Wetzlar vs. Made in Canada

[Ronald M]

Camera production was brought up to modern maching standard, i.e. make the parts to tighter tolerances so less adjustment points were required in assembly. Cost saving.

Some cost cutting like plastic sync contact holder which would break and elimination of condenser lens in RF thus allowing flare under some conditions.

Steel gears instead of brass were a bit rough, but last longer and hold up to motor drive.

Zinc cast top plate instead of machined brass cost reduction. however if pot metal was not pure, bubbles appeared under plating. Some cameras look like they have measles.

 

[Joao]

...
Remember Leitz moved a lot of production (SLR) to Portugal also.

Some data here (in spite of the promotional intention of the video)

http://leica.pt/multimedia?lang=en

Regards

Joao

 

[ptpdprinter]

Some data here (in spite of the promotional intention of the video)

http://leica.pt/multimedia?lang=en

The website shows the assembly of digital M cameras in Portugal. I thought they were assembled in Germany. Aren't they stamped as such.

 

[Shac]

Did they ever build lenses in the Portuguese factory? I know they did bodies

 

[oltimer]

Optics were not always improved in absolute terms, but they were improved in economical terms (the 1.2 -> 1.0 Noctilux is example where a very expensive lens design was replaced with a less expensive design).

Mechanically, decisions were made that might not have been the best in hindsight, but at the time made sense. For example, grease in the aperture mechanism outgassed and fogs the lenses, but there is this new plastic material that doesn't need as much grease and so won't outgas as much. Excellent choice. After all, why would the aperture assembly be under that much stress? It is only with ageing and hindsight that we can see the choice was not the best.

To the last point, there is no evidence that Leitz moved to Canada because it was cheaper. On the contrary, there is evidence that they moved because the company had been decimated in the second world war and wanted to spread out it's risk with the onset of the cold war. Of course being closer to the large north American market would not hurt, but it appears they researched many different regions before settling on north America.

A to choosing a Canadian part over a German part. Choose the newest you can, be it Canadian or German. There is no difference.

Absolutely correct, and remember some of the finest ever glass made here was because of the sand quality available there. I met Mandler a couple of times when he was on trips going through Thunder Bay, Ontario in the 1960's, and both of these subjects were talked about in detail.

 

[Vince Lupo]

Another interesting article on Midland:

http://gmpphoto.blogspot.com/2017/09/a-very-important-part-of-leica-history.html

I like the fact that they chose Midland because it had the same number of letters as Wetzlar!

I had the good fortune to visit the plant back in 1993. I had done a test comparison/analysis of Leica 50mm lenses in 3rd Year undergrad tech at Ryerson in Toronto, and I sent a copy of it to Midland. Conrad Stenton, the chief technologist there at the time (when it was Hughes Leitz Optical Technologies), was very appreciative of the report I sent him and he invited me up there for a personal tour. It was a rare treat indeed.

 

[CameraQuest]

Leica Canada saved Leica Germany by keeping the M system alive

\https://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62799

something that is curiously missing from official Leica histories ....

 

[kiemchacsu]

Thanks for provide more information about historical aspect of Leica.

Another interesting article on Midland:

http://gmpphoto.blogspot.com/2017/09/a-very-important-part-of-leica-history.html

I like the fact that they chose Midland because it had the same number of letters as Wetzlar!

I had the good fortune to visit the plant back in 1993. I had done a test comparison/analysis of Leica 50mm lenses in 3rd Year undergrad tech at Ryerson in Toronto, and I sent a copy of it to Midland. Conrad Stenton, the chief technologist there at the time (when it was Hughes Leitz Optical Technologies), was very appreciative of the report I sent him and he invited me up there for a personal tour. It was a rare treat indeed.

 

[Shac]

Many thanks Vince for the link - very interesting read
David

 

[Beemermark]

The reason for cost cutting during the time frame of moving to Canada had absolutely nothing to due with Canada itself. Leitz was in very poor economic straits due to the rise in popularity of the SLR and disaster that was the M5.

 

[jsrockit]

Snobs prefer [blank] but

 

[robert blu]

interesting links and infos, thanks you all
robert