Response to Rodinal 1+100 & Bergger BRF200

Still, I think manufacuters such as Maco, Bergger, Paterson, Wephota etc. etc. will not lose anything by stating who makes their products. It is all a perception problem: Will someone pay "my" price for a product if they knew that in fact it was something different, something that is associated as "less good", even if this it not the case? For example would you pay the price for a Leica 28-70 lens as readily if you knew it was made by Sigma, and the matching Leica tele-zoom lens was made by Kyocera? In Europe this informatin is published by Leica and can be found in the big photo journals, not in the US, probably because it will largely affect public perception of the product. In the Leica case the lenses will largely differ from the products with other brand names made in these factories, but -- in most cases -- not in the case of paper and film. Mostly the product will only be rebadged, because no company would have the cost to develop really "differing" products, nor have the distributing company in most cases the knowledge and expertise to do this. This will not make the products any worse or better and I believe that Efke, Foma and Forte make excellent products that are usually underrated in public perception. I use them all the time. It is only an intersting phenomenon that such products under a different name often get "better" in public perception and that importers and manufactuers do everything to prevent the spread of information, sometimes with success as on this listserve. I think this case here is interesting and it should give the readers of the listserve and the listowner to think about, if the free spread of information is not one of the most important values we have! Anyone can conradict me, this is not the point. But censoring me is a totally different story and I would hope that this spreads among this community.

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