Take a tour of Leica camera and lens manufacturing at Leitz Park in Wetzlar, Germany

[Canon Rumors]

I never get bored of seeing camera and lens manufacturing tours from the various manufacturers. One of the more unique factories is Leitz Park in Wetzlar, Germany. This is the flagship factory (and much more) for Leica. They also opened the Leica Famalicão facility in Portugal in 2021 which does a lot of the binocular

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[neuroanatomist]

Many years ago, I had the privilege of visiting the Zeiss facility in Jena, Germany. Although Zeiss-branded ILC lenses are primarily made by Cosina in Japan, the founder of the company, Carl Zeiss, started making microscopes in Jena in the mid-1800s. When we discuss things here like the Abbe limit or Schott glass, I am reminded that Ernst Abbe and Otto Schott worked for Zeiss in the late 1800s. Zeiss' research microscopes are still made in Jena, and it was amazing to see the production process up close.

 

[Del Paso]

I've toured the Leica facility too, and fully enjoyed it.
While I tend to hate Leica's price-list, I still love their cameras and lenses, particularly the WA.
In the eighties, I was 100% Nikon, that is, until my boss sold me his M5 and 4 lenses. After my vacation in Bretagne, I took a look at the Kodachromes. Next day, the entire Nikon equipment went to a Leica dealer to be replaced with M & R Leicas.
The EOS later on replaced the Leica SLRs, since I needed longer teles and TSE lenses. But the M stayed, as a digital one.
PS: I still consider the Nikon F2 to be the best SLR ever made!

 

[AlanF]

Many years ago, I had the privilege of visiting the Zeiss facility in Jena, Germany. Although Zeiss-branded ILC lenses are primarily made by Cosina in Japan, the founder of the company, Carl Zeiss, started making microscopes in Jena in the mid-1800s. When we discuss things here like the Abbe limit or Schott glass, I am reminded that Ernst Abbe and Otto Schott worked for Zeiss in the late 1800s. Zeiss' research microscopes are still made in Jena, and it was amazing to see the production process up close.

Abbe was the partner of Zeiss. According to camera wiki, he founded the Zeiss Foundation that was responsible for the photographic optics. He appears to have been a fine man as well as scientist, and was against discrimination: "Ernst Abbe's founding principle from 1896 that world-view or ideological or confessional convictions were not allowed to be considered in hiring employees". Unfortunately, Zeiss threw in its lot with the Nazis in 1933 and used forced labour during the war. http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Carl_Zeiss
Their official history glosses over the use of forced labour https://www.zeiss.com/content/dam/c...the_companys_history_of_zeiss-at_a_glance.pdf but it appears to have been pretty bad https://ymcinema.com/2019/10/17/the-dark-side-of-zeiss/ as well as other incidents https://slate.com/technology/2014/0...ecuted-inventor-rudolf-straubel-of-zeiss.html