usayit
No longer a newbie, moving up!
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2003
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The factory often does matter... and not just in this case but in many consumer products. What it boils down to is craftsmanship, proper management, and skilled hands. All human aspects that vary from one facility to another. I don't think Derrel meant Asian vs German but the quality of the original Zeiss lenses that earned their reputation versus the lenses produced by Cosina today.
* VW's went through some serious quality issues when made in Mexico. Many consumers would even search dealers for cars that were actually made in Germany.
* Leica moved manufacturing from Weitzler Germany to Canada back when the company was struggling. Some of the products during that time are considered inferior to the earlier german ones made. On the bright side, many of the Canadian Leica products are given credit to keeping the company alive. It was moved back to Solms, Germany.
* Toyota manufacturing in the US went through a long stint of problems as well. My father's 89 Camry (Japanese built) hit 300,000 miles before it died. He was a die hard Toyota fan for many years until he purchased the Sienna. Non-stop problems with quality and it died at 160,000... again a Japanese designed but American built vehicle. He discovered the same for any Toyota that was intended for the North American market... and generally avoids them.
* Often we see very low quality manufacturing out of China. Foxconn for example is capable (other controversies aside) of producing quality work.
Cosina is the worlds largest manufacturer of optics. Many of their off the shelf optics have found (whether openly admitted or not) their way into other branded products. In the Leica M world, Voigtlander rangefinder lenses have earned a good reputation as an alternative to Leica optics. I personally have (and like) the 28mm f/1.9 ultron in screwmount, 21 Color-skopar, 12mm Heliar, as well as the 35mm f/1.2 Nokton. All good lenses for their price... decent build quality too. Oh yeh... Voigtlander (another long dead German name) was indirectly acquired (and manufactured) by Cosina through their acquisition of the Zeiss. I found Zeiss M lenses FEEL good too (expensive) but I have only handled them in the store with no time spent behind them. I hear differently for lenses of other mounts. I have seen other crappy products out of Cosina as well... which often boggles my mind. It seems their quality is all over the place.
The factory often does matter... and not just in this case but in many consumer products. What it boils down to is craftsmanship, proper management, and skilled hands. All human aspects that vary from one facility to another. I don't think Derrel meant Asian vs German but the quality of the original Zeiss lenses that earned their reputation versus the lenses produced by Cosina today.
* VW's went through some serious quality issues when made in Mexico. Many consumers would even search dealers for cars that were actually made in Germany.
* Leica moved manufacturing from Weitzler Germany to Canada back when the company was struggling. Some of the products during that time are considered inferior to the earlier german ones made. On the bright side, many of the Canadian Leica products are given credit to keeping the company alive. It was moved back to Solms, Germany.
* Toyota manufacturing in the US went through a long stint of problems as well. My father's 89 Camry (Japanese built) hit 300,000 miles before it died. He was a die hard Toyota fan for many years until he purchased the Sienna. Non-stop problems with quality and it died at 160,000... again a Japanese designed but American built vehicle. He discovered the same for any Toyota that was intended for the North American market... and generally avoids them.
* Often we see very low quality manufacturing out of China. Foxconn for example is capable (other controversies aside) of producing quality work.
Cosina is the worlds largest manufacturer of optics. Many of their off the shelf optics have found (whether openly admitted or not) their way into other branded products. In the Leica M world, Voigtlander rangefinder lenses have earned a good reputation as an alternative to Leica optics. I personally have (and like) the 28mm f/1.9 ultron in screwmount, 21 Color-skopar, 12mm Heliar, as well as the 35mm f/1.2 Nokton. All good lenses for their price... decent build quality too. Oh yeh... Voigtlander (another long dead German name) was indirectly acquired (and manufactured) by Cosina through their acquisition of the Zeiss. I found Zeiss M lenses FEEL good too (expensive) but I have only handled them in the store with no time spent behind them. I hear differently for lenses of other mounts. I have seen other crappy products out of Cosina as well... which often boggles my mind. It seems their quality is all over the place.