German engineering
German engineering
I know this thread is old and tired, but I've got some slightly new views and experiences to throw in here. Having owned a CL since 1975, I've indeed heard this argument/slur many times. Here is the information that was published about the CL at the time of its release. I no longer have the magazine that it was published in. The basic CL design was done in Wetzlar by Leica engineers, then the next phase of development was done cooperatively by Leica engineers and Minolta engineers, with modifications being made to take advantage of Minolta's manufacturing expertise. Some assembly tools were brought to Japan from Wetzlar, and some German engineers were involved in getting manufacuring up and rolling, seeing to it that the cameras coming off the assembly line were up to Leica's standards. I used to build movie cameras in LA in the 1970s, and I know that involvement from both design engineers and manufacturing engineers is critical to a camera's ability to achieve its intended goals for quality of image and robustness. Based on all of this, plus much experience shooting M2 and M4 bodies, I have no reservations in calling the CL a Leica. As in the Apple/Foxconn analogy, the design DNA of the CL is very much the design philosophy of Wetzlar of the early 1970s. They were trying to move 35mm rangefinder concepts forward - CL and the M5 - but the market punished them for the M5, and the reasons for discontinuing the CL after only three years remains a debated mystery. The ergonomics of the camera are unique and held up as a paragon by some. I believe the CL was a very very good camera. A CL2 could have been one of the best ever in its price range.
