Japan in the 1950s - Cool Picture of Nikon Lens Manufacturing

I saw a post on Rangefinder Forum with a link to The Atlantic Monthly's site, sharing images of Japan in the 1950s. The first image below really caught my attention. It's a Nikon factory worker, assembling rangefinder lenses. Very cool.

 

The second image is a press conference in Japan. Not a Nikon (or any other) rangefinder in sight. Instead, we see movie film cameras, and a lot fo 4x5s, mostly American, if I'm not mistaken. I'm sure I see a lot of Graflex Speed Graphics in that crowd.

 

Image Source: http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2014/03/japan-in-the-1950s/100697/#img12

(Click Here) to see the images on The Atlantic Monthly.

 

Thanks to Rangefinder Forum member VTHokiEE for the post (Click Here) with this link.

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Cosina Voigtlander Factory Video

Video Source: http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=Voo3pCvYODI&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DVoo3pCvYODI

by Terry Sham Studio

 
Before I became interested in working in biomedical research, I was a manufacturing geek. I also lived and worked in a factory in Japan for a year, as part of a US Department of Commerce fellowship. So, naturally, I was interested in seeing a video about the factory that makes Cosina Voigtlander lenses.
 
This video on YouTube, by Terry Sham Studio, shows much of the lens manufacturing process, as well as some assembly of camera lenses. The audio is in Japanese. My Japanese is rusty (and was not that strong to begin with), but I can get a few of the points. They talk about how actual manufacturing of lenses in Japan (as opposed to China or Malaysia) is pretty rare at this point. They also talk about making OEM lenses for other companies. You can see from this video that Cosina's expertise is in mechanical and optical manufacturing, as opposed to electronics, which helps one to understand why they offer manual focus lenses. You can also see that they produce pretty large numbers of lenses in this factory, with batch processing of components. As always in modern Japanese factories, inspection and testing are an important part of the process.
 
I found this to be an interesting video. I hope you enjoy it as well.
 
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Panasonic Among Japanese Companies "Sabotaged" in China

 

Image Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/japanese-companies-shut-china-offices-as-islands-row-escalates-8145211.html

 
Panasonic is among the Japanese companies whose factories have reportedly been "sabotaged" in the current international dispute between China and Japan regarding the Senkaku islands.
 
(Click Here) to read more on the Independent's news site.
 
I've seen one post on regarding worries that Panasonic's cameras that are made in China may be affected. I doubt very seriously that this is a concern. If you're so inclined, you can see the debate here:
 
(Click Here) to read some hand-wringing and argument about potential quality issues related to these activities.
 
Me, I'm not worried. I have a lot of faith in Panasonic's Quality Assurance, and that's borne of real experience, both in their factories, and in their products, which I use regularly.
 
Now, if someone told me their online and phone services for customers, or warranty department, had been sabotaged some time back, I may have to agree... Sorry, that's a snarky comment, yet also borne of real experience.
 
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This I Love - Carl Zeiss Lens Stress Test Description

Zeiss Planars of Various Designs

Image Source:

http://blogs.zeiss.com/photo/en/?p=492

 

On the official Carl Zeiss Camera Lens Blog, they have posted a short video describing how they stress test their camera lenses.

 

(Click Here) to see the blog page.

 

I used to work for Motorola, back in the days before it sold off all of its manufacturing operations, and way before it became part of Google. This video reminds me of the accelerated life tests that we used to put integrated circuit packages and products through. It warms my heart to see that someone still does them on high quality products. I also really enjoy seeing the excitement that Norbert Wittekindt from Carl Zeiss Oberkochen brings to the process.

 

This is the kind of information that draws a gearhead like me to a particular brand. And Zeiss certainly deserves that attention.

 

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New Lumix Lens Site - "Great Lenses Make Great Cameras"

 Check out this new Lumix lens information site.  

 

(Click Here) to see it.  Watch the six minute video - it is a grat summary, and features photographer Bruce Dale.

 

 

Image Source:  

http://panasonic.net/avc/lumix/popup/great_lenses/img/manufacturing.jpg

This informative new site covers many aspects of the Panasonic Lumix lenses, including their collaboration with Leica, whereby lenses are manufactured by Panasonic, under the quality control and assurance practices of Leica; technologies included in Lumix lenses; the new X lens series; and lens manufacturing technologies.

Most photographers have heard that at the most basic level, the camera body is just a light-tight box with a shutter.  The lens determines much more about the image.  

Of course, the photographer is the most important element, and others, such as lighting, subject, and composition also matter. 

That said, lens quality is extremely important in achieving the very best photographs.  In my opinion, Panasonic has really done an amazing job of breaking into this well-established market.  Of course, they have been making lenses for many years, mainly for their video products.  But, their partnership with Leica for still camera optics has really paid off.  I am very happy with my Panasonic-Leica 25mm f1.4 Summilux and 45mm f2.8 Macro-Elmarit lenses.

The straight Lumix lenses are also very high quality.  The 20mm f1.7 is a great example.  While not produced in collaboration with Leica, this Lumix lens quickly became the first "must-have" normal focal length lens for the Micro 4/3 format.  As with most optics suppliers, they have a range of quality, from the kit zooms (at the lower level of image quality), up to the more expensive, more capable lenses I have mentioned.

So, I agree with the premise of the new site.  The lens does matter, a lot.  And, I congratulate Panasonic on establishing themselves in this competitive, established market.

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Click through to featured Lumix lenses on Amazon: