How can small Leica lenses make great pictures?

[giordano]

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I always thought my Olympus XA had a really good lens .... not.

I never had an XA, but did have an Olympus Mju. Nice little camera, but the lens wasn't as good as the Tessar on my Rollei 35.

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[chrism]

Last time I checked, pinhole lenses were rather small. Furthermore, the smaller they are the better they get!

 

Chris

[Rick]

The reason is that Leica actually understands optics, they think and breathe optics, it is their vocation, a hobby, something they are passionate about. Moreover Leica is not just another company Barnack, Berek and whole pile of other optics related physicists worked at Leica. If the lens is too big then the design sucks, and Leica does not want to do that.

 

Another reason is that they do not care too much about price, turnover and profit, which is slightly unusual in the current world. Quality is first, price second, turnover is useful. Profit is possible but not expected:D

 

SJP - I read here and there, so I don't know all of the forum members or recognize their names. I will know remember yours. Who are you?

[wildlightphoto]

...No-one is saying Nikon or anyone else are making bad lenses or are incapable of copying what Leica is turning out ....

 

Funny you should mention this... this has nothing to do with today's products or business models, but the post WWII photographic industry in Japan was jump-started when the Allies confiscated German designs & handed them to the Japanese industry.... i.e., the post-war Nikon and Canon RF cameras and lenses were copies of Contax and Leica.

[SJP]

Funny you should mention this... this has nothing to do with today's products or business models, but the post WWII photographic industry in Japan was jump-started when the Allies confiscated German designs & handed them to the Japanese industry.... i.e., the post-war Nikon and Canon RF cameras and lenses were copies of Contax and Leica.

Interesting. Thanks for the info. I recall there was a British Military report of a visit to Leica just after WW2, maybe they took the designs then? Anyway, the design is not the secret - being able to make (a better) one is.

[vintola]

Funny you should mention this... this has nothing to do with today's products or business models, but the post WWII photographic industry in Japan was jump-started when the Allies confiscated German designs & handed them to the Japanese industry.... i.e., the post-war Nikon and Canon RF cameras and lenses were copies of Contax and Leica.

 

There is a very interesting book about this. The author is Michael Wescott Loder and the title is The Nikon Camera in America, 1946-1953. The publisher is McFarland & Company, Inc. in Jefferson, North Carolina. It was published in 2008 so I think it is still available. There is a lot of those Leica patents and the start of the Nikon camera manufacturing. I have the book in my library.

- vintola -