How to Build an M9

[ironhorse]

Video of Leica assembling an M9
http://gizmodo.com/5718995/this-is-how-you-build-a-7000-camera

[jaapv]

Part 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZv0qZ1kLHE&feature=related)

[Ron (Netherlands)]

Thanks, if you understand German you are quite ahead :p

[Keith]

For non camera people this would be a little like watching paint dry I suspect! :p

[bizarrius]

i wish my job was like this.
at least if the building and stuff were so clean :(

[BillBlackwell]

For non camera people this would be a little like watching paint dry I suspect!

I am a 'camera person' and it was still like watching paint dry. The process seems enormously inefficient.

[Ming Rider]

For non camera people this would be a little like watching paint dry I suspect! :p

I found it `almost` as exciting as watching paint dry.

[Neare]

Been looking for a video guide for ages! Now I can finally start assembling my own at home, oooooohhhhh yeah!

[LeicaTom]

I am a 'camera person' and it was still like watching paint dry. The process seems enormously inefficient.

I agree Bill.......I'm not impressed, Leica just isn't Leica anymore, seems too that the old Techs from the 1970's and 80's spoke or had a much better command of the English language, that guy got on my nerves after about 2 mins.

After watching that video, my mind is set that the M9 is NOT worth the money they are asking for it, it should be HALF the price they are asking.......

Tom

[Austerby]

I loved the background noise of loud hammering at 0.33s contrasting with the slightly odd handling of the body wrapped in tissue paper. Perhaps not all processes are as delicate as others? What could they have been doing - making Noctiluxes?

[umcelinho]

feels so... hollow.

[umcelinho]

I loved the background noise of loud hammering at 0.33s contrasting with the slightly odd handling of the body wrapped in tissue paper. Perhaps not all processes are as delicate as others? What could they have been doing - making Noctiluxes?

maybe somebody was fine tuning a rangefinder mechanism ;)

[JoeV]

Coming from a background in semiconductor manufacturing in a chip fab, I find it odd that the technicians are handling the camera parts with bare hands, no gloves.

Also, I recall seeing a video of a Canon lens assembly line, and the degree of automation seemed to be much higher in the Canon plant. Of course, volume of manufacturing is much higher than with Leica, but it still makes one wonder if there are ways to reduce costs, increase efficiency and thereby make the cameras more affordable (other than having them made by Panasonic).

~Joe

[skibeerr]

Oddly my post clearly begs the question which I am sure someone knows, where are the those bodies being unwrapped in Solms coming from? Is the M9 pre-assembled in Portugal?

At the start of the video the guy says they come assembled from Portugal.

About the hammering, go and look on Dante Stella's website, somewhere on ithere is an old British intelligence report concerning Leica.

[jaapv]

I loved the background noise of loud hammering at 0.33s contrasting with the slightly odd handling of the body wrapped in tissue paper. Perhaps not all processes are as delicate as others? What could they have been doing - making Noctiluxes?
Wagner, the Nibelungen - the Forging of the Ring. that should give you the general idea..:D

[LeicaFoReVer]

The guy made me crazy with his poor english and when he was trying to unscrew the M9 standing at the beginning of the video. Do that on a table for god's sake!

Did you see how much fingerprints were on the LCD before she wiped them off :))