“Now, a Viltrox lens is able to compete with some of the big brands, some of these Fujifilm lenses, at a lower price. And now, if you're a photographer, that kind of, I don't know if you quite call it a stigma, but maybe a hesitation you would have about a Chinese-made lens is starting to dissipate.”
Marketplace · Money & Markets · November 2026
Context
Kosova, a Bloomberg Businessweek editor, wrote about 'Made in China' labels gaining appeal. He uses camera lenses to show Chinese brands moving from budget alternative to real competitor after investing in manufacturing and materials.
Transcript
…kind of comes in because even though we are all using a lot of Made in China products, among people who are really particular about products they care about, like hobbyists, they still had this kind of feeling that Made in China wasn't as good. And so things like camera lenses, you know, if you're
an amateur or even a pro photographer,
you really care about your camera lenses. And so lenses made by a big company like Nikon or Sony, you wanted those lenses because they were great. Well, Chinese manufacturers started making lenses and they were okay. Like some of them were pretty good. A company like Viltrox started making lenses. And at first they were fine and they were kind of like the budget alternative. But then Viltrox started. Really investing in manufacturing and in materials, and they started getting really good. Now, a Viltrox lens is able to compete with some of the big brands, some of these Fujifilm lenses, at a lower price. And now, if you're a photographer, that kind of, I don't know if you quite call it a stigma, but maybe a hesitation you would have about a Chinese-made lens is starting to dissipate.
I sense maybe you're a photography guy. Does this include you? Is this personal experience? Yeah,
you know, this is one of those kinds of stories you write based on your own experience, which is always a dangerous thing. But the reason I wanted to write this story was I did start to see this evolution. And it used to be if you would go into like one of the photography forums and people would…
places where they can make a difference where sometimes they don't have to go head to head with a premium product that already exists and has a loyal following. For consumers, is there just a generational difference here too? I mean, if you weren't around in the early 2000s, do you just see…
More from Marketplace
