Re: M use

["Lucien_vD@compuserve.com" <Lucien_vD@compuserve.com>]

Oddmund wrote:

>My Contax cameras are also rather expensive, but they have been develope=
d
>quite recently, and Kyocera needs to amortize them. Leica Camera are
>squeezing the juice out of a 50 years old lemon, riding upon a legend.
>Collectors are maintaining this system, and hundreds of Leica cameras ar=
e
>dying in show-cases. Thus a lot of young, talented photographers cannot
>access the Leica Karma. What a waste...

I can't agree with that.
A NIKON F5 made in the same condition and in the same quantity
as a R8 or a M6 will cost much more.
You may also compare the finish of a 80-200/4 and the Nikkor 80-200/2,8.
(OK, this not fair, not the same opening, but same price)
And Leica is currently spending a lot of money in R&D for
those wonderful new lenses, which at the end make the difference.
(and which are THE reason why we are buying Leica and not the price !!)
Are you sure that without the collectors, Leica will still be alive ?
I like very much the collectors because they are paying the R&D for me,
by buying old those "Eine stuck Leica", "Colombus" etc...
and also because they restrain Leica from changing the M6 to much
(together with users, I know !).
We are lucky that Leica is still here, they almost died during the 70's.
(The Belgian importer was giving M4's for 450$ in 1975)  =

Thanks to the collectors maybe... (LHSA was born in the early 70's)
Who is collecting now the Canon AE1, Nikkormat etc..

And in Belgium it is not so difficult for a "young, talented photographer=
"
to
fing a good user M3 for the price of a second hand FM2. And there are som=
e
people here
who can make a CLA of a M camera for less than 100$.
And there are so many second hand accessories (hoods, filters etc..) easy=

to find,
specially for the 35/2-M, if you don't need them the same day of course.

And if it is so easy to make a M6, a Summilux ASPH. etc.. for less money,=

I'm wondering
why Nikon, Kyocera or Canon are not doing it.
Kyocera who can't even include a lens hood in a 90/2,8 for the Contax G.
(or a aperture ring,
or a depth of field mark)
The same for Nikon for the 85/1,8, 80-200/2,8 etc...(except for the
aperture ring)
And those separate lens hood (or even filter Contax G, Nikon UV + POL.
etc..)
are not really cheaper than the Leica's. And you have to buy them
separately.

Regarding the base plate, it is true that they are to expensive,
but it is still possible to order a base plate for the M3 at the same pri=
ce
!
Try to order something for a Nikon or a Canon of 1960 or 70 or 80 (maybe)=

?!?

N.B. To be honest, Nikon items are much more expensive in Europe than in
U.S.A. which is not the =

case for Leica's anymore (without rebate).
And using a Nikon AF with its weakness, there is no AF Leica! (Where is t=
he
Correfot ?)

Welcome home Oddmund,

Lucien
BELGIUM