Some thoughts on American cameras

[Ronald M]

Americans are not investing in manufacturing much if at all. We have a tax structure that encourages outsourcing labor intensive work to other countries, ie we are destroying our industrial base and thus our economy. Every other country protects its industrial base like the gold it is.

Why we do this is anyone`s guess. I have my ideas, but it is a fact and has been going on for 30/40 years

On top of it all, we bring in low to no education immigrants and foreign born, US college educated, people to return to their home country upon graduation.

Another policy hard to fathom unless you believe what I believe.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Americans are not investing in manufacturing much if at all. We have a tax structure that encourages outsourcing labor intensive work to other countries, ie we are destroying our industrial base and thus our economy. Every other country protects its industrial base like the gold it is.
.

Not all of them. England is arguably even worse than the USA at this.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Rob-F]

PS How many of you own McIntosh hi fi equipment? haha

(Raises hand) McIntosh MR-67 tuner here!

 

[jan normandale]

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I wasn't talking about bringing back any existing camera, but rather about makkng a great new camera under an old name, just as Alpa did with the 12. I completely agree that there is no point in reviving anything Graflex made in the past, but I like the idea of making a great NEW American camera -- a design no-one has seen before, just as Alpa did -- under the old name, as a celebration of top-flight American engineering.

Cheers,

R.

Got it! Good question and despite the 'gloomy' economic times in the US I think people will pay for a quality product. Look at the success of the Alpa as you suggested, Cosina and Leica's M9... overall quality brings in the serious photographic dollars, even if I'm out of that Alpa "snack bracket"

 

[Frank Petronio]

Keith Canham makes a line of great view cameras.

Dick Phillips made arguably the best field cameras -- Ebony, Chamonix, and several others copied him.

Who knows? With some of the new 3-D printing type technologies, perhaps short-run, highly designed components can be made efficiently domestically? The design know-how is there, imagine punching in your file and outputting the twenty or so parts needed....

 

[graywolf]

Grin!

I believe Toyo now owns the Graphic tradename. They bought the rights to and produced the Toyo Super Speed Graphic for about 10 years.

I think the Graflex tradename has reverted to the public domain, I have seen it used by several unrelated companies.

Prior to WWII the US had the reputation of being the finest high tech manufacturing country in the world. Swiss watches were cheap back then about like a Timex. Top american watches kept like a minute a year, note that an Officially Certified Swiss Chronometer keeps a minute a month.

We chose, or rather, our politicians chose to knock down the tariffs on things like cameras, watches, and bicycles so that Germany & Japan could sell to us cheaply and rebuild their economies, and the European countries could repay their war loans. As a result instead of 90% of the American economy being in manufacturing as it was at the end of WWII only about 10% is now. The US won all its wars from the Civil War through the Korean war due to its industrial base. We no longer have that industrial base. At 67, I hope I will be dead before it matters.

 

[Dante_Stella]

Swiss watches were cheap back then about like a Timex. Top american watches kept like a minute a year, note that an Officially Certified Swiss Chronometer keeps a minute a month.

"Swiss Made," as it appears in tiny letters on any Swiss watch, is an artifact of almost 100 years ago. The United States Congress decided that the country of origin must appear on the dial of "cheapo" Swiss pocketwatches. There was a lot of artifice in hiding it in scrollwork and skeltonized faces. It persists today only out of tradition. The Swiss, of course, have made a business of buying other brands (like Hamilton in the U.S.A, Panerai in Italy, etc.), and selling under their names. Rolex, in fact, started as a Swiss satellite office of a British company.

Dante