[Leica] Say Hello to Hermes Leica -- THE Photog's FashionStatement

[bdcolen at earthlink.net (B. D. Colen)]

Of course he has an axe to grind; but he has made some very good points
none the less.

And I would suggest that Leica was a serious pro camera manufacturer -
perhaps THE serious pro camera manufacturer - that due to a lack of
design insight, imagination, and marketing savvy, drove itself deep into
a niche. CV was a niche manufacturers - when it comes to rangefinders,
that with terrific design insight and marketing savvy, has made itself
into a real player.

It's easy enough to scoff at CV and say it's not Leica, but it's the
company that produced a 35 1.2 good enough for Ted to use and say that
it's the equal of his Leica 35 1.4 - that produced a 15 4 that has
proven very popular on the list, that produced a 50 1.5 that is at least
the equal of the old Summilux so many Luggers swore by - for about 1/4
of the price. And now we will see what the latest two bodies look like
in terms of quality - and what the Zeiss lenses and eventual digital
body look like.

No, CV isn't Leica. But CV may be around long after Leica is nothing but
a fond memory and a red dot on a line of silk scarves being sold for
$650 in finer boutiques. ;-)



-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
David Mason
Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2004 1:39 PM
To: Leica Users Group
Subject: Re: [Leica] Say Hello to Hermes Leica -- THE Photog's
FashionStatement


Is this the thread started by Gandy? Good lord, I can't remember. Still,
I wanted to say that his treatis seemed a bit self-serving to me. As
*the* CV distributor it seemed awfully convienient to talk about Leica's
demise and CV's future as King of all range finders.

I own a few CV products and they are fine but let's be real here, they
are not replacements for Leica and I doubt there ever will be because
that era of camera-craft is over. Certainly it isn't over for those of
us who love the things, but we really are a minority, lets face facts.
CV is an interesting company, but a niche company. Leica was a serious
pro camera builder who have found themselves to be a niche company. I
don't care who the CEO is, thats got to be a hard reality to swallow.

OK, have at it.


Dave
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