Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/05/01
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Nathan Wajsman wrote: I hate to say it on this list, but in a recent interview in one of the British magazines (either Amateur Photographer or Practical Photography) Stanfield said that he switched from Leica R to Nikon because the Leica SLRs kept failing on assignment. He said he loved the Leica lenses but found the bodies too unreliable. - - - - snip - - - Nathan, This is what I have been saying for some time now, and what most LUGGERS don't want to hear. Leica's future is in the lens business. I don't know what Herr Cohn's business plan is, but I think he would be wise to consider the idea of making Leica lenses for Nikon, Canon, etc. If Leica came out with a 28-70 f2,8 AFD for Nikon, the they would not be able to make them fast enough. Especially since the new Nikon 28-70 f2,8 appears to be, how shall I say it? Not quite up to expectations and extremely over priced. (Well, there goes my free trip to the Nikon factory in Japan). The cold hard facts are that Leica is so far behind the curve in the SLR business, that the only way that they will be able to come out with a new R model is to buy or lease the design from some other company. On the brighter side, what ever Herr Cohn is doing, he is impressing the financial community. Friday, Leica stock closed above 13 (Euros). That is twice what it was two months ago. (When was the last time you doubled your money in two months?) So a lot of people are putting their money and trust behind Herr Cohn. And, that is a good sign. Regards, Bill _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com