Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2008/12/21

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Subject: [Leica] Re: Unbelievable
From: Frank.Dernie at btinternet.com (Frank Dernie)
Date: Sun Dec 21 02:38:34 2008
References: <380-220081251921932285@M2W014.mail2web.com> <ED92C068-0816-41B7-BA42-41A7F8C0DABC@mac.com> <494C1305.7000706@mcclary.net> <3cad89990812191723u5dc965b2jd390a505d2d2650c@mail.gmail.com> <5A8565FA-2825-4E91-B743-100E9B8CCF13@btinternet.com> <3cad89990812201836o3fed3cddob710113958b98262@mail.gmail.com>

Jayanand,
I think it comes down to demand. The demand for a digital rangefinder  
camera, however good, is limited, really, really tiny IMO. There is a  
lot of hand work involved in finishing parts made with simple tooling.  
I can not see much, if anything,  that could be left off a M8 which  
would reduce its cost of manufacture.
In the car industry 100s of millions are spent on tooling to make the  
piece parts cheaper but the volume sold means that this tooling can be  
paid for. The actual parts and assembly cost of a luxury car, probably  
best not to say the brand, is 10% of retail. The rest has to come back  
to pay tooling, marketing, R&D costs plus profit.
I do not believe the demand for this type of camera will ever lead to  
the volume of sales necessary to make a cheap one profitable or even  
pay for itself.
Nikon no longer have a range of lenses for a rangefinder camera. I  
would be astonished (but pleased) if they did make one.
cheers,
Frank


On 21 Dec, 2008, at 02:36, Jayanand Govindaraj wrote:

> Frank,
> They will have to change, I think. Tell me one thing. If the lesser  
> body and
> a 50mm Summarit should be bundled as a kit, does it make sense?  
> Surely at
> some point the buyer will buy an additional lens or two. Cant the  
> basic
> tooling already in place for the M8 be used for a more inexpensive  
> body, by
> using different materials,etc? The Panasonic tie up is really, IMHO,  
> totally
> in favour of Panasonic, with Leica charging much more for what  
> essentially
> is a red dot on a camera. They have to have in house brand  
> extensions going
> forward. Otherwise they are going to find it very difficult in the  
> present
> economic climate, where value, as a proposition, will come into play  
> in all
> buying decisions. That is why I think the Summarit-M line is a step  
> in the
> right direction. The real pity is that they were not able to get  
> themselves
> into a position of strength in the last 15 years of conspicious  
> consumption,
> as quite a few luxury brands have done.
>
> I think the company that will come out with a digital rangefinder  
> camera is
> possibly Nikon, who also have a heritage here to hark back to, and the
> D3/D700 sensor, which with its low light capabilities would be  
> perfect for a
> rangefinder. Wont be cheap, though.
>
> Cheers
> Jayanand

In reply to: Message from wildlightphoto at earthlink.net (wildlightphoto@earthlink.net) ([Leica] Re: Unbelievable)
Message from imagist3 at mac.com (Lottermoser George) ([Leica] Re: Unbelievable)
Message from lists at mcclary.net (Harrison McClary) ([Leica] Re: Unbelievable)
Message from jayanand at gmail.com (Jayanand Govindaraj) ([Leica] Re: Unbelievable)
Message from Frank.Dernie at btinternet.com (Frank Dernie) ([Leica] Re: Unbelievable)
Message from jayanand at gmail.com (Jayanand Govindaraj) ([Leica] Re: Unbelievable)