Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2012/06/13
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On Wed, 13 Jun 2012 23:49:34 -0400 Mark Rabiner <mark at rabinergroup.com> wrote: "And the respect of the photographic community as a whole." I think that's a bit of an exaggeration. Maybe much of the Leica shooting or collecting community but not the bulk of the professional photographic community. But sycophants are sycophants. There is no changing that. It is faith. Yes, there is science to back up this faith but there is also science to back up faith in Konica, Nikon, Canon, Zeiss, Pentax, etc. It all comes down to the best marketing mystique. Leicas "glow" while other lenses that exhibit similar characteristics have uncontrolled spherical aberration. That's just one example. It's how a marque can create a technically outstanding product and squeeze that last .02% out of an image that really comes down to faith of what the photographer said they were using. "But of course, this was taken with a Leica lens! Look at the microcontrast! Look at the corners! Doesn't matter that I've worn eyeglasses for the last 40 years of my life, I can tell that was taken with a Leica!" But only the photographer knows what was used and if that photographer belongs to the 98% of the photographers out there serious about the craft, it probably wasn't a Leica. If it was on film, these days it probably was a Nikon, Canon or Pentax. Birds of a feather do flock together. People know and associate largely with other people that are similar to themselves. As for Leica, it's a community of people who like photography, Leicas and a bunch of other arcania. I'm guilty of this myself. But I won't say that Leica makes absolutely the best lenses ever. Especially since I can get what I view (and in a blind test, most of y'all would too) as the same results with lenses a lot more inexpensively. But Leica is counting on this. They have staked everything on it and have made a good profit and a little niche for themselves in the market. Marketing and good spin of MTF along with web views of the same test scene and a few pretty blonde Dutch girls can do wonders. Anheuser Busch doesn't sell the best beer in the world but they convince a lot people out there with good marketing and views of ample bosoms that they do in fact make the best beer. Phil Forrest -- http://philipforrestphoto.wordpress.com/ http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/philforrest