[Leica] Leica-Users List Digest V2 #167

[Mike Johnston <70007.3477@compuserve.com>]

 Tom et al.,
 I'm not proposing an end to the M6, nor do I personally have any complaints
with the M6--except its cost, which keeps it a secret from 4/5ths of the
photographic world including 95% of all students. I mean this literally--most
younger photographers have never tried a Leica and have no inkling of the Leica
"gestalt" that so fascinates us. 
 However, Leica is a lensmaking company, and its lenses are its true glory.
There has been a strong suspicion (no, I don't know) that there exists no
cheaper M body simply because it would steal sales from the M6 and hence,
precious profit from Leica. But things have changed since the days when
rangefinder cameras were passe and the M4-2 was kept limping along by Leitz
Midlands. Leica and the M line are flourishing today by comparison. And I
really don't think that a flourishing lensmaking company requires protection in
this way. Better to have a half-as-expensive electronic body (which would still
be very expensive, n.b.!) _in addition_ to the classic manual/mechanical M6, in
order to sell more lenses--and attract more photographers into the Leica
family. But I'm not a businessman. I don't get to say these things. The
decision is purely a business decision, and the company will do whatever will
best protect and/or further its revenues.
 It is difficult on the LUG to separate real users who love the M6 as a tool
from those who are self-satisfied by its prestige as a status symbol. I suspect
this is a powerful reason, these days, why the M6 in particular and Leica
equipment in general sells as well as it does. This is surely something that
requires protection as well (although with its point-and-shoots Leica sure
seems to have placed the prestige of the marque in some jeopardy. Again, not
mine to say). 

Danny G. >>>For me, an M6-ified CL would inspire more devotion than the M6
currently does, but I've never been dumbstruck by the M6 the way most users
are. The CL though, I love like few other cameras<<<

 I would surely settle for an updated CLE as a less prestigious, electronic,
entry-level updating of the M concept, as long as such a camera accepted all or
most of the actual Leica lenses--perhaps in a more limited range, say 35mm
through 90mm? The world is very different today from the era in which the CLE
is said to have "failed." (I honestly don't think we will ever know the real
reason why it lasted only three years.) I'm totally in agreement with Danny on
this one. It's a lovely, perfectly functional little camera--yet one that would
not obtrude on the M6's unique handmade, tactile, high-quality "feel" and its
top-of-the-line prestige.
 In the final analysis, we can guess that Solms will eventually produce an
electronic M-mount camera, and we should probably sympathize with the
thorniness of their problem. The positioning of such a new camera in their
product line and in the photographic market as a whole is doubtless a
headache-inducing problem that is most likely occasioning considerable, um,
"discussion" amongst those actually charged with the task. My own hope is that
a more entry-level offering will cultivate more customers for the lens line,
and yet not rob too many sales from the high-end offerings--i.e., that any such
development will be all to the good. I wish them well. The HM was a shrewd and
useful move; maybe they'll get the "M7" right, too.

 --Mike