Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/10/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]on 10/16/04 6:52 PM, Stephen Gandy at leicanikon@earthlink.net wrote: > granted, these are all guesses. but the fact is, that what Leica has been > doing with its SLR lineup and precious investment capital just has not > worked out financially over its entire 40 year R history. it's time to > wake up and think differently, or there will not be a Leica as we know it. > > Stephen Gandy Stephen, I believe you're over-simplifying for the sake of your argument. The most successful R bodies were the SL and R4s, and these were profitable. But what the bodies do is make it possible to sell lenses. Whether Leica sells more than a handful of digital backs isn't important; what's more important is that customers percieve a system that allows them to switch to digital, even if the customers never buy or use a digital body. People want to know the option is available. This is what sells 4-wheel-drive cars and trucks. The vast majority of people never take the vehicle off the pavement but they want to have the option. If as you have suggested Leica were to make lenses available in Nikon AIS mount, how many dedicated Nikon users would use a premium-priced lens that doesn't meter on many of the modern bodies and aren't well suited to an AF viewfinder? Doug Herr Birdman of Sacramento http://www.wildlightphoto.com