Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/02/06
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]The early Nikon and Canon cameras are very poorly made compared to contemporary Leicas. Nippon Kogaku (Japanese optical???), only went into camera manufacture to prevent being closed down by the US military, they called their camera the Nikon, collectors have given the early Nikon extra names to differentiate them. They had made all the Japanese military wartime periscopes, gunsights, binoculars etc.. The company name was changed to Nikon much later, when cameras became their main business. Their lenses were copies of the contemporary Zeiss designs, but coated. They also made the lenses for Canon cameras for their first 20 years or so, and many of the other Japanese copy camera makes. Early Canon cameras were extremely shoddily made with very poor quality metal. When -I- was a kid, "made in Japan" meant cheap rubbish, too. Frank On 5 Feb, 2009, at 23:46, Lawrence Zeitlin wrote: > > On Feb 5, 2009, at 5:34 PM, Seth wrote: > >> Oh you're THAT old Larry? ;-) > > I prefer being old to the alternative. I'm a Korean War vet. At the > base PX it was possible to pick up a Nikon S with a f2.0 50mm Nikkor > lens, engraved on the top plate "Made in Occupied Japan," for about > $125. A Leica IIIf with a f3.5 50mm Elmar was about twice the price. > I passed up the Nikon. After all, how good could a Japanese camera > be? It wasn't until I returned home that I learned that David > Duncan had "discovered" the quality of the Japanese cameras and that > they were the rage of the photographic community. > > Larry Z > >> >> I recall, as a kid, my dad telling me - and I don't know to this >> day if it >> is/was fact or apocryphal - that before WWII there was a Japanese >> town >> called Usa where much manufacture was done, so that they could mark >> products: "made in Usa" >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Lawrence Zeitlin" <lrzeitlin@optonline.net> >> To: <lug@leica-users.org> >> Cc: "Lawrence Zeitlin" <lrzeitlin@optonline.net> >> Sent: Thursday, February 05, 2009 11:42 AM >> Subject: [Leica] Re: China, Japan, Thailand, etc. >> >> >>> >>> On Feb 5, 2009, at 11:06 AM, Chris wrote: >>> >>>> The "pro" >>>> gear is still "Made in Japan". >>> >>> >>> When I was a kid,"Made in Japan" had a pejorative ring to it. Only >>> cheap stuff was made in Japan. >>> >>> Larry Z > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information