[Leica] DMR dead end?

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

Great, Rick. Pay $4K for digital because you want to shoot digital and
Leica, and then have it go belly up and be told, 'well, it's backwards
compatible, you can always shoot film.' Sounds allot like telling
someone who bought a model T they could always use a horse to pull it if
the engine died. :-)



-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
Rick Dykstra
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2005 6:24 AM
To: Leica Users Group
Subject: Re: [Leica] DMR dead end?


Certainly food for thought.  One thought is, the DMR truly represents 
Leica's commitment to backwards compatibility.  If the manufacturer 
goes completely tits up, just use film!  Try that with a digital from 
Canikonoltashikatax!   Try saying Canikonoltashikatax, late at night.  
:-(

Rick.

On 22/02/2005, at 7:12 PM, David Teo wrote:

> Hi
>
> To me, the DMR is definitely a dead end, factoring in the recent bad
> financial state of Leica.
>
> Buying a DMR is not the same as buying a new MP today, the latter
> being almost guaranteed to work for decades to come, dust in 
> viewfinder not withstanding :) Even if Leica goes belly up, there's 
> always DAG or Sherry to give that MP the overhaul it needs to get it 
> working for the next decade or so. Who is going to repair your DMR or 
> service it if Leica goes bust tomorrow? It doesn't help that Leica's 
> history with electronics is suspect at best. Where are you going to 
> get the new firmware updates from?
>
> All of Leica's current digital offerings are made by Panasonic. With
> the DMR, it is Imacon and Kodak. What if that relationship sours? You 
> will be left with no more improvements to the DMR. Look at Nikon - 
> their sensors come from Sony and they are unable to produce updated 
> versions of their aging D100 nor offer a higher megapixel count D2h. 
> This is very likely a sensor availability problem. Canon, which has 
> inhouse R&D work on their own sensors, is able to produce 4 different 
> sensors within the span of a single year for each of their DSLRs.
>
> All it takes is for Imacon to pull the plug and Leica will be left
> with no digital future. The future doesn't look too bright. And the 
> continual delay of the release of the DMR is not confidence inspiring.
>
> Btw I'm just wondering, is DAG or Sherry or any of the reputed Leica
> repair persons training up new apprentices? This would be a good time 
> I think, to train up a new generation of camera repair people 
> specializing in Leica equipment. Provided of course, with the highly 
> educated youngsters today, there are still some of them willing to 
> take up the job :)
>
> ----------
> David Teo
>
>
> On 22-Feb-05, at AM 02:06, B. D. Colen wrote:
>
>> Right...So a brand spanking new, state-of-today's-art, high speed, 8
>> mpg
>> autofocus DSLR built for service in Iraq and Afganistan, with a 1.3
>> magnification factor - oh, that will take R lenses - from a very 
>> healthy
>> manufacturer for under $4K, v. a $4K+ digital BACK for a manual SLR 
>> from
>> a manufacturer who may not be around tomorrow? Buy up Ms and Rs while
>> you can? Sure. But DMR? That makes a great deal of sense - only to
>> someone with Red Dots where their eyes, heart, and brain are supposed

>> to
>> be. ;-)
>
> _______________________________________________
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>

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