Buying British

big soft moose

big soft moose

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy...
Messages
20,964
Name
Pete
Edit My Images
Yes
Now first off this NOT about grey import so lets not go there okay

completely different issue , I was listening to radio 2 on the way home and they were talking about the need to buy British made goods to support the UK economy. So I was thinking is there any manufacturer that photographers can buy cameras from (either film or digital) where they are actually made in Britain ?

obviously most of the big players - Nikon, canon, pentax, sony , oly, fuji etc are Japanese, Samsung are Korean , Leica are german (and predominant made by Panasonic who are Japanese again) , but do any of these guys manufacture in the UK ( like Nissan are Japanese but build cars in Sunderland) ?

and also are their any niche camera manufacturers actually making products in the UK ?

and what about accessories , is there a British manufacturer or filters, bags, tripods etc ( the only one I can think off off the top of my head is Darrens photo triggers business , but I bet there are other small guys out there) ?

and what about film - Fuji are Japanese, Kodak are/were American, are Ilford still British ? (as I believe they once were)

and so forth

I'm not looking for a big debate/argument about whether we should buy British or not, just a list of recommendations for anyone who did so wish ?
 
Ilford Photo (AKA Harman Technology Ltd) are based in Knutsford, Cheshire. They were bought out by their UK management after the US company that had previously acquired Ilford went into receivership in 2004, so AFAIK they are a British company.

They make a 5x4 pinhole camera amongst their films and papers.
 
I once applied for a job with a firm that made production line ultra high speed cameras, although I'm almost certain they would be using brought in components, this was well before I was into photography though
 
Google tells me that Benbo tripods are british made - can anyone verify that ?

Also Lee filters and Billingham bags
 
Fuji make and develop a lot of specialty inks in the uk. They have a big plant next door to the Grangemouth oil refinery
 
Last edited:
Are not the majority of British companies owned by foreign investors? and most of the profits thereby going abroad. !
 
sbowler579 said:
Are not the majority of British companies owned by foreign investors? and most of the profits thereby going abroad. !
Click to expand...

true, but the point about economic growth is to provide employment and have money going into British people wage packets so they have the confidence to spend, thus enabling british businesses to employ people and pay their wages, thus enabling them to spend and so on around.

anyway like I said I'm not looking for that debate as it will only end in tears - I'm just interested to see what is out there that's made in Britain.
 
If you can afford to be picky then yeagh go for british and the feel good factor... but most of the country will go for the best price..
 
KIPAX said:
If you can afford to be picky then yeagh go for british and the feel good factor... but most of the country will go for the best price..
Click to expand...

from this thread it pretty much appesars that we don't have much of a choice anyway , as theres very little made in Britain for photographers
 
sbowler579 said:
Are not the majority of British companies owned by foreign investors? and most of the profits thereby going abroad. !
Click to expand...

I'm sure for as many British companies under foreign ownership there are also as many companies under British ownership abroad, a good example would be "Swire Group" is a rather impressive example (y)
 
There's also still Paterson and Nova for darkroom stuff, but pretty much a declining market nowadays.
 
Bought my freezer from Norfrost in Caithness in the far North of Scotland, built and sold up there, also I'm just after buying a shed from a local company, shed made in York. Technology items (like phones) are much harder to find though.
 
I think red snapper are UK but I could be wrong

Sent from my HTC One S using Talk Photography Forums mobile app
 
Paterson Photographic Limited - make lighting and studio equipment including Benbo tripods

I think Uni-Loc tripods are British too
 
sbowler579 said:
Are not the majority of British companies owned by foreign investors? and most of the profits thereby going abroad. !
Click to expand...
But then a significant number of foreign companies are owned by British investors. It's all intertwined in the modern world.

Aren't manfrotto and Gitzo owned by a British company?
 
KIPAX said:
If you can afford to be picky then yeagh go for british and the feel good factor... but most of the country will go for the best price..
Click to expand...
Or the best quality/best product for their needs.

Does it make sense to buy a worse product because it is made in Britain?

Not that British companies make bad products, just that it makes sense to buy the best product no matter where ot is from.
 
Last edited:
Amp34 said:
Does it make sense to buy a worse product because it is made in Britain?
Click to expand...

That's a debate in itself :puke:

The obvious short term answer is no.

To flip the debate - Lee Filters take the pish. That film (on here) where the big boss took us around the factory was a joke. Sadly I cringed.

The whole business depended on 2 or 3 ladies working in a joke of a factory. They charge the earth because production is so slow and antiquated, supply can't meet demand and the whole thing smacked of somebody that was doing OK and therefore couldn't be bothered about staff, improving prices, the business or indeed the customers.
 
Last edited:
Amp34 said:
Does it make sense to buy a worse product because it is made in Britain?

Not that British companies make bad products, just that it makes sense to buy the best product no matter where ot is from.
Click to expand...

True , but if two products are of comparable quality it makes sense to buy the britsh one rather than supporting the polish/german/taiwanese etc economy. Generally speaking I don't mind paying a small premium for british goods so long as the quality is there.
 
bulldog5988 said:
British Company.

Product made in China.
Click to expand...

not a big suprise - i'm sure british firms have the engineering skill to built an excelent tripod, but I'd expect to find them at the quality end, as british companies can't compete on price with the far east.
 
big soft moose said:
not a big suprise - i'm sure british firms have the engineering skill to built an excelent tripod, but I'd expect to find them at the quality end, as british companies can't compete on price with the far east.
Click to expand...

And there in lies the problem. We can produce high quality goods in the UK easily, however do we want to pay the high cost that salaries and power add to the price? Most people say no, it's why many British made brands are seen as high quality now, they are comparitively expensive.

An example to some extent would be suits, you can buy a cheap one from M&S and high street stores, made in the far east, or you could buy a tailor made one from a guy that comes over from the far east (cheap). Alternatively you can buy a British suit from saville row (expensive).

While it's not clear cut (for example we can produce cars) the costs associated with manufacturing in the UK mean it is far more cost effective to produce it elsewhere. Want to reduce costs and pershare lower end manufacturing* back? Reduce the costs associated with manufacturing in the UK, lower company taxes, land rates, salaries**, and power costs. Most of which are political suicide if done wholesale rather than on an individual basis. There is plenty of British stuff you can buy, usually higher quality (outside of electronics), but it's usually far more expensive, bespoke stuff that most aren't willing to pay for.

*as opposed to high end manufacturing like satellites, missiles etc.

** either reduce salaries for individuals or automate the production line so you employ less people, which is what the car industry have done. Both of which many people in the UK are against.
 
Last edited:
Hitech Filter Systems make excellent value for money products and are based in Aberdare, South Wales. I recently spoke to one of their directors and was told that over the past couple of years they've had to take on an extra 30 staff because business is so healthy, if we continue to support and buy from such British companies our economy will get better.

I use Hitech Filters and would unreservedly recommend them, incidentally I have no connection with the company apart from being a happy customer.
 
It is almost impossible to know which companies are British owned or make their products in the UK.
what percentage of British ownership counts as British. Or how much product made or assembled in Britain counts.
 
Off the top of my head, Lee, Formatt Hitech, Billingham, Paterson/Benbo make stuff in the UK.

The Vitec Group is British, owning Manfrotto, Gitzo, Lastolite, Kata amongst others. Little if any UK manufacturing, though presumably some of the profits end up here. Elinchrom is owned by a British family, run out of Switzerland.
 
Willrow said:
Hitech Filter Systems make excellent value for money products and are based in Aberdare, South Wales. I recently spoke to one of their directors and was told that over the past couple of years they've had to take on an extra 30 staff because business is so healthy, if we continue to support and buy from such British companies our economy will get better.

I use Hitech Filters and would unreservedly recommend them, incidentally I have no connection with the company apart from being a happy customer.
Click to expand...


I have been to the HiTech factory a couple of times now and bought direct from them - staff there are very helpful and I have continued to use their products and will do in the future:)
I have also had a sneek peek in the factory whilst there:)
 
Camera Bellows is a UK company which makes... that's right, bellows for cameras! They are the usual suggested source even on American photo forums.


Steve.
 
Back in the 1980s, the BBC TV programme Nationwide (if you remember that, you are at least as old as me) ran a piece on buying British,

One family was tasked with buying a selection of household items made in Britain and another had to buy the best. Only one item was both best and British and that was a television.


Steve.
 
ianmarsh said:
Bowens (studio flash) is a British-based company
Click to expand...

Their monolights are made in China. Not sure about studio generators.

Almost everything that needs to be competitively priced is made in China; it's commercial suicide for it not to be. Even the big Japanese camera brands have factories in China, Malaysia, Korea etc, and quality is excellent.
 
Many years ago I went off to Dixons to buy a TV with a Japanese friend. The choice was between a Matsui (Korean made, I think) and a Sony. He bugged me endlessly to buy the Sony as it would be "good quality Japanese, not some Korean rubbish" and I eventually gave in and got the Sony. Only when I got it home did I notice it was actually made in Wales, but it lasted at least twenty years.

We live in a global society now where buying British (or Italian or Japanese) doesn't mean much. Companies have shareholders from many countries, companies pay taxes in countries unrelated to where they produce, workers in a factory come from many countries and the components in a product come from many countries. Buy what is best for you.
 
I seem to remember from some years ago the Chinese built a factory and called it England. So products comming from there were labelled "made in England". I don't know if this is still the case
 
HoppyUK said:
Their monolights are made in China. Not sure about studio generators.

Almost everything that needs to be competitively priced is made in China; it's commercial suicide for it not to be. Even the big Japanese camera brands have factories in China, Malaysia, Korea etc, and quality is excellent.
Click to expand...

Spot on. But you have to think where the value added is. If we pay £500 retail for a product how much goes to the Chinese assembly line, how much to the Greek transportation company, how much to the British retailer etc.

There is a classic example I use when teaching the economics of trade (figures now out of date obviously but in 1996 the accounts were simpler to interpret):

"As an example of outsourcing, consider the Barbie doll (Tempest, 1996). The raw materials for the doll (plastic and hair) are obtained from Taiwan and Japan. Assembly used to be done in those countries, as well as the Philippines, but it has now migrated to lower-cost locations in Indonesia, Malaysia, and China. The molds themselves come from the United States, as do additional paints used in decorating
the dolls. Other than labor, China supplies only the cotton cloth used for dresses. Of the $2 export value for the dolls when they leave Hong Kong for the United States, about 35 cents covers Chinese labor, 65 cents covers the cost of materials, and the remainder covers transportation and overhead, including profits earned in Hong Kong. The dolls sell for about $10 in the United States, of which Mattel earns at least $1, and the rest covers transportation, marketing, wholesaling and retailing in the United States. The majority of value-added is therefore from U.S. activity. The dolls sell worldwide at the rate of two dolls every second, and this product alone accounted for $1.4 billion in sales for Mattel in 1995."
 
Last edited:
Further to Ian's post above, I'd like to know the answer to this question.

If I buy a Manfrotto tripod (made in Italy, but owned by UK's Vitec Group http://www.vitecgroup.com/ ) for £100 from a UK retailer, that gets it's stock from Manfrotto Distribution UK, how much of that cash stays in Britain? I'd guess the lion's share for sure, possibly the majority share.

The broader point being, if we want to support the UK economy, then buying from a UK dealer is by far the best way and the easiest way to do it. VAT is 20% for a start, plus retailer and distributor margins and employment. On the other hand, buying a grey import camera/lens and avoiding UK taxes* has zero benefit to the UK economy.

*Not paying VAT and import duty is technically illegal, and is the buyer's responsibility. Why HMRC doesn't clamp down on this widespread practise I have no idea; we're losing bi££ions in tax revenue and putting UK jobs at risk all at the same time. It's madness.
 
Retail mark-up is a significant proportion of the price so buying from a UK retailer makes up a large proportion of what could stay in the UK. But the retailer pays costs (eg rent) so if the freeholder of the land is a French pension fund there can still be a lot of leakage.

It gets even more complicated when we find the largest shareholder in Vitec is a Dutch asset management firm (15%) and Manfrotto owns 11%. Other major shareholders are asset management firms that could be holding stock for investors from anywhere in the world. So whetever flows into Vitec could go out of the country quite easily depending on ownership make-up. Though, to be fair, the majority could well be UK-based people, we just cannot tell.
 
ianmarsh said:
Retail mark-up is a significant proportion of the price so buying from a UK retailer makes up a large proportion of what could stay in the UK. But the retailer pays costs (eg rent) so if the freeholder of the land is a French pension fund there can still be a lot of leakage.

It gets even more complicated when we find the largest shareholder in Vitec is a Dutch asset management firm (15%) and Manfrotto owns 11%. Other major shareholders are asset management firms that could be holding stock for investors from anywhere in the world. So whetever flows into Vitec could go out of the country quite easily depending on ownership make-up. Though, to be fair, the majority could well be UK-based people, we just cannot tell.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that Ian :) I had a look at the Vitec site and it was all double-Dutch to me - which as it turns out, wasn't too far off the mark LOL

But the broader point about buying from a UK retailer that gets stock from the official UK distributor, seems to hold good in that a lot of the cash should then stay in the UK, regardless of where the products are made.

Always assuming of course, that the UK-based retailer pays tax in the UK, and buys stock from the UK distributor. As we know, that's often not the case with Amazon, on both counts. Minefield!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top