FW: [Leica] How to support Leica?

[Greg.Chappell@bankofamerica.com]

When I say you said the same thing, I meant to say it "sticks in your craw"
that you have to pay the same thing for a mechanical hand-built no-frills
camera that you'd pay for a technically marvelous (although outdated by,
lets say next year) Nikon F5 or Canon EOS (just name the model, there's too
many). Mark said that in his original post & you only backed it up, in a
stronger sense, of course. 

If Nikon ever re-introduced any type of form of the SP, or if Canon ever did
the same with a 7s, you'd probably see the price in the same range as their
"techno-marvels" if only due to the higher costs, and much smaller market
share such a product would attract.

- -----Original Message-----
From: Chappell, Greg 
Sent: Tuesday, October 12, 1999 2:48 PM
To: 'leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us'
Subject: RE: [Leica] How to support Leica?


B.D., I think you just said what Mark said.

- -----Original Message-----
From: B. D. Colen [mailto:bdcolen@earthlink.net]
Sent: Tuesday, October 12, 1999 10:18 AM
To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
Subject: RE: [Leica] How to support Leica?


 A Leica M cost the same as other top
> cameras, the Canon
> and Nikon.
> It just sticks is the craw of people to get a hand built low
> tech camera without
> the wiz bang of the High tech SLR's.
> But in all other ways it is a remarkable analogy. An ongoing
> dream for me.
> Mark Rabiner

Come on, Mark...I preface what follows by saying that I think the M is a
fabulous camera...but...In reality the M is MUCH more expensive than the F5
or the EOS. For the price of an EOS or F5 one gets a solid, dependable,
single-lens reflex camera that can be used as either an auto focus or a
manual focus, with shutter speeds to, what, an 8000th of a second, built-in
motor drives, an extremely wide array of excellent autofocus and manual
lenses, terrifically versatile and accurate metering systems, and about a
zillion accessories.

For roughly the same money Leica gives you an extremely well built,
dependable, rangefinder, manual focus camera with a cloth shutter with a top
speed of 1000th of a second, a flash sync speed of a 60th, a choice of
eight lens focal lengths and a couple of additional choices in lens speed...

Is the M a terrific camera? Yes. Am I willing to pay what Leica charges?
Obviously I am, as I now have two M6s. But am I getting the value for my
money that someone purchasing an F5 is getting? I don't think so. The M6 is
the much more expensive camera.

B. D.