why is tech cam equipment so expensive?

[Doppler9000]

Yes. I would say they are really cheap compared with other high quality small companies.
take a look:

a new bitcam II something about 1400 euro (Linhof Techno 6000 euro?),
Digital Adapters for 300 euro- others 600-800 euro?
I would say they are really cheap.

I do own Linhof Techno, 679CS, Cambo WRS and Arca R 3D, I can compare the prices.
I like all of these companies, thay all have stong products but when somebody would ask me for a cheap technical camera so I would say Silvestri is the best solution for that.
I love some Arca or Linhof pruducts becouse thay are so absolutly unique. Not becouse there is a arca or Linhof name on it.
All that copy stuff from china made for analoge large format was not of that quality that these small company could deliver. Some of them are usable some absolutly not. For digital use were the precision is so important the china stuff absolutly not usable, for example: sliding backs with radiculous cheap focusing screens, absolutly not usable.
You could alway say if they would want it theay would do it but the fact is: thay can not, whatever the reason for it is.
The market for technical cameras was always small and will become even smaller



To make big money the big china tech companies will make great i-phones and they can make it very good indeed.
But this fine hand made precision is something like making machanical watches ( swiss made!).

China is by far the world leader in fusion reactor technology. I am guessing that fusion reactors might require even more precision than mechanical watches.

It is quite remarkable that so many seem to believe that Chinese people are simply genetically incapable of being careful and skillful enough to use cnc or manual machinery at the level of people or European descent.

 

[Pradeep]

China is by far the world leader in fusion reactor technology. I am guessing that fusion reactors might require even more precision than mechanical watches.

It is quite remarkable that so many seem to believe that Chinese people are simply genetically incapable of being careful and skillful enough to use cnc or manual machinery at the level of people or European descent.

As I said, there is a degree of Eurocentric Condescension here. Ironically, the biggest consumers today of such 'finely crafted' products as high-end Swiss watches or Leica cameras are probably the Chinese. And yet, they are fast catching up and even surpassing everyone in their ability to make high precision equipment.

The people who persist in their belief that only Europeans are capable of producing very precise machine or hand crafted items are in for a rude shock. The world is changing very rapidly.

 

[Simon Barter]

It is quite remarkable that so many seem to believe that Chinese people are simply genetically incapable of being careful and skillful enough to use cnc or manual machinery at the level of people or European descent.

It's not racism, it's a misunderstanding of what the businesses are actually doing.

There is a world of difference between the high end parts they produce which go into equipment most people will never see or bother to understand versus cheap products made in a random factory for bulk sales but if all you've ever seen is the latter it's easy to assume they're not up to more complicated stuff.

 

[BFD]

Cambo does nearly 100% of their manufacturing themselves (for total clarity I mean full-time Cambo employees working at Cambo-owned machines at Cambo HQ in the Netherlands). They have a rather impressive array of very high end CNC and automated loaders and other large scale manufacturing and finishing devices.

That's actually kind of interesting/funny because I just noticed the other day that my different Cambo lens mounts have slightly different tolerances when measured with calipers as I was trying to fit something very precisely.