[Leica] reply to Pascal

[AINA NILSEN and/or JOHN GILBERT <ainilsen@online.no>]

Pascal wrote:
<<<<<< I guess
we might see Kyocera stepping in, and a scenario =E0 la Contax. It's not
something I would hope for, as I rather like the fact that Leica is still
European-owned, and would hate to pay those steep prices for something
that is Japanese. But on the other hand, it might bring us closer to the
day when the R will have some form of electronically-aided manual
focusing or even full autofocus (although this will be difficult without
rendering our investments in R lenses obsolete, so Leica would have to go
the Contax AX way).<<<<<<<<

Leica's been teaming up with Minolta for years. Aren't all pre R8 bodies 
are a joint design product of Leica-Minolta? If not, why is Leica boasting 
that the R8's their first real design since the sL? And isnt the R3 a 
Minolta whatever it was called (XR etc?) with the Leica logo slapped on it? 
Up until recently havent most of Leica's zooms been made in Japan? 
 Frankly, I think Leica needs a little adrenalin from the Japanese when it 
comes to keeping abreast with the times and the users needs. The rest of 
Pascal's commentary is a very astute and sober testimony that Leica is not 
surfing on the same wave when it comes to marketing. However, I do salute 
Leica for not jumping in on the AF bandwagon. Contax's efforts with the AX 
are noble, but impratical, whether Kyocera is a ceramics expert or not, the 
AX concept of a sliding inner body will, ten years from now, be seen as an 
innovative dead end. Witness the AF race that Nikon and Canon is now 
waging. It's actually ridiculous when you consider that there's just so far 
AF can take you as opposed to MF. Here Leica still stands on its own 
ground. And like Contax offers a system for photographers who want to 
think. Things like electronically-aided manual
focusing havent proven very practical, either. My F4 has one, I never use 
it. Most RX users shut theirs off.

The issue of the motor drive is criminal, really. Can you imagine Nikon, or 
Canon, introducing a top model and not, in face of the other's competition, 
 having the MD to go along with it? Nikon and Canon users would be crying 
bloody heresy! This is what I am refering to when I mentioned a little 
marketing adrenalin from the East.

JG



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