[Leica] Leica Solms reports ... now new equipment survey

[pklein at 2alpha.net (Peter Klein)]

I bought a 90 Tele-Elmarit new in the 70s.  In the last few years, I bought 
a new 35 Summilux ASPH and the viewfinder magnifier.  Everything else was 
bought used.

I might have bought more things new if Leica prices were lower.  But Leica 
chose to follow the idea if you charge more, you can create a higher 
perceived worth without doing anything else.  I think they actually 
believed it.  All that stuff about "branding."  Au contraire.  Perhaps they 
could have used a lower body price to sell lenses.

Some people here have been having a great old time comparing Leica to 
Japanese conglomerates, and gleefully pointing out how they come up 
short.  Doomed, doomed, doomed; ha, ha ha.

That may be missing the point.  You don't have to compete with Engulf and 
Devour, Inc. on their own terms.  Plenty of small niche companies do fine 
because they are the best at what they do.  I honestly think that Leica was 
such a company many years ago. They still could have been such a 
company.  But they didn't really innovate, and that hurt them long 
term.  They could have come up with workable autoexposure years ago.  They 
didn't have to get sidetracked into "me-too" P&S cameras and 
O-Leicas.  They could have been in a better position to ride out the 
transition to digital.

I just hope the next LHSA meeting isn't a wake.  I still value 
craftsmanship.  I still value the well-made tool that is beautifully 
functional and a thing of beauty. I like M rangefinders.  I've never found 
a tool that fit my hands and eyes better.  I wish there was still room for 
such things to be made in this world.  But maybe not.  Perhaps the very 
values that allow you to create such an object as the Leica are 
incompatible with the modern world.

If so, it's a poorer world.

--Peter