sfokevin Posted July 12, 2011 Share #1 Posted July 12, 2011 Advertisement (gone after registration) The making of a Noctilux... Leica Lenses (English) on Vimeo ... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted July 12, 2011 Posted July 12, 2011 Hi sfokevin, Take a look here Lens Porn.... I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
Holybasil Posted July 12, 2011 Share #2 Posted July 12, 2011 Having seen videos of canon's lens production I don't see much difference. I'm not denying Leica's quality, but in the actual assembly there isn't much grounds for the higher costs of leica glass. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
4X5B&W Posted July 12, 2011 Share #3 Posted July 12, 2011 Lens manufacturing techniques by Nikon and Canon would not be all that much different, maybe there is more quality control with Leica but that is not the major factor in lens cost. What Leica has always done, is use the highest quality/performance glass elements. Other manufacturers could use the identical design and assembly techniques, and still not match Leica lens performance, because their glass elements are made from lower cost glass. The difference between the cost of the high refractive index glass that Leica uses, and what other manufacturers typically use is huge, and is reflected in the price of the lenses. You can also find "no holds bared" designs by both Nikon and Canon, and not surprisingly these lenses are very very expensive. Most times you get what you pay for Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xmas Posted July 12, 2011 Share #4 Posted July 12, 2011 Lens manufacturing techniques by Nikon and Canon would not be all that much different, maybe there is more quality control with Leica but that is not the major factor in lens cost. What Leica has always done, is use the highest quality/performance glass elements. Other manufacturers could use the identical design and assembly techniques, and still not match Leica lens performance, because their glass elements are made from lower cost glass. The difference between the cost of the high refractive index glass that Leica uses, and what other manufacturers typically use is huge, and is reflected in the price of the lenses. You can also find "no holds bared" designs by both Nikon and Canon, and not surprisingly these lenses are very very expensive. Most times you get what you pay for Suggest the glass Euro is normally a very small % of the production cost. The volume you make the lens in is a factor. The patents you need to pay Yen or Euro to Zeiss for. Rejection rate late in the manufacture process is probably the biggy, e.g. if it gets to a customer, postage, admin, wash up etc., ... If you are worried you need to compare the ZM and CV costs for similar lenses, same robots, same assembly workers, pooled patents, different design criteria... Noel Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Fluff Posted July 12, 2011 Share #5 Posted July 12, 2011 Having seen videos of canon's lens production I don't see much difference.I'm not denying Leica's quality, but in the actual assembly there isn't much grounds for the higher costs of leica glass. It's not the assembly that makes a Ferrari cost more than an Audi. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff S Posted July 13, 2011 Share #6 Posted July 13, 2011 It's not the assembly that makes a Ferrari cost more than an Audi. It certainly is a contributing factor. It takes 3 weeks to build a Ferrari California compared to less than a day for most Audis. There is a reason Audi chose "The Slowest Car We've Ever Built" as one of its key advertisement campaigns for the Audi R8 (and of course they weren't referring to the speed of the car; rather they were referring to the 4 day build time). Ferrari and Leica share small batch, hand assembly as key contributing factors to cost...of course in addition to other key ingredients. Jeff Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff S Posted July 13, 2011 Share #7 Posted July 13, 2011 Advertisement (gone after registration) This review by Puts of the 50 Summilux asph contains some interesting comments regarding glass elements and lens construction (read down the page on Glass). One comment I found interesting, for example, is that the new Summilux lens contains one glass element that costs more than all 7 elements from the prior version. Automated machining resulting from advances in engineering allowed Leica to hold the price down on the new model. Jeff Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Fluff Posted July 13, 2011 Share #8 Posted July 13, 2011 It certainly is a contributing factor. It takes 3 weeks to build a Ferrari California compared to less than a day for most Audis. There is a reason Audi chose "The Slowest Car We've Ever Built" as one of its key advertisement campaigns for the Audi R8 (and of course they weren't referring to the speed of the car; rather they were referring to the 4 day build time). Ferrari and Leica share small batch, hand assembly as key contributing factors to cost...of course in addition to other key ingredients. Jeff Good knowledge - and I don't dispute it's *a* factor - but I was responding to someone who seemed to think that this was *the* key factor, where I would imagine it's way down the list. I seriously doubt the slotting together of a Nocti is the main reason for its price. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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