Every Leica lens is hand-crafted and goes through meticulous manufacturing processes to uphold the quality and precision that Leica defines and customers have come to expect. In the age where technology almost inevitably means mass manufacturing, Leica products are still made with exacting precision by the hands of highly-trained technicians.
This video gives you a behind-the-scenes look at the craftsmanship and making of Leica lenses in the production facilities of Leica Camera AG:
Leica Lenses (English) from leica camera on Vimeo.
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16 Comments
This entire video looks as if every single lens is cared for by well trained technicians- that is until they showed the women moving ever so quickly with her brush, almost as if she could care less. Oh, and her clip seems like there is dust on the lens seen by the reflection. Boo…
Anna, they work like an assembly line. These folks do these same tasks thousands of times and I think you may be mistaking the woman’s quickness in what she does as carelessness. I don’t agree. She is just very good at what she does and can do it very fast.
I’ve never received a lens with dust on it. The dust you see in the video would likely be removed in a later process.
How are Leica lenses manifactured…….? Slowly.
That’s why the are expensive.
Is this why I had to send all of my NEW lenses back for recalibration with my NEW camera? Leica’s legendary precision is a myth, I’m sorry. They’re no better or worse than the other big two.
Agreed.
Their precision is legendary. But like all things human, sometimes someone has a rough day. At least Leica will do the adjustment for you for free.
On a side note, we Americans whine at the high cost of Leica lenses, and at the same time, scorn cheap Chinese labour (yet buy the Made-in-China lenses in droves). Labour has its costs, if you are will to lower / automate the quality to the point a 16-year old high school drop out can do it, you can’t make a decent living, China or US.
Great video! Is there a similar video for Nikon lenses?
Here is one for Canon lenses. There are three parts to the video. Its cool to watch them cast the glass. The whole process is quite enjoyable regardless of the manufacturer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkWsk9rXpcU
Thanks for the video Adam!
wonderful product now we know why the prices are so high great video thank you
It is very nice to see that they are making lenses…………Now………..Maybe somebody at Leica forgot to ship them?
I have to say that I have sent back more new Leica lenses than any C, N, Zeiss, or Pentax 67, new or used. They are expensive because German labor rates (obviously) yes, they do assemble them by hand and the materials that go into the lens are high quality.
One of the lenses I sent back was a 2nd edition 35 Summicron R that had a fingerprint on the inside ‘flanged’ edge where it seats in the mount. Leica wouldn’t refund it or clean it – the reason? They said it would not affect performance. Indeed, I did not see any issues – until I wanted to sell it – that looked like a bit of a blemish – it should have never left the factory but it did. I won’t start with the ‘squishy’ zoom barrels or the brass burrs on the inner glass, etc.
Years ago when Porsche had a high return rate off the lines, they didn’t listen for years to what the Japanese were doing until finally – they had some Japanese technicians come over and examine and show them how to make changes. Quality went up, line returns went way down. Leica has a bit of an arrogance issue – they could learn from examples like Porsches’.
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What would be false?
Handmade? What a load!
The lenses are all machine polished, it’s only the assembly that’s done by “hand”.
By that metric Canon lenses are also handmade:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bQ3-DWh-rA
They must think people are stupid… then again, a lot of people who buy a Leica because it’s a Leica aren’t all that smart.