The Leica Forte

[Afterswift@aol.com]

<<...lesson for Leica, perhaps - stick to what you're good
at, ie M6, and you prosper, spend a lot of money developing something more
advanced [CL, rumoured G1 competitor] and you could go under). --Mark
Bishop>>

Mark, 

IMHO, Leica's niche is in professional manual rangefinder cameras and state
of the art quality lenses. Leica designers may tune that line (incorporating
a color spot meter, etc.), but the moment a Leica M competes with Nikon AF,
Contax AF professional non-slrs, they may neglect their strongest market. No
matter how good an AF lens is, it can never have the precision of a true
Leica M lens. The Leica M optical rangefinder is far more accurate than any
AF I've ever used. If quality is going to be characteristic of Leicas,
there's little reason to augment the M line. No one competes with Leica for
the fastest of all 50mm lenses. [Unfortunately, I could never afford one.]  

Making the Leica M easier to load was accomplished. I still prefer a
viewfinder based on the 35mm focal length. I'd also like to see the return of
the mechanical self-timer we have in the classic M3. A centered tripod
bushing would also be valuable. 

The CL was not a very expensive investment for Leitz, it seems to me. It was
outsourced for the most part to Minolta, who did a splendid job making a
precision body. I'd like to see the return of the CL or CLE with a Leica
nameplate. I use the 40mm CL Sumacron with my Leica M3 and CL with excellent
results.

The SLR version of the Leica M series is the Nikon FM. A Leica similar to the
FM should have been the foundation model for Leica's reflex line. Now Nikon
has perfected the manual FM to the point where it has no competitors of equal
stature.  

In fact, a return to system thinking would be a Leica strongpoint. There was
a time when one could buy a complete darkroom outfit with the Leitz brand on
every item, from the great dayload Rondinax development tank, to the Focomat
enlarger, to film loading equipment

As for Leica point and shoot cameras, I still can't figure that out beyond
the obvious exploitation of Leica name prestige for the consumers market.

Bob