Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/05/11

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Subject: Re: [Leica] word on the street - changes to MP already!
From: "Greg J. Lorenzo" <gregj.lorenzo@shaw.ca>
Date: Sun, 11 May 2003 14:55:51 -0600
References: <007401c31771$291cc340$0200a8c0@jim> <007b01c317bf$e049a120$7d38030a@sroffice>

Hi Seth,

I'm not so sure that someone in management at Leica wasn't paying 
attention. A local dealer here told me that Leica management informed 
him last year that they were considering doing with their cameras just 
what you suggested.

Regards,

Greg

Seth Rosner wrote:

>All of this stuff about M features and what should and shouldn't be on the
>new M10 - oh no, that's a tank - prompts me to describe a letter I wrote to
>Herr Cohn a few years ago, shortly after he became Leica CEO.
>
>As I may have mentioned here, I've been a business lawyer for over 45 years
>and in the process have worked with some very fine, imaginative and
>enterprenurial corporate executives.
>
>I suggested to Herr Cohn that Leica consider offering buyers the opportunity
>to order M6 cameras with whatever features the customer wished, i.e.,
>classic or TTL, 0.58, 0.72, or 0.85 viewfinders, black or silver finish,
>meter or meterless and pay only for the features they order.
>
>Inasmuch as a major cost of any manufactured item, especially one with a
>relatively small production run, is tooling, all of which Leica already had,
>and since we are not talking about an item of which millions are made each
>year, I did not believe it would add enormously to cost to set up the
>production line in such a way that Leica factory workers could build a
>camera to order.
>
>Apart from being hugely satisfying to the Leica user, this would have had
>the additional benefit of reducing on-hand inventory in the hands of the
>factory, the distributors and the dealers.
>
>Helas! I never had a response from the gentleman.
>
>Seth              LaK 9
>
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Jim Shulman" <garcia@chesco.com>
>To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
>Sent: Saturday, May 10, 2003 11:55 PM
>Subject: RE: [Leica] word on the street - changes to MP already!
>
>
>>Usefulness really isn't the basis for the new MP: it's nostalgia for the
>>first generation of M cameras.  The rewind knob, all-metal wind lever,
>>and small shutter speed dial are all cute affectations designed for
>>those of us who are still nuts about the 1954 M3 and its immediate
>>successors.  After all, if Leica had just wanted to offer a manual M
>>camera, it would have been much easier to have stuck with the M7 body
>>and simply gone without AE, returning to the TTL-type manual shutter
>>arrangement of the last M6 cameras (and likely at a lower price than the
>>standard M7--though perhaps that niche has been satisfied with the Bessa
>>R2?)The new MP shutter speed dial is just perfect as it is--consistent
>>with the rest of the camera's 1950s appearance. My only quibble with the
>>MP is that it should really have traditional vulcanite (as the limited
>>edition Japanese version does!)
>>
>>If a photographer wants a Leica with useful modern features and great
>>build quality, with the bigger shutter speed dial that matches the R's
>>rotation, rewind crank, plastic-tipped wind lever, and option for AE or
>>manual exposure, there's the M7.  With the MP, you pay a little more
>>money for fewer useful features.  On the other hand, the MP is the
>>closest thing we have to a classic all-mechanical Leica with a BTL meter
>>and modern viewfinder.  They're both incredibly nice cameras, but from
>>two distinctly different approaches.
>>
>>My question to Leica remains: now that you made a great retro camera
>>just right, why screw it up?  If the MP doesn't sell, just get rid of it
>>and introduce something else, perhaps an all-manual M7, or even a
>>meterless M camera.
>>
>>Jim Shulman
>>Bryn Mawr, PA
>>
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
>>[mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us] On Behalf Of Mark
>>Rabiner
>>Sent: Saturday, May 10, 2003 11:01 PM
>>To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
>>Subject: Re: [Leica] word on the street - changes to MP already!
>>
>>Jim Shulman wrote:
>>
>>>Doesn't sound right to me--Leica obviously went to a great deal of
>>>trouble creating an M2/3-manque camera with modern viewfinder and
>>>
>>meter.
>>
>>>Why would they want to spoil the effect with the wrong shutter speed
>>>dial--one of the very elements that gives the camera its charm?  If
>>>
>>they
>>
>>>were to do that, I think they'd have a lot of unsold $2600 cameras in
>>>the warehouse.
>>>
>>>J
>>>
>>Which are the elements which give the MP it's charm and which are the
>>elements which take away from it's functionality.
>>Some mileages differ. I happen to like the bigger knob turning the same
>>direction as the R series and I have serious reservations about the
>>rewind mechanism. The point though is which features get deemed good and
>>bad, stays and goes, we hope by it's usefulness. Not cuteness
>>
>>
>>
>>Mark Rabiner
>>Portland, Oregon USA
>>http://www.rabinergroup.com
>>--
>>To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html
>>
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>>
>
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Replies: Reply from "Seth Rosner" <sethrosner@direcway.com> (Re: [Leica] word on the street - changes to MP already!)
In reply to: Message from Jim Shulman <garcia@chesco.com> (RE: [Leica] word on the street - changes to MP already!)
Message from "Seth Rosner" <sethrosner@direcway.com> (Re: [Leica] word on the street - changes to MP already!)