james holdsworth
Consulting Biologist
I don't have a problem at all with any similarities, although I would never consider Maven anything more than rebranders of Kamakura products.
They are not optics designers or builders - full stop.
* And I would extend this 'scorn' to some of the bigger labels, like Zeiss and the Terra - no doubt almost entirely Kamakura - but, at least, Zeiss did handle the optical design and spec. the glass.
This is just a personal irritant of mine and reminds me of automotive 'companies' that build knock-offs of classic cars and call it something else, or tuners that put wings and turbos on sportcars and rebrand them as a 'new' car.
Some of this goes to what Jan has said for years - this sort of thing is great for the consumer but bad for optics companies that invest heavily in R & D, to bring us the innovations we, and the rest of the bino. world have benefited from. With competitors able to make clones and copies for half the cost of an alpha [as they have zero R&d to pay for], then premium brand companies are forced to go the same route.
As I said, great for the buyers but a bit sad that Zeiss now makes bins in China.....
They are not optics designers or builders - full stop.
* And I would extend this 'scorn' to some of the bigger labels, like Zeiss and the Terra - no doubt almost entirely Kamakura - but, at least, Zeiss did handle the optical design and spec. the glass.
This is just a personal irritant of mine and reminds me of automotive 'companies' that build knock-offs of classic cars and call it something else, or tuners that put wings and turbos on sportcars and rebrand them as a 'new' car.
Some of this goes to what Jan has said for years - this sort of thing is great for the consumer but bad for optics companies that invest heavily in R & D, to bring us the innovations we, and the rest of the bino. world have benefited from. With competitors able to make clones and copies for half the cost of an alpha [as they have zero R&d to pay for], then premium brand companies are forced to go the same route.
As I said, great for the buyers but a bit sad that Zeiss now makes bins in China.....
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