Japan manufacture vs China or Thailand (Page 2): I have 3 Tammys. two made in Japan, one made in Vietnam of all places. All work and are built ok with no issues.

starlifter Loc: Towson, MD

I have 3 Tammys. two made in Japan, one made in Vietnam of all places. All work and are built ok with no issues.

Flickwet Loc: NEOhio

The made in China lenses are not as good. The afs 24-120 f3.5-5.6 be was first made in Japan, good not great lens, the later ones were made in Thailand and sucked. All the Thailand and China Nikon lenses suffer from long term quality control and dependability issues. Never had a problem with an ais or d lens. Lots of problems with G lenses: 25-120 f4 failed zoom helical, 55-300 D focusing helical. Never had a problem with a made in Japan Nikon item.

LFingar Loc: Claverack, NY

rlv567 wrote:

Ah, but there's the rub - that does depend upon the factory location. I do not have any Chinese manufactured lenses, so cannot speak to that, but have had other Chinese manufactured products - which were absolute junk! I never will buy another Chinese motorcycle!!! And many of their lesser items are inferior quality knock-offs, sold as the real thing.

Loren - in Beautiful Baguio City

It's all about manufacturing standards, not location. Cat, Cummins, John Deere, and a host of others all own plants throughout the world and all manufacture to the same high quality. China is as capable of building to high standards as anyone else. Japan used to have the reputation of building nothing but cheap metal toys because that's all we asked them to build. Ford's diesel has one of the best reputations of any light diesel for pickups. It's built in Mexico. It all depends on what standards the company demands. Mercedes used to build the engines for ThermoKing in a Brazilian factory of theirs. Their quality control was terrible, causing endless problems and hurting the reputation of ThermoKing, the world's leader in truck refrigeration units. ThermoKing ended up buying the factory and engine rights. They enforced their QC standards. Same factory. Same workers. End of problem.

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

Look at Leica, in the past some rangefinder Leicas were made in Canada. Panasonic in Japan has been making Leica branded lenses. Portugal is making Leica lenses also.
A majority of cameras and Nikon lenses are being manufactured in Thailand. The quality is still excellent.
I have Olympus lenses made in China of very good quality.

Gitchigumi Loc: Wake Forest, NC

FWIW…. My Nikkor AF-S 50mm f1.4G was made in China. (Same for the hood that goes with it.) And, it works great, no problems. Sharp, clear, fast focus.

I have confidence in Nikon’s QA dept. They would ensure that, whoever made the lens, it would meet or exceed Nikon’s specifications. I have no reason to question that belief.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

Flickwet wrote:

The made in China lenses are not as good. The afs 24-120 f3.5-5.6 be was first made in Japan, good not great lens, the later ones were made in Thailand and sucked. All the Thailand and China Nikon lenses suffer from long term quality control and dependability issues. Never had a problem with an ais or d lens. Lots of problems with G lenses: 25-120 f4 failed zoom helical, 55-300 D focusing helical. Never had a problem with a made in Japan Nikon item.

I took a look at your website. Did you perhaps use these lenses on your jobsites? Pretty tough environment for unsealed lenses like the ones you mention...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Nikon, for example - Nikon design, Nikon machines, Nikon-trained workers. I wouldn't turn down a lens because of where it was made.

Ava'sPapa Loc: Cheshire, Ct.

rook2c4 wrote:

Does it really matter if Japanese, Chinese or Thai hands put the lens together? Ultimately, the level of quality control (including training, assembly supervision and materials) is determined by the manufacturing company, not the factory location.

Bingo. The definitive answer !

gwilliams6

bwana wrote:

It doesn't really matter where a lens or camera is manufacturer if the design and quality control are top notch.

bwa

Exactly,

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

flyfisher wrote:

Hello fellow hoggers. What are your opinions/experiences comparing lenses that were made in Japan vs China or Thailand. Recently purchased a lens (Nikkor 50mm f1.4 AF D) that was pictured as being made in Japan but then was informed it actually wasn’t. Probably made in Thailand or China. (Haven’t received it yet)
If this was covered in another thread please tell me how to find it.
Thanks to all who respond!

Country of manufacture isn't really much of a factor in the quality of most goods any longer. ISO standards are expected, followed, and monitored by most international manufacturers. It's the off-brand merchandise you need to worry about. (...and American cars, sadly. Toyotas made in Japan are less trouble-prone than those made in the USA.)

Note that Apple builds most of its products overseas, with the notable exception of the Mac Pro. I would not be concerned about a camera assembled in Thailand or China to Japanese specifications in a factory certified to meet the required ISO standards.

One thing to remember is that a company who manufactures outside their home country and ships to other countries DO NOT want their products to fail. They don't want the hassles of returns or warranty repairs. Their sales are only as good as their designs and their international reputations. So their sub-contractors in places with cheap labor either meet very high standards, or they don't get their contracts renewed.

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

"God, grant me the Serenity
To accept the things I cannot change...
Courage to change the things I can,
And Wisdom to know the difference."

Meaning that we live in a world where we must rely on others for the many things in our life. In this case, we must rely on others for the camera gear we desire and we have no control, although we do have some choices in our purchases, as to where and how they are made.

fetzler Loc: North West PA

flyfisher wrote:

Hello fellow hoggers. What are your opinions/experiences comparing lenses that were made in Japan vs China or Thailand. Recently purchased a lens (Nikkor 50mm f1.4 AF D) that was pictured as being made in Japan but then was informed it actually wasn’t. Probably made in Thailand or China. (Haven’t received it yet)
If this was covered in another thread please tell me how to find it.
Thanks to all who respond!

I think that you will find you Nikon lens to be just fine.

Incidentally, I have a few Chinese made manual lens for micro 4/3 cameras. They are of very high quality and we rather inexpensive.

flyfisher

Thank you all for your opinions/experiences.

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

flyfisher wrote:

Hello fellow hoggers. What are your opinions/experiences comparing lenses that were made in Japan vs China or Thailand. Recently purchased a lens (Nikkor 50mm f1.4 AF D) that was pictured as being made in Japan but then was informed it actually wasn’t. Probably made in Thailand or China. (Haven’t received it yet)
If this was covered in another thread please tell me how to find it.
Thanks to all who respond!

It depends on the date of manufacture. Earlier (I will say about 2015 or earlier) being made in Japan is definitely an advantage in most people's minds - today, not so much.
.

bodiebill

rook2c4 wrote:

Does it really matter if Japanese, Chinese or Thai hands put the lens together? Ultimately, the level of quality control (including training, assembly supervision and materials) is determined by the manufacturing company, not the factory location.

Yes, it does matter.
Engineering/product specs, practices and procedures are developed by the parent company.
Labor skill and local management ability to operate to the specs can vary greatly.
If the parent company closely and strictly enforces manufacturing practices, procedures and the specifications, then that is good. However, that is not always done. I would suspect that Nikon adheres to this.

My company manufactured oil well equipment. Our "mediocre President" rushed to China for labor cost savings; a big mistake. Quality of the product was poor, and more money was spent traveling back and forth to China, along with rejected parts than the labor cost savings. We returned manufacturing to the USA. The learning curve can be steep!
Quality and skill takes time to develop and maintain.