Re: [Leica]He should have bought a Leica....

[chefurka@sympatico.ca (Paul Chefurka)]

On Sun, 25 Jul 1999 00:34:08 +1000, "A.H.SCHMIDT"
<horst.schmidt@actek.com.au> wrote:

>
>I have yet to visit a Photo shop in which the sales personnel tries to sell the
>customer anything else, but a fully automatic cameras. I have never seen anyone
>yet trying to sell a Leica, unless the customer specifically for it and then,
>the sales personnel half the time didn't now anything about it anyway.

Two stories spring to mind on this topic, both from the Focus Center,
an Ottawa camera store.

My buddy Owen, who was getting back into photography after 20 years,
pulled me along as backup when he went in to get his first "real"
camera after all that time.  He had decided on a manual focus SLR
(because he felt he'd relearn his skills faster), and as a previous
Nikon user, intended to go Nikon again.  At the counter he told the
salesman his preferences.  He was told immediately "FM2n".  After
handling it (and liking it), the counterman told him to handle a
modern AF camera, just to be sure that wasn't what he really wanted.
Owen handled an F70, said "Ick", and the sale of the FM2 was closed
with no further ado.

Same store, this story came from Owen who witnessed it.  A woman came
in looking for a new camera to shoot some family pictures.  Her
criteria were:  a top-notch lens, zoom not required, no bells and
whistles, a meter in the camera, price is not a factor.  The
counterman pulled down an M6 with a 50 Summicron for her.  She handled
it for about 10 minutes while he walked her through it.  She put it
down on the counter, said "That's perfect - it's exactly what I want..
How much?"  She was told the price and said "Put it on my Visa".  I
bet the more she uses it the more she thanks that perceptive
risk-taker at the store that day :-)  Needless to say, I like that
store.  Even if they did later sell Owen an F5 :-/

As a side note, when he was getting back into it, he had a major lust
for a Leica M - he is a real fan of "the best of the best" - Cartier
watches, Montblanc pens, Macallan 18 whisky etc.  So when I got my M3
he was eager to try it out.  When he lifted it to his eye, his first
reactions were "You can't tell what's in or out of focus!" and "What's
that horrible distracting black thing sticking into the bottom right
of the frame?  You mean you can *see* the lens???  What a terrible
camera!"  His Leica letch died on the spot.

So the moral of the story is, sell people the cameras they want.
Trying to sell them what you think they need is a mug's game.

Paul Chefurka