Is there a pattern emerging here?
Do all your friends order lenses/cameras by the dozen? Was this your supreme soviet friend, or your Olympus/Zuiko friend?
I wondered if you would jump on this; it's your style. There is a pattern that has already emerged, but it's with you, not me.
No, he was a camera manufacturer (he's since sold the company). Among many other cameras, he made a series of 6x7 cm cameras with 47 SAs in a shift mount, so he needed to buy them in quite large quantities: a dozen at a time, in fact. Eleven out of twelve was his highest return rate, but I don't think he ever returned fewer than four or five out of twelve. I think he made between 50 and 100 cameras in that series: nearer 50 than 100. His test equipment was quite impressive.
How did Olympus/Zuiko get into it? I don't seem to recall anyone buying either bodies or lenses by the dozen, but I do remember several people being distinctly unimpressed by whichever cameras or lenses they did try when the cameras were introduced.
Finally, bear in mind that because I've been writing about photography for over 30 years, it is hardly surprising that I should have met more people than average who do/did, in fact, order cameras and lenses by the half-dozen or dozen. Many dealers, for a start. Manufacturers too. It would be more surprising if I
hadn't met quite a number of such people. For example, when the Alpa was introduced, they ordered two batches of 38/4.5 Biogons, 25 to a batch as far as I recall. With no need to return any of them...
R.
