American made?

[tkluck]

I was looking at an Argus C3 and got to wondering why we never made a "good" 35mm camera in the USA. Of coarse my next thought was we don't make a good motorcycle here eather.

Is there a connection? Fuel for a PBS documentary?

Highly speculative, and mostly food for thought only:
(doning my Nomex suit)
Good:
- Sheaffer Snorkel pen
- Picket slide rule
- hand tools (some)
- firearms
- locomotives
- airplanes

not that good:
- 35mm cameras
- motor cycles
- carving tools
- beer
- ammunition

 

[Avotius]

I dont know anything about motor cycles, or trains, or airplanes even though im from seattle. Now that I mention it I have no idea what a snorkel pen is, I asume a water proof pen. Boy, im too young for some of this I guess....what the hell is a 35mm camera? 😛

My father is ever speaking about this old Argus Brick. Im ever speaking about that old Leica "brick" I want.

 

[pesphoto]

What about Sam Adams Beer? Though I agree most american beers,not so good.

 

[KoNickon]

I'll really pull on my flameproof suit and suggest there aren't many good American cars, either. Or rather, they're the equivalent of Harleys -- old technology and overpriced.

As for 35mm cameras, we seem to historically have been more oriented toward larger format -- think Speed Graphic and Polaroid -- or susceptible to the latest format urged upon us by Big Yellow -- 126, Disc, 110.

 

[phototone]

It all depends on what you mean by "good". I have a couple of Harley-Davidson motorcycles, and I would take them anywhere. They are well-built, dependable, comfortable and I can get service (if I need it) just about anywhere. Now they are not at the "leading edge" of technology, but neither are the average rangefinders that we use and love here on RFDR forum.

There have been some very fine cameras built here in the USA, the Kodak Ektra 35mm RFDR, a very complex precisely engineered camera. There have always been special-built cameras made here, the Panavision Panaflex cameras for motion picture use are pretty much the standard of the world. Just look at the credits of most of the movies you watch. All the cameras and projectors used to make and exhibit Imax movies are USA designed and built. There are others.

In North America, lets not forget Lietz/Canada which made many of our favorite Leica cameras and lenses.

 

[venchka]

Good stuff from the USA

Good stuff from the USA

There are some pleasing microscopic breweries around the US of A. No match for Belgian ales, but they do have a multi-centuries head start.

Bombardier is #1 in trains and #3 in commercial planes. Thanks, Canada!

All Clad cookware and those really cute miniature steam engines from Pennsylvania.

Mountain bikes.

Filson in Seattle.

Crawfish, shrimp, crabs & oysters.

Pendelton Woolen Mills

Maker's Mark bourbon.

I'll think of some more stuff later.

 

[rxmd]

I (German) was actually convinced two weeks ago that American beer can be quite decent. I was hanging round at the local microbrewery's pub every other evening and getting along on Sam Adams (plain, and black lager) rest of the time. Not bad at all.

I guess whoever says American beer is bad is judging on the basis of Budweiser & Co... but then Belgian beer shouldn't be judged from tasting Jupiler, and German beer from tasting Beck's or Hansa.

BTW Belgian beer isn't bad, but Czech and even Slovak is an entirely different league and completely unbeatable 😀 And there even are some decent beers coming out of Russia now, I found myself drinking Sibirskaia Korona and Staryi Mel'nik a lot.

Philipp

 

[henryp]

Not cameras, but great American-made stuff includes Fender, Gibson & Martin guitars.

 

[Todd.Hanz]

I don't know much about American beers but here in the United State of Texas we have a pretty good ale in Shiner Bock and it's various seasonal flavors.

Motorcycles, do I sense a lack of enthusiasm for Harley's and Buells on this forum? 🙂

 

[brachal]

Nice to see the mighty Pickett slide-rule get some recognition. I'd take an N4 over any Nestler any day. They were good enough to go to the moon, after all.

 

[Stephanie Brim]

Even in Iowa there are TWO microbreweries that produce some pretty good stuff. And trust me on this...the stout at Rock Bottom Brewery is great with a big piece of beef tenderloin.

 

[rxmd]

Roland,

I agree that Czech beer is great (the real Bud), but some good German Pilsener (my favorite is Bischoff's) or Japanese beer (Asahi or Saporo draft) can compete

🙂 I don't like Asahi all that much. It's decent, but not spectacular IMHO, and I don't like rice in beer. In Czech/Slovak beers, I like (the original) Budweiser, but I find I tend to like Pilsner Urquell, Smädný Mních, Zlatopramen 11", Zlaty Bažant more. In German beers, I find myself recently favouring black beer such as Köstritzer or some local kinds around Berlin where I live, such as Bernauer Schwarzbier.

I guess a person's taste in beer is nothing to be argued about 🙂

Bill,

Nice to see the mighty Pickett slide-rule get some recognition.

Don't forget the mighty Swingline stapler! And, on a different note, the Kitchen Aid.

Philipp

 

[fgarciam]

I have heard of a Bell & Howell Photon that was designed to compete with the best, but it was far too over-priced.

 

[ampguy]

yes

yes

plus the growing market of boutique low production amps, lots of US builders, as well as smaller #'s around the world.

not sure of cycles, but I wouldn't go for a US made car unless you are really rich enough to get it fixed regularly like Steve Ballmer, or need the 0% APR until well longer than the car will be alive.

Good American exports? As mentioned, guitars and amps, some high-end recording gear, Paris Hilton, weapons, toxins, technology - complex analog and digital chips, optical transceivers, boeing airplanes, snap-on and craftsman ? tools. What am I missing?

Not cameras, but great American-made stuff includes Fender, Gibson & Martin guitars.

 

[pesphoto]

Newport Storm, here in Rhode Island isgood beer.

 

[jlw]

I was looking at an Argus C3 and got to wondering why we never made a "good" 35mm camera in the USA.

In its time, the Kodak Ektra was by far the most technologically advanced 35mm rangefinder system in the world. It was dogged by shutter reliability problems, which Kodak likely would have scienced out if World War II had not intervened, and the only reason the improved Ektra II didn't appear after the war was that Kodak priced it out and concluded they couldn't sell it at the price they would have had to charge to make a profit.

As someone else mentioned, the Bell & Howell Foton was another very advanced US-made rangefinder 35. At that time B&H was one of the world's leading manufacturers of professional 16mm and 35mm motion picture cameras, its Filmo and Eyemo models being renowned for producing precise results and being nearly indestructible. The Foton had a metal focal-plane shutter of unique and very dependable design, and its spring motor drive made it capable of shooting bursts of up to six frames per second. This was long, long before the days of widespread electric motor drives, and even the spring-wound Robot cameras of the day could shoot only single shots, so the Foton -- although mind-bendingly expensive by still-camera standards -- found favor with some of the era's leading professional sports photographers.

Below the top ranks, there were several other good lower-priced US-made 35mm cameras. One of my own favorites is the original Kodak Signet 35, which has an unambitious 4-speed shutter but an excellent Ektar lens and a very rugged die-cast body.

The reason these precision 35mm cameras declined was partly photographer snobbery -- "German is better" and later "Japanese is better," despite plenty of awful examples to the contrary -- but mostly manufacturing cost. Kodak and other manufacturers found out that they could make more money by deploying their high-precision manufacturing capabilities to other industry segments, such as defense work, and left the more price-sensitive consumer market to foreign competition.

 

[brachal]

I agree on the Pickett recognition part.

But you are not correct wrt the Apollo program. It's more the other way around, without the Apollo program we would still use slide rulers.

Cheers,

Roland.

Roland,

I was refering to the fact that Picketts were the "official" NASA slide rule during the Apollo program. Pickett's advertising made a big deal about it at the time. The little N600 actually rode in all of the Apollo capsules.

Bill

 

[brachal]

Bill,

Don't forget the mighty Swingline stapler! And, on a different note, the Kitchen Aid.

Philipp

The commercial Hobart mixers (like a Kitchen Aid but huge) are some of the best objects ever produced in America. I once worked in a kitchen with a 70-year old Hobart that had been used hard every day, and it was still in perfect working order.

 

[brachal]

Interesting, Bill, thanks (I was born in 65). I was thinking about Kilby and the first NAND gate ...

Cheers,

Roland.

And you're absolutely right. That's one of the most important before/after inventions in history.

Bill

 

[Scarpia]

American medical imaging equipment including cat scanners, MRI's, etc. mostly made by GE are regarded as the best in the world. Also the most expensive.
Kurt M.