[Leica] URL: WSJ on Leica

[Geoff Hopkinson]

Frank where did you get the information that the competitor companies are
huge by comparison?
Just anecdotally (as are your comments on this topic) my understanding is
that the S system has continued to grow as a portion of the tiny medium
format digital market and that Hasselblad are by no means much larger than
Leica Camera. At least that is what one of their senior executives stated
at a presentation I attended here some time ago.
Happy to have you refute that if you have some numbers that prove the
contrary.

Leica Camera is certainly continuing to develop new lenses and a very
significant upgrade to the S (typ 006) in the form of the soon to arrive S
(typ 007). That camera in specification at least has some superior
performance areas to anything else current. It will also have its own
unique sensor rather than the unit used by all competitors currently. The
investment in developing that alone would have to have been significant.
Estimated release date and pricing are on the B&H website too. Late last
year here the national boss told me that development was perhaps 70%
complete at that time.

What I can say from direct experience (some 10,000 frames so far with my
S2) is that the lenses I have are the best that I have ever used and
superior in performance to every one of my late model M lenses too (as they
should be of course).
--------- Forwarded message ----------
From: John McMaster <john at mcmaster.co.nz>
To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
Cc:
Date: Sun, 15 Mar 2015 18:59:06 +0000
Subject: Re: [Leica] URL: WSJ on Leica
When it was released the competitors were Hasselblad and Mamiya/PhaseOne -
neither are that big a company. The cost of ownership was similar across
all three, the S may have been cheaper but with more expensive lenses. It
is only since then that the Pentax 645D/Z has been released at a lower cost
but the lenses are not in the same league. The S lens range has been
expanded far quicker than the Hasselblad H range was and AFAIK the Leica
lenses are better in each equivalent focal length....

john

-----Original Message-----

The cost of developing a new product such as the S family, with all the
lenses,  is enormous.  They are charging an equally enormous (competitive
pricing issue for the same functionality) amount for each item.

Their competitors are huge ( company to company comparison), charging
substantially less for the same functionality, and had  a large established
base.  They discount heavily.  They are widely represented in the
marketplace.  Leica is none of these.


Frank Filippone
Red735i at verizon.net

Cheers
Geoff
http://www.pbase.com/hoppyman