Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/09/06
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]>>>>>>>>>> I think your above solution would only make the problem worse. The R8 is not a body that everybody wants, therefore requiring the purchase of a lens in order to get a discount would be counter productive. The problem with the R8 (other that it's history of malfunctions) is that it is a BRICK. It is as big as a Nikon F5, it is as heavy as an F5, but it only does about 1/3 or of what an F5 is capable of doing. <<<<<<<<<< You make an excellent point. Just as with the M6 TTL, where sales have increased almost 25% and the public has demonstrated they want more, the photographic public is judging Leica's R efforts with their billfolds. R system sales have fallen behind where they were before the R8 and huge, heavy lenses like the 70-180 were introduced. And they're still falling. I don't doubt that the R8 is a fine photographic machine. It deservedly has its adherents, many on this list. But justly or not, beyond these adherents, photo equipment buyers have decided, by-and-large, this camera is not what they want. A while back a visitor to Solms wrote on this list that Leica sold just 2000 R8s last year. Someone else wrote that Leica has 5000 unsold R8s in inventory. These numbers have not been verified and either or both may be incorrect. But, if they're true, the math is easy enough to do. If they're true, Leica has a 2 to 3 year supply of R8s on their shelves. And how likely is it that in 2 to 3 years, Leica will rev up the R8 production lines again for, say, 6 months, to restock the warehouse with another 2 year supply of a camera selling increasingly less? I truely hope these figures are wrong. But, if they are true, I suspect the last R8 has already been produced. Larry