Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/10/14

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Subject: [Leica] Re: Say Hello to Hermes Leica -- THE Photog's Fashion Statement
From: nathan.wajsman at planet.nl (Nathan Wajsman)
Date: Thu Oct 14 01:48:07 2004
References: <20041013215347.88685.qmail@web50503.mail.yahoo.com>

Emanuel,

I fully agree with your assessment of Coenen vs. Cohn. I too think it is 
a change for the better, looking at the two men's respective records. 
But I do not agree with you that Leica's lack of new products at 
Photokina is not a big issue. It is. The photo industry is rapidly 
transforming, whether we like it or not, and any company that wants to 
survive has to adapt--quickly. The M7 is not "recent" anymore, and the 
MP and the a la carte program are just cosmetic changes. This was my 
fourth Photokina, and the traffic at the Leica stand was decidedly less 
than during the previous 3 shows I have attended--for good reason. 
People go to Photokina to see new and exciting products, and changing a 
few knobs here and there and coming up with new covering for your 
existing cameras just does not cut it.

Nathan

Emanuel Lowi wrote:

> By all accounts, the replacement of Cohn by Coenen
> (despite their aggravatingly similar names -- don't
> they have any Schmidts left in Germany?) is all for
> the better.
> 
> Coenen is ex-Zeiss. He is not a clever marketer of
> furniture. He is a person who knows optics and camera
> engineering from the inside. He has a business degree.
> Sounds good to me so far.
> 
> He has worked himself up the Leica Solms ladder for
> the past few years. For my money, that kind of person
> is intrinsically superior to some smarty-pants who
> swoops in from the outside, with even the best of
> intentions and Hermes' backing.
> 
> Meanwhile, some 25% of Leica's shares have been bought
> by a group of Austrian investors who previously picked
> up another piece of the Leica group of companies.
> These are people who want to own technology-minded
> companies, not a scarf and handbag manufacturer.
> 
> It bugs me to read people ridiculing Leica for doing
> nothing. They recently released the M7 and MP and
> several new lenses. Just because Photokina and PMA 
> occur with predictable regularity, does Leica always
> have to show up there with some totally new thing, as
> if on cue?
> 
> Rest assured that the Leica M digital camera will
> closely resemble a film M, not some gussied up Cosina.
> It'll have significantly more megapixels than the
> Epson.
> 
> But like the Epson, within a few short years it will
> be superseded by advancing technology and anyone who
> buys one will feel like dumping it for the new and
> improved. 
> 
> So how many here consider their 50-year-old design M
> cameras obsolete yet? Not me, no matter what the
> market keeps telling me to believe.
> 
> Emanuel Lowi
> Montreal  
> 
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> 
> 

-- 
Nathan Wajsman
Almere, The Netherlands

General photography: http://www.nathanfoto.com
Seville photography: http://www.fotosevilla.com



In reply to: Message from lowiemanuel at yahoo.ca (Emanuel Lowi) ([Leica] Re: Say Hello to Hermes Leica -- THE Photog's Fashion Statement)