[Leica] OT-Zeiss Lenses Now Listed at B&H

[mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner)]

On 4/6/05 4:25 PM, "Bill Marshall" <billgem@hotmail.com> typed:

>> grduprey wote: "It is not a problem (that Zeiss hoods are priced 
>> separately
>> from lenses), and I'm sure that Leica adds the cost into the lens. But why
>> can't Zeiss do the same thing, since they are obviously trying to get
>> Leica's business. As far as I'm concerned, it is good marketing on Leica's
>> part to include the hoods as then you do not have to go out and find a
>> dealer who has them in stock in order to purchase one. Most do not stock
>> them and do not want to be bothered to order one."
> 
> Gene, I can't second guess either Leic'as or Zeiss's marketing strategies. 
> I
> certainly don't think that it'is incumbent on Zeiss to follow the same
> marketing plan as Leica & include hoods with their lenses. If I need to
> order a hood, I simply pick up the phone, call B&H, & they have it to me
> within a day or two. It's simply not a problem.
> 
> My point is that it's nitpicking to complain about whether hoods are
> packaged with lenses or not. It's certainly not standard within the 
> industry
> & professional photographers & enthusiasts both seem to find a way to get
> their equipment needs met whether they're packaged together or separately. 
> I
> imagine that Zeiss thinks that it's better for them to get the cost of the
> lens down as low as possible. And that means selling the hood separately.
> Regardless, it's not something I'm going to lose any sleep over. And it's
> certainly not going to be the basis for my decision regarding a lens
> purchase.
> 
> I know that it's popular on Leica forums to claim that Zeiss is "obviously
> trying to get Leica's business." I don't think that such a claim is obvious
> at all - unless one assumes that all business in rangefinder equipment is
> somehow "Leica's." For its own reasons, Zeiss has decided to offer what 
> they
> think is an attractive new product line. As Cosina did before them. And
> Konica did as well in recent years. It's just as likely that attractive new
> product lines, with offerings at varying price points, will grow interest 
> in
> the whole rangefinder sector of the market place & that there will be as a
> result more business for everyone. Markets are not static; they constantly
> expand & contract. Zeiss would only be taking Leica's business if the pie
> were a fixed size & it now had to be divided more ways. But this is not the
> case. If Leica can't survive with competition from Zeiss, it will likely be
> because there isn't enough interest in this technology for anyone to 
> survive
> in a digital world or because the Leica business plan & price point are
> unsatisfactory. Even in a world of a limited, fixed rangefinder market,
> Zeiss would simply be filling the niche abandoned by Konica a year ago - 
> not
> taking business from Leica. Not that there is much business there to take.
> Despite the absence of Konica from the market for the first time in five
> years & with Zeiss Ikon not yet a player in the market, Leica experienced a
> experienced a drastic decline in sales of film products within the past
> year. At the same time, Kyocera abandoned the whole Contas line as well. 
> The
> writing is on the wall.
> 
> Postings on this forum & others have analyzed Zeiss marketing claims to
> death, asserting, as you have, that Zeiss is trying to say that their
> product is better than Leica's in order to steal their business. It's just
> as likely - & more likely, in my opinion - that they are trying to convince
> potential customers that it's worth it for them to spend the extra money
> over & above the cost of Cosina's Voigtlander line. That's where the
> competition is much more likely to be fierce - between CV & ZI. Leica has 
> an
> RF niche that is almost unassailable. Their demise, if it comes, will be as
> a result of digital, not due to another RF product line IMO.
> 
> Cheers . . .
> 
> 
The missed big point is that Zeiss has come out with this camera system
supposedly risen from the dead not in their own traditional rangefinder
mount. But in Leicas. In their competitions mount.
So these "trying to get Leica's business." accusations are for obvious
reasons. To NOT make them would be bizarre.

The Leica M digital rangefinder "revolution" has already started.
The R1D1 puts 200 Leica m mounts into the digital ballgame.
It's smack dab in the center of the cover of this months "American
Photographer" magazine with three big black Leica M lenses. One of them a 75
1.4. And with a big article in it by David Alan Harvey who test drove the
body in Italy.
Which for some reason is reproduced here:
http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0503/harvey.html
And there's a a big article in this months Shutterbug. In some ways more
impressive than the David Alan Harvey.
Rangefinder digital photography is here now.

The nerve of it trying to pass itself off as a fake Zeiss.
We all know it's really a fake Voigtl?nder.

When Zeiss finally gets into it probably in less than a year it will be in
effect the R2D2. Made by the same people who made the R1D1. Not a big deal
the way I see it that it will say "Zeiss" on the camera.

The two lenses Zeiss makes for the system themselves are monster lenses.
They should come out with a digital M5 to balance them out.
Better yet make some compact glass for the system.
Collapsible even.
T* collapsible made in Germany. That's the ticket.

Mark Rabiner
Photography
Portland Oregon
http://rabinergroup.com/