Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2008/09/26
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Original Messages: From: red735i@earthlink.net: > There are 3 camps of Leica users on this list, IMO. > Pros. Pros need the best tools they can get FOR THEIR MARKET. Different > markets = different best tools. Best is defined by > the market. ( best can be the fastest AF lenses arouond, the most > accurate color of lenses, the most lines per mm, nicest bokeh, > or other > criteria) Cost is secondary, if it appears at all in the purchase > decision. They will buy new Leica products. I tried a couple > of years > ago to find out who on the LUG gets some or all of their revenue from > photography without luck. There were maybe 5 > repsonses. > Well heeled amateurs.. what I like to call "Doctors, Lawyers, and Indian > Chiefs." Disposable income is high. > Amateurs with families, retirement income, or other criteria. This group > wants the best in imagery that they can afford. This is > what makes this a unified group... image quality expectations and lack of > really high buying power. New products can only be > purchased if it can be fit into a budget. Used products are the normal > purchased "new items". > Will I ever buy a new M8+ or R10 or S2? Nope. Not new. M7 or MP? Nope, > I have a M6 contingent that works just fine. > Is chasing THE WORLDS' BEST image quality something I can do? No. > And I am not alone..... $5K, $10K, and $20K camera bodies and $7K lenses > are in the hands of Pros and "Doctors, Lawyers, and > Indian Chiefs".. and not the rest of us. If it were not for used > equipment, I would not be a Leica owner. > Frank ---------------------------------------------------------------- And charcot <charcot@comcast.net> wrote: > Very unlikely. The prices are so out of line with what most people can > afford if they are an amateur. > ...snip... ____________________________________________________________________________________ Also for at least this professional. I'm a staff photographer, and don't do freelancing, so I can't pass on the cost of an M8 (or a 5D, etc.) to clients. I need to use digital for my job, where I find myself in situations that make me wish I had a digital rangefinder, but my employer is hard-pressed enough to furnish what equipment we have, and could not justify another, incompatible system for only my use. If only our department could get an Army-surplus M8 cheap, as we did with some M2/M3/KE-7 kits back in the eighties! ;~) Alan Alan Magayne-Roshak, Senior Photographer UPAA POY 1978 University Information Technology Services University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Alan+Magayne-Roshak/