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Message: <blockquote data-quote="OPTIC_NUT" data-source="post: 3168622" data-attributes="member: 121951">In Germany, production and engineeering were tightly coordinated and controlled until recently.Now, bits of production get done in China.In Japan, they started with dozens of plants the swapped contracts all the time.Things consolidated eventually for some outfits like Nikon and Pentax,but there are special tightly controlled plants still, like Kowa and Opticron.They all dip in the Chinese well too.In China, you have a handful of huge powerful plants that produce thecream and the dregs side by side.  One thing holds true across time: the name-brand distributor's job is tospecify the design quality and ride herd over the finished product, becausebatches can go very bad if you don't put trusted QC at the exit door.Japan pretty much solved the consistency problem during the JTI years,but troubles come and go.Whole model lines have been dropped because the name-brand let too much junk through and then couldn't regain control over theirChinese factory line.  Optical quality is common even at low prices.Mechanical quality can be great....or really horrific. It can easilyspoil a great set of fully multi-coated lenses. For a worst case, though,you can have plastic field lenses and fingerprints hidden in a design thatwas awesome months before.The quality of the actual design is hard to determine from online ratingsbecause almost everyone is thrilled the first few models they use.Looking for QC trouble is easier, if the qty. of reviews is high enough.The 'one star' and 'two star' ratings, when they have specific failuresand not some philosophical princess-and-the-pea rant, can show thebad apples that way.   Things that are variable, like fussy eye placement,may also show there too (ie, a few design flaws may show).For top-end stuff, it's like stereo salon equipment: you have to make the best of the raves and colicky noisesand take it with a grain of salt.</blockquote>

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