Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/08/01
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]> While the Leitz family owned Leica, they were dedicated to making the > best cameras. After it was sold, they were dedicated to making > money--or at least trying to. This fundamental change of attitude > colors all of their products and services. Had this new attitude been > with Leica from day 1, the Leica "mystique" and reputation for > quality would never have existed. Dear Stephen, I am not willing to join the (to me useless because unproofable) if Leica-quality really went down that remarkably after they went into the new facility. After all I am quite thankful that the new management knows how to earn money with cameras and how to survive in the market. There is still enough new equipment sold so that the prices for used Leicas don't go through the ceiling (imagine the price for a used M4 if Leitz ceased producing M-cameras back in the 80s or after the M5-crashdown [when they ceased for a while]). Our Leicas can still be serviced and the recently released lenses are a step ahead optically. And as much as I understood most of comments on that issue the usability of the system is better than it ever was. For a Leica-user things could have developed _much_ worse even if the changes in the cameras interior may break a collectors heart. The recent M6 may not be build to the old standards but at least the Leica is still with us. Leica isn't the same as back in the 50/60s but then: who is? best wishes - -- Stefan Kahlert Wissenschaftliche Abteilung Medizinische Poliklinik der Universitaet Bonn uzs13b@uni-bonn.de