Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/06/05
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 10:47 AM 6/5/97 -0700, you wrote: >ted grant wrote: >> >> Stephen Gandy wrote: >> >> <<A few days ago I was talking to Don Golberg. According to him, the >> insides of the R8 are poorly executed. It reminded him of the "East >> German" workmanship of the Prakticas.>>>> >> >> Sorry Stephen that's hogwash and you know it! The camera is working excellently! >> Sure they're have been a couple of glitches right at the beginning but they were >> quite minor and wasn't an overall condition of many cameras. >> > >Ted, please read the original quote carefully. The comment was on the >R8's INTERNAL CONSTRUCTION quality, NOT the R8's value as a picture >taker. Don is widely recognized as one of the best Leica repairmen. >He's entitled to his opinion, just like you are entitled to yours. > >No need to get so emotional. Its just a camera. > >Stephen Gandy I personally do not believe someone can make a meaningful overall statement about construction quality without the test of time. The statement "poorly executed" does not equate to "construction quality." We all know that for a camera company to be competitive in the 1990's, what they produce must be EASILY manufacturable and repeatable. EASILY tested. And EASILY repaired. If not, business will suffer. Leica cannot afford to produce a mediocre product. The word EASILY equates to profit. Also being an engineer, I have been involved in product design for many years. The insides of most consumer products do not have visual esthetics. What's under the wood and leather in a Rolls is not visual esthetics either. But the words used were "POORLY EXECUTED." That is truly an off-the-wall statement without a whole lot of meaning. Perhaps meaningful to the person who made it, but nobody else. Manufacturable, testable, durable, does not in any way imply a VISUAL quality (goodly executed.) If, in a few years, R8's are hitting the repair shops in record numbers, then there is an engineering problem. I suspect that this will not be the case. Time will tell. Jim