeffrey, like you I have no idea why there is a delay on the Zeiss lenses 
out of the Cosina factories. I have 2 theories - wild guesses really:

1. Erwin Puts has written that his tests of CV lenses show that they are 
built with greater tolerances than equivalent Leica lenses. The optimist in 
me hopes that the delay is due to Zeiss Quality Contol insisting on tighter 
tolerances than what they are receiving in initial samples. Hopefully, that 
is a good part of what the higher price for a Zeiss lens is paying for & it 
would answer Zeiss critics who say that these are just re-badged Cosina 
lenses. It would be understandable that there could be these kinds of 
start-up issues in getting Cosina & Zeiss on the same page in terms of what 
Zeiss is expecting & what they contracted for. This would be a better & more 
efficient process than the other alternative, which would be to release new 
product prematurely before everything is buttoned down & to have to deal 
with a recall or just numerous customer complaints & warranty claims. Not 
only would this be costly, but it would be terrible PR for a new venture & 
new product line which needs to establish its reputation against stiff 
competition.

2. The pessimist (or realist) in me just assumes that it is a matter of 
Cosina biting off more than it could chew. They are already under production 
with their own new product line - the R2A not being due for another month. 
And maybe they just couldn't handle this increased volume of production.

Just my best guess.

Chhers,
Bill