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Author Topic: Made in the USA?  (Read 11424 times)

gwhitf

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Made in the USA?
« on: December 10, 2009, 09:47:14 am »

I watched Obama on television early this morning, as he swung through the DriveThru Window at the PhaseOne factory, to pick up his P65+ in person, and I began to wonder, "Is anything in our industry actually made in the United States any longer?" I guess if this was 1965 or so, that Phase One back would have a Zenith sticker on it, or RCA, or Delco. But I look around, and I see Canon, Nikon, Phase, Rollei, Sony, Ricoh, Sinar, Arca, Alpa, none of which are US companies. I guess you could count Kodak, but do they actually make anything, or do they just distribute?

I think USA, and all I can count are that weird little White Lightning company, and maybe RRS in San Luis Obispo, but who knows where there stuff is actually manufactured? What the hell do we do in the USA any more, just watch "Dancing With The Stars"? Is that our only product any more: Reality Television? It just makes you wonder.
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jecxz

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Made in the USA?
« Reply #1 on: December 10, 2009, 09:53:25 am »

Quote from: gwhitf
What the hell do we do in the USA any more, just watch "Dancing With The Stars"? Is that our only product any more: Reality Television? It just makes you wonder.

We've become a nation of consumers, things will swing back. Difficult to compete with less expensive labor and fewer regulations in other countries.

Kind regards,
Derek
« Last Edit: December 10, 2009, 11:28:50 am by jecxz »
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TMARK

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Made in the USA?
« Reply #2 on: December 10, 2009, 10:01:56 am »

Chimera is made in USA.  As are Mathews and American grip gear. Adobe and Apple software.

The US gave iup consumers goods years ago in favor of the promise of information worker jobs, you know, manufacturing content like Dancing with the Stars, or spreadsheets.
Where the US stil excells in manufacturing are:

Guns
Missles
Robots
Precision Machine tools
Chemicals
Guns
Tanks
Nuclear reactors
Complex shipbuilding
Aircraft
Oil and gas exploration equipment
electronic guidence and detection equipment
Pharma

You know, it looks like we only manufacture National Security/Strategic goods in the US.  Its all good.  I'm going to watch Biggest Loser and veg on the couch.
Quote from: gwhitf
I watched Obama on television early this morning, as he swung through the DriveThru Window at the PhaseOne factory, to pick up his P65+ in person, and I began to wonder, "Is anything in our industry actually made in the United States any longer?" I guess if this was 1965 or so, that Phase One back would have a Zenith sticker on it, or RCA, or Delco. But I look around, and I see Canon, Nikon, Phase, Rollei, Sony, Ricoh, Sinar, Arca, Alpa, none of which are US companies. I guess you could count Kodak, but do they actually make anything, or do they just distribute?

I think USA, and all I can count are that weird little White Lightning company, and maybe RRS in San Luis Obispo, but who knows where there stuff is actually manufactured? What the hell do we do in the USA any more, just watch "Dancing With The Stars"? Is that our only product any more: Reality Television? It just makes you wonder.
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CBarrett

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Made in the USA?
« Reply #3 on: December 10, 2009, 10:02:29 am »

Speedotron baby!

Wait, is that made here?  I know they're headquartered in Chi-town.

And, uh... I use Profoto.

But Speedo... good, kick the crap out of it, workhorse American strobe.
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TMARK

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Made in the USA?
« Reply #4 on: December 10, 2009, 10:03:57 am »

Quote from: CBarrett
Speedotron baby!

Wait, is that made here?  I know they're headquartered in Chi-town.

And, uh... I use Profoto.

But Speedo... good, kick the crap out of it, workhorse American strobe.

They work and work but the only times I've been shocked was when using a Speedotron!
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gwhitf

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Made in the USA?
« Reply #5 on: December 10, 2009, 10:04:07 am »

I guess there was Deardorff in Chicago at one time. Maybe now serviced in Cleveland, Tennessee.

And there's Mr. Gowland out in in Malibu, but certainly not mass-market.

And I guess Dr. Land, with Polaroid at one time, in Boston.

The list is short. I guess the USA reached the point where the paid hourly wage simply made it not economical to build anything here. So the USA becomes The Giant Consumer, but not the producer.
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Kim Bentsen

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Made in the USA?
« Reply #6 on: December 10, 2009, 10:08:40 am »

My vest is U.S. made: http://www.vestedinterest.com/
B&H is also made in the U.S.A  
Photoshop should not be forgotten.
___


Quote from: gwhitf
I watched Obama on television early this morning, as he swung through the DriveThru Window at the PhaseOne factory, to pick up his P65+ in person, and I began to wonder, "Is anything in our industry actually made in the United States any longer?" I guess if this was 1965 or so, that Phase One back would have a Zenith sticker on it, or RCA, or Delco. But I look around, and I see Canon, Nikon, Phase, Rollei, Sony, Ricoh, Sinar, Arca, Alpa, none of which are US companies. I guess you could count Kodak, but do they actually make anything, or do they just distribute?

I think USA, and all I can count are that weird little White Lightning company, and maybe RRS in San Luis Obispo, but who knows where there stuff is actually manufactured? What the hell do we do in the USA any more, just watch "Dancing With The Stars"? Is that our only product any more: Reality Television? It just makes you wonder.
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gwhitf

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Made in the USA?
« Reply #7 on: December 10, 2009, 10:12:18 am »

Quote from: TMARK
They work and work but the only times I've been shocked was when using a Speedotron!

Remember the old Norman P2000 packs? I've blown up ten or twelve of them. You're working away; you stop to change the power on the pack; you turn it off; you discharge it; you think the transformers are empty; you change heads; and then BAM!!, and the entire studio looks like a Pillow Fight, when those capacitors blow up and shoot the paper packing out the vents of the packs. Nothing like standing directly over one when it blows up; the sound is literally deafening.

No idea if Norman is/was USA made; they were in Burbank when I'd drive there to pick them up from service.
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BJNY

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Made in the USA?
« Reply #8 on: December 10, 2009, 10:12:40 am »

Lightware (Colorado)
Tenba (Brooklyn)
Versa-Flex (Ohio)
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Guillermo

TMARK

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Made in the USA?
« Reply #9 on: December 10, 2009, 10:14:00 am »

Quote from: gwhitf
I guess there was Deardorff in Chicago at one time. Maybe now serviced in Cleveland, Tennessee.

And there's Mr. Gowland out in in Malibu, but certainly not mass-market.

And I guess Dr. Land, with Polaroid at one time, in Boston.

The list is short. I guess the USA reached the point where the paid hourly wage simply made it not economical to build anything here. So the USA becomes The Giant Consumer, but not the producer.

This happened in Europe as well, but they still manage to produce precision goods.  A policy choice was made that favored retaining manufacturing jobs, maybe the bad memories from the pre war depression and the subsequent dismantling of Continental society and institutions.  While the US was, post war, a true believer in free trade, Europe and Japan NEVER truly drank the free trade Kool Aid.  The EEC/EC/EU were/are a trade block designed to free up a domestic European market, and Continental sensibilities prevailed.  Thus, the tradition of skilled tradesmen manufacturing quality consumer products still exists.

Domke Bags are USA!
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TMARK

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Made in the USA?
« Reply #10 on: December 10, 2009, 10:20:52 am »

Quote from: gwhitf
Remember the old Norman P2000 packs? I've blown up ten or twelve of them. You're working away; you stop to change the power on the pack; you turn it off; you discharge it; you think the transformers are empty; you change heads; and then BAM!!, and the entire studio looks like a Pillow Fight, when those capacitors blow up and shoot the paper packing out the vents of the packs. Nothing like standing directly over one when it blows up; the sound is literally deafening.

No idea if Norman is/was USA made; they were in Burbank when I'd drive there to pick them up from service.

Funny!  Lately I saw a Dynalite explode, or rather, I heard it, tried to ignore it, but the smoke made be come and check it out.  We were shooting video and the client was doing a stills shoot in the next conference room.  We're recoding sound on the Nagra-D when we hear the boom!  

Knock on wood, but the only time I've had a problem with the Profotos was when an assistant set one down into two inches of water.
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gwhitf

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Made in the USA?
« Reply #11 on: December 10, 2009, 10:25:31 am »

Quote from: TMARK
Thus, the tradition of skilled tradesmen manufacturing quality consumer products still exists.

The skilled tradesmen that I see in my town usually show up in a wrinkled Led Zeppelin t-shirt, smelling of last night's beer. Hair is sticking up, they've got the Plumber's Crack jeans on, and when they hand you The Estimate Form, you have to squint to decipher the handwriting style. Usually, their name is Darryl, and the standard response is "Yeah, I heard dat!", and then you hear them mutter something to their buddy about the concert this weekend and when the PO-lice showed up.
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ddk

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Made in the USA?
« Reply #12 on: December 10, 2009, 10:28:57 am »

Quote from: TMARK
Chimera is made in USA.  As are Mathews and American grip gear. Adobe and Apple software.

The US gave iup consumers goods years ago in favor of the promise of information worker jobs, you know, manufacturing content like Dancing with the Stars, or spreadsheets.
Where the US stil excells in manufacturing are:

Guns
Missles
Robots
Precision Machine tools
Chemicals
Guns
Tanks
Nuclear reactors
Complex shipbuilding
Aircraft
Oil and gas exploration equipment
electronic guidence and detection equipment
Pharma

You know, it looks like we only manufacture National Security/Strategic goods in the US.  Its all good.  I'm going to watch Biggest Loser and veg on the couch.

Unfortunately mostly made from foreign sourced parts!
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david
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TMARK

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Made in the USA?
« Reply #13 on: December 10, 2009, 10:36:25 am »

Quote from: gwhitf
The skilled tradesmen that I see in my town usually show up in a wrinkled Led Zeppelin t-shirt, smelling of last night's beer. Hair is sticking up, they've got the Plumber's Crack jeans on, and when they hand you The Estimate Form, you have to squint to decipher the handwriting style. Usually, their name is Darryl, and the standard response is "Yeah, I heard dat!", and then you hear them mutter something to their buddy about the concert this weekend and when the PO-lice showed up.

Oh, so Darryl is painting your porch as well?

The only skilled craftsmen I deal with are the restoration guys who are slowly but surely putting new copper bits on my old ass house in Virginia. But these guys are "High End".  I know lots of carpenters who are really, really skilled, but they make $20k dressers and $12k platform beds.  They are all "high end" lux producers.

The only craftsmen left in skilled trades that are not aiming at "high end, big money" are union guys.  In NYC the guys who maintain the subway system really are skilled, professionals who make a decent living, have good insurance.  Otherwise, its Darryl in the Zep shirt smelling like stale bong water and Beast Lite.

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Scott O.

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Made in the USA?
« Reply #14 on: December 10, 2009, 10:45:17 am »

How about Really Right Stuff?  Located in San Luis Obispo, CA, at least a lot of their product line is domestic.

TMARK

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« Reply #15 on: December 10, 2009, 10:47:27 am »

Quote from: ddk
Unfortunately mostly made from foreign sourced parts!

In some industries, yes.  The inputs, like oil for the chemical industry, come from abroad, but thats true for the old IG Farben concerns as well as for ICI and Fuji Heavy Industries.

Machine tools, nuclear equipment, shipbuilding, military aircraft, major components are all built in the US.  RAM, processors, etc are sourced from where ever.

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mattlap2

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« Reply #16 on: December 10, 2009, 10:50:28 am »

Not much on the camera front anymore.   KB Canham is made are made in AZ for the field view camera market.

On the lighting side there are far greater choices.  

Speedotron - Chicago
Dynalite - New Jersey
Norman - Used to be California but now manufactured in the Chicago suburbs
Photogenic - Used to be in Ohio, but now in chicago suburbs.  Same owner as Norman
Chimera - Colorado
Plume - Colorado
Matthews - California
Westcott - Ohio
Mole Richardson - California
Smith Victor - Suburban Chicago ..same owner as Norman and Photogenic
Lowell - New York
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gwhitf

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Made in the USA?
« Reply #17 on: December 10, 2009, 11:04:25 am »

Quote from: mattlap2
Speedotron - Chicago
Dynalite - New Jersey
Norman - Used to be California but now manufactured in the Chicago suburbs
Photogenic - Used to be in Ohio, but now in chicago suburbs.  Same owner as Norman
Chimera - Colorado
Plume - Colorado
Matthews - California
Westcott - Ohio
Mole Richardson - California
Smith Victor - Suburban Chicago ..same owner as Norman and Photogenic
Lowell - New York

Oh, OK, never mind. I feel better now. (Sorta).
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BJL

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Made in the USA?
« Reply #18 on: December 10, 2009, 11:11:58 am »

It is rather amazing that no-one has mentioned that the US company Kodak makes the sensors in many DMF cameras, and I believe actually still makes them in Rochester, NY, not an overseas factory.

And your PP is probably done with an Intel processor.

Is Canada (home to Dalsa) is close enough? If so, all DMF sensors are made "in or near" the USA.


P. S. RED is a US company.
« Last Edit: December 10, 2009, 11:12:27 am by BJL »
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mattlap2

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« Reply #19 on: December 10, 2009, 11:12:02 am »

Quote from: gwhitf
Oh, OK, never mind. I feel better now. (Sorta).

On the camera front ....  I don't think there has been anything in many many years.

35mm.... not since Kodak and Honeywell
Medium Format ...   Kodak
Studio View Cameras - Deardorff and before that Kodak / Calumet (The metal round monorail beasts that some schools still have in use)
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