That's a good point, PJ. I think, too, that there is a development cost difference between a mediocre lens and a really outstanding lens, and sometimes it is significant. A company may simply choose to produce a mediocre lens to sell to those with low expectations. I've personally worked on technology products were the goal is not to build the best, but to build the cheapest, or build the smallest, or whatever.
I've been watching my local craigslist postings for Pentax gear, and there's a lot of folks out there who built kits with (what we'd call) "junk" lenses from Phoenix, Quantary, Vivitar, even Pentax. They must've thought it was a good idea at the time. Maybe they're selling their gear because they were unhappy with the results, maybe not. Tim On 7/7/05 7:44, P. J. Alling wrote: > You've got to think that thousands of man hours go into a design, the > design is stringently tested on a > computer, everything looks good. Prototypes are built to the highest > standards, and tested. Good results, > then mass manufacturing begins... The product is within specifications > but is disappointing. What do you do > trashcan the whole project or figure if it's inexpensive enough you'll > sell enough to at least cover your costs? > It's a calculation... > > Jens Bladt wrote: > >> How and why does lens manufacturers manage to make dogs? I mean bad lenses, >> of course. >> Dogs and excellent lenses often seem to cost the same ammount of money. >> Does company policy allow dogs to be made from time to time or is there >> seroius flaws in the the company testing and quaility controle procedures. >> Does the engineers cheat their superiors? Or is it an exceptet company >> policy, that it's OK to release a bad lens once in a while? Or is it in >> fact pure luck, when Pentax from time to time manage to produce a single >> outstanding lens - like the A*-1.4/85mm or the F-1.4/50mm or the FA >> 2.8/300mm or. Well - these are all pro-type lenses - but what about the >> F70-210mm. Why is it so well made. I mean - the FA-version sucked big time! >> >> Jens Bladt >> Arkitekt MAA >> http://hjem.get2net.dk/bladt >> >> >> >> >> >
