[rollei_list] Re: ALPA Was Always Perfect
- From: "Douglas Shea" <dshea@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 13 Apr 2005 21:45:14 -0600
-----Original Message-----
From: rollei_list-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:rollei_list-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Marc James Small
Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2005 9:08 PM
To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [rollei_list] ALPA Was Always Perfect
At 08:11 PM 4/13/05 -0600, Douglas Shea wrote:
>However, the first model was not produced during their "heyday" as I
>initially stated. From the Model 4 until the last 11si was produced I have
>never seen evidence of compromise in any form, and I can not say that is
>true with Contax, Rollei, or Leica.=20
Doug
I cannot speak for ALPA. I can speak for the others.
Zeiss Ikon was bankrolled by the Zeiss Foundation. It made money before
the Second World War. It made a bit of money for a few years in the
1950's. For the rest of its existence, it was a huge gaping sore in the
financial report of that Foundation, which finally, after almost twenty
years of increainsg losses, led to its being jerked out of the camera
market in 1972.
Franke & Heidecke made money until 1960 or so but lost it thereafter. On
this List, little more needs to be said. The families still have a bit of
money but not what they would have had had they cut and run early on.
Leitz made money until 1958 or so and then began to lose it. The Leitz
family were generous in underwriting these losses: other families would
have cut their losses early on but Leitz soldiered on until the were
effectively without further resources, and the present Lecia company=
resulted.
None of these three companies were under the hand of Swiss banks. ALPA
was.=
=20
I find it absurd to suggest that production economics were not much in the
mind of the Bourgeois (sp?) family at all times during heir ownership of
the ALPA concern. =20
There are others on this List who can say far more than I can on this issue.
Marc
msmall@xxxxxxxxxxxx=20
Cha robh b=E0s fir gun ghr=E0s fir!
Absurd is one conclusion that could be drawn from my statement; another
could be that it was an offhand, lighthearted remark meant to imply that
unlike many mainstream manufacturers Alpa did not appear to compromise on
the quality of their product. My mistake was forgetting that when you post
to this list it's best to be prepared with facts, figures, and footnotes if
you have them. I believe that Alpa, more so than any other camera
manufacturer that I am aware of, built the camera that they believed was of
the highest possible quality and then charged what was necessary to produce
this camera profitably. The market must have responded favorably to some
extent, for I doubt that it took Alpa forty years to discover they were
losing money.
Doug
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