Re: [Leica] Trying to figure out the way to get better deals!

[Walter S Delesandri <walt@jove.acs.unt.edu>]

Really, John and others, lets face it:
If this stuff was cheap and available, 2/3 of the people on this list 
wouldn't give it a second look......People don't buy this stuff 
JUST to take pictures.....

Now don't bother flaming me, telling me that you're a poor student 
artist/journalist spending your pennies on Noctiluxes rather than 
tuna casserole....HELL YES< I know they exist, I WAS one, but that's 
not the bulk of the membership of this list, nor the NEW Leica
purchasers.  Those who purchase Leica new, from dealers (the only 
ones that Leica cares about) are NOT, for the ten thousandth time, 
in the "average" category.....this list has 700 members.....not 
100 of them are poor workin' stiffs......THEY BUY THE CRAP FOR 
SNOB APPEAL.....

For example, how many of the readership also owns high-end 
automobiles?  Rolex/Breitling/whatever? Mont Blanc?  McIntosh or 
(even more esoteric) high-end audio? Airplanes? ---

And yes, I've owned most of these things, and enjoyed them....but 
NOT new, and that's the only thing the manufacturer cares about...
Out of literally HUNDREDS of cameras, ham radio gear, pieces 
of esoteric audio, etc, I've only bought a FEW new items, and they 
were low-end, bargain basement, mail order items.....

Leica quit making gear for professionals in the sixties.....they've 
depended on the "boutique" crowd for three decades.....and again,
(Ted, Tina, Eric, others) I >KNOW< a "few" pros use them, but 
that ain't gonna float Leica's boat.....

In the last coupla weeks, several people have posted about their 
"Noctilux" purchases....these were represented (perhaps wrongly) 
as "impulse" purchases....of a $2700 (USD) LENS!!  THIS is the 
market Leicas are aimed at.....and have been for years......and 
that's the way it'll remain....to the end....which I hope isn't 
soon, but I just don't know.....many people have predicted Leica's 
demise for decades, but they hang on....I won't make a fool out 
of myself by making predictions....Rolex, Jaguar, etc., are still 
around.....but Collins radio (as we knew it) and Drake (soon to be 
history, see their web page if you're into that)...and McIntosh
Audio didn't make it.....(don't give me crap about McIntosh, it's 
as good as history, to those of you familiar with the marque)
It'll be interesting to follow Leica for a few years!!

Sometimes I feel like a damn fool owning Leica.  But NOT owning 
it probably won't change that.  I >AM< one of the exceptions, 
driving a piece of crap, wearing old clothes, with $10,000 worth 
of cameras and radios.....maybe I should sell all of it and buy 
something nice for the wife and/or kid......nah.....
I actually DID sell my Mcintosh, Radio Craftsman, Western Electric
collection and buy a house!! 

But I won't keep Leica in business....somebody else has to buy that 
M6TTL that I'll own in 2012!!

Cheers, 
Walt

On
Mon, 18 Jan 1999, John Hudson
wrote:

> At 18:04 18:01:99 +0100,  "Martin V. Howard" <marho@ida.liu.se> wrote:
> >
> >  * Leica has no interest in this.  We buy the stuff anyway, simply
> >    because X people rave about the Noctilux/75 Summilux/R8/whatever
> >    and Y people cannot resist the urge to buy one.  Besides, we are
> >    already great ambassadors for Leica's gear.
> >
> 
> This is in the same category as Rolex watches ............... ultra
> premiumn products appealling to a a very select group of buyers who will
> buy regardless of price. Don't expect Leica to drop prices any time soon!
> Pressure from LUGgers might prompt Leica to raise prices!
> 
> jh
>