Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/06/09

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Canon really has AF figured out...BLASHPEMY? Or it is?
From: Gary Elshaw <gary.elshaw@vuw.ac.nz>
Date: Thu, 10 Jun 1999 13:09:39 +1200

I'd like to think that might be possible, Lucien. But i think that
rangefinders are largely perceived to be antiquated by the majority of
folks my age. Names like Voightlander also hold very little meaning for
amateur photographers of my generation down here in the south pacific.
That's assuming that some have heard the Voightlander name. I think there
arose some turnaround in the SLR marketing of the world that changed the
majority of consumers minds to believe the  SLR was the best mode of camera
operation-Faster, more accurate focussing etc.

The other thing that has always confused me is the "image quality" argument
that Alan Ball raised, and it's also tied up with the element of
photographic science that has been mentioned. Many amateur's i know take
photographs that are often viewed only once when they bring them home from
the lab/chemist who processed them. This relates to the disposability
factor i mentioned in the previous post. Many of the images only become
important for a second viewing when there has been a certain amount of time
past. A "bad" photo, over-exposed/under-exposed, is like a comma before
they see the next "good" one. The perspective appears to be 'Unfortunate,
but probably not altogether irreplaceable.' Image quality becomes highly
relative. For example the friend who decided to buy the Canon. After having
used a $50 P&S, his Canon with a decent L gave him dramatically better
shots and this made him happy. Who am I to pull out photos taken with my
Summicron on an "old" Leica, put them on the table and show up his
pictures? ;-)

Take care,
Gary


Lucien wrote:

>A market for the future Voitglander/Cosina rangefinder ?

I wrote:

> Peter raised an interesting point about Leica marketing missing the
> Generation X market.
snip
> Very few twenty-somethings can afford to buy Leica.