Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/09/01
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I believe that the current thinking at Solms is not to try to improve or modify the M6 thus creating an M7, but rather "leap-frog" to the M8. There may be some future modifications to the M6 view finder, but I think that will be it. The M8 (or what ever Herr Cohn chooses to call it) will be an extremely sophisticated point and shoot with a fixed 28-70 zoom lens. I believe that it will be similar to the Rollei QZ35 concept. Leica though will refine the concept so that it exceeds the publics expectations. With this, I suspect that will be going after a segment of the pro market...after all, it's is really a pain to lug that F5 around all the time. The Rollei QZ35 appears to have failed for several reasons. (1) They did not have the necessary distribution. If a person wanted to look at one, it was almost impossible to find. (2) The camera fell short of the publics expectations. (3) The service policy of the Rollei USA distributor 'scared the hell' out of everybody. As I understand it, they stated that they would not service any camera that did not come through the Rollei USA warehouse. If the camera was a grey market item and was purchased unknowingly from a dealer...that's tough. If the camera was a gift and was a grey market camera...that's tough. If you purchased the camera while on vacation in Europe (or where ever)...that's tough. All in all, it was a very poorly thought out policy for a company that was trying to increase their market share. It is going to be very interesting to see what the people at Solms come up with. Acutally, what we need is a spy on the inside to feed us information. So, if you work at the factory at Solms and want to feed Leica users some information or gossip, let me know and I will give you a confidential e-mail address where you can send us inside information. Kind regards, Bill m6rf@yahoo.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com