Re: [Leica] M6 TTLs...disappointment.

["dan states" <dstate1@hotmail.com>]

Walt, the idea that all things old were somehow  better made is 
unfortunately not true.  The performance and 
life span of nearly all consumer products is VASTLY longer than it was 
in 1958.  Indeed houses may be the 
only exception to this.

I'd put my 15,000 dollar economy car against any 50's era car for 
reliability, performance and in most cases 
safety.  The electronics you buy today are FAR superior in performance 
to their ancestors!  Remember the 
tube testors in drug stores?  They were there because we were replacing 
tubes constantly.  I'm pretty sure a 
new 300.00 27" tv set has a better picture than the 500.00 25" set from 
1966.

As for leica cameras....I am not sure what you regard as a reduction in 
quality.  I own cameras spanning from 
the screw mount models to the M6, and in every case I have found the 
precision of lenses and cameras greatly 
improved!  The performance of my newer lenses is VASTLY better than my 
1950's pieces, and I don't need a 
tripod and Tech Pan film to see it.  Improvements in contrast and 
distortion are visible regardless of film or 
other factors.


You are quite correct about the reduction in real world prices!  A 
washing machine in 1960 cost 300.00.  
Today you can buy a better performing machine, that will last longer 
with less maintenance, for 350.00!
The difference is not necessarily a reduction in quality, but an 
INCREASE in productivity.  Better production 
techniques mean better products at lower cost.  (For all who will 
undoubtedly say I am nuts I will add that the 
company I work for, who shal l remain nameless, tracks the repair 
history of virtually all the consumer 
prouducts in your home, and has done so for about 60 years)

Unfortunately Leica prices have NOT followed the trend of the rest of 
industry.  Prices HAVE sky rocketed!  I 
am not sure about 1958, but the 1965 Leica catalog lists a 50mm 
Summicron for $147.00, so based solely 
on price those lenses BETTER be just as well made as the older 
units....They should be even BETTER, which 
they are.

Dan

>Thib.....and others.....
>
>The M2/50 summicron retailed for $400, +/-, in l958....
>My parent's house (brick, one car garage) cost $14,000....their 
>car cost $1350 (cheap, plymouth two door)
>
>The same house now costs $100,000....the car, 14,000....
>about the same "factor" as the Leica....the house and 
>car today are 'cheapened' just like the Leica....to duplicate 
>the same quality would cost a factor of 12 instead of just 
>8x....
>
>Wages have only multiplied (here) by about 5x-6x.....making 
>our population (the largest consumer group in the world)
>20-30% "poorer" than in l958.....
>
>Leica's market would be even smaller (to their probable 
>demise) if quality/price had kept up.....
>
>Yes, I know that we have near-nonexistant unemployment...but 
>the 95% employment is in jobs that average 50-75% of the 
>"buying" power of l958-60.
>
>And yes, we Americans consider ourselves more important as 
>consumers than the rest of the world....funny thing, 
>so do most manufacturers!!!---look at the numbers....
>MOST of the world's population DON't consume technology....at all
>Of the remainder that do, we, and our dollars, are all-important
>to world-wide manufacturers.....I am fortunate in having (slightly)
>more expendible income than my ancestors....I'm simply poor rather 
>than destitute, looking for food....most of my peers, however,
>are looking at a life with FAR fewer frills than their immediate 
>ancestors enjoyed....part of the problem is that they're uneducated
>consumers, and once they obtain goods, they don't seem to 
>take care of them...but they STILL have LESS buying power than 
>we (average) enjoyed a generation ago, when the M2 was current.
>
>The top 5% earn many times what the "middle" class did in 
>the 50s-60s, but the middle-class-descending-into-poverty
>takes a helluva 'bite' out of Leica's market...and cars, and 
>home audio, etc...and many other fields that I'm unfamiliar 
>with!!!


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