[Leica] Re: Digital M

[gregj.lorenzo at shaw.ca (GREG LORENZO)]

It?s been my experience that you generally get what you pay for in life when 
you purchase something. Be it an automobile, home appliance, stereo 
equipment, beer, cigar, camera or lens. Leica charges more not only because 
the market for their goods is small, but also because they offer products 
which are unsurpassed in their fit and finish and optical quality. Perhaps 
less so today with automated manufacturing processes; but still to a 
standard unattainable by the mass-produced Canon's and Nikon's.

Regards,

Greg

----- Original Message -----
From: Frank Dernie <Frank.Dernie@btinternet.com>
Date: Tuesday, July 13, 2004 1:44 pm
Subject: Re: [Leica] Re: Digital M

> BD,
> I am an engineer with a reasonable knowledge of manufacturing 
> processes 
> and costs. The main reason for the high cost of Leica items is 
> that 
> their market is so small. Canon can recover the design and tooling 
> costs of a lens over probably hundreds more units than Leica can.
> To put this in perspective a good quality road car production cost 
> is 
> about $4000, a Champ car (Indy car) about $400,000 and a Formula 1 
> (World Championship) car about $25,000,000. There is a 
> considerable 
> technological difference but the main reasons for these vast 
> difference 
> in costs are the quantity of units over which engineering and 
> tooling 
> costs are amortised.
> Leica lenses are sold in too few numbers to be inexpensive without 
> bankrupting the company. And you have to pay a premium for the 
> brand, 
> like cars :-)
> Frank
> 
> 
> On 13 Jul, 2004, at 19:39, B. D. Colen wrote:
> 
> > There is no question that the M and Rs are extremely well built -
> the 
> > Ms
> > are probably the best built modern cameras. And the lenses have 
> no 
> > peers
> > in terms of build quality. However...Is the build quality of an 
> MP five
> > times better than that of a Bessa R2? I don't think so. Much better?
> > Absolutely! Twice as good? Not a doubt. Three times as good? 
> Probably?> But five times better? I seriously doubt it - and yet 
> the MP is five
> > times the price. Is the build quality of the old Summilux 50 
> almost 
> > five
> > times better than that of the Cosina Nokton 50 1.5? No chance in 
> hell.> Twice as good? Even that's a stretch, but I'll grant that. 
> Image> quality? It's pretty much a dead heat. Yet the Summilux 
> cost almost 
> > five
> > times as much. Why? The red dot.
> >
> > Is the DigiII 33 % better built, or does it produce 33% better 
> images> than the Panasonic version of the same camera? How could 
> it possibly -
> > it's the same damn camera but black and without a red dot.
> >
> > Leica equipment is stellar - but please don't tell me you're not 
> paying> a huge premium for the name and red dot. :-)
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org
> > [lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
> > Peterson Arthur G NSSC
> > Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2004 12:13 PM
> > To: 'Leica Users Group'
> > Subject: RE: [Leica] Re: Digital M
> >
> >
> >
> > I do not think the prices of Leica cameras and lenses are not
> > "reasonable." They are built like no others, and the prices are
> > "reasonable" for what you get.  You can buy many Toyotas, or even
> > several very fine Mercedes Benzes, for the price of a single
> > Rolls-Royce.
> >
> > Art Peterson
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Felix Lopez de Maturana [fmaturana@euskalnet.net]
> > Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2004 11:51
> > To: lug@leica-users.org
> > Subject: [Leica] Re: Digital M
> >
> >
> >> I don't know that I call fine-tuning lenses innovative, David. Yes,
> >> they produce stunning lenses; absolutely no question about it. 
> But the
> >> reality is that Canon also produces some stunning lenses, and even
> >> Nikon produces a few. ;-) There's nothing really "innovative" 
> about 
> >> it.
> >
> >> Now, if they found a way to produce stunning lenses at far 
> lower cost,
> >> that would be innovative. ;-)
> >
> > May be the problem of Leica is that, probably due to the size and
> > management of the company, Leica cannot achieve the production of
> > stunning lenses not at a lower cost,  this may be mathematically
> > impossible, but at a reasonable price. A "standard" lens like 
> the new
> > 50mm ASPH is merely out of reason at the price is offered. I can 
> buy 
> > two
> > excellent Canon L lenses for this price. Probably a problem of 
> efficacy> of the company that will disappear if this situation 
> remains.>
> > Felix
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > _______________________________________________
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> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
> 
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