RE: [Leica] Big bucks

["Kotsinadelis, Peter (Peter)" <peterk@lucent.com>]

Jonathan,

Leica equipment not becoming obsolete????  C'mon! The only reason it does
not is because they move at a snail's pace in getting product out the door.
As someone said earlier, the last modern design was the M5, the M6 is a 1954
camera design.  Hey, don't get me wrong, the M is a neat camera, but if you
define obsolete as "no longer in general use; fallen into disuse" it would
fit the bill since the great majority of new camera users and pros are not
using the M.

Peter K

- -----Original Message-----
From: Jonathan Borden [mailto:jborden@mediaone.net]
Sent: Wednesday, November 10, 1999 2:28 PM
To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
Subject: Re: [Leica] Big bucks


Mike Johnston wrote:
> >>>Worried about the longevity of the CD? So copy it every couple of
> years.
> We're not talking big bucks here.<<<
>
>
> Oh yes we are. I've made over 65,000 negatives in my life, and I'm only
> 42. (And not even a terribly heavy shooter.)
>
> --Mike
>
    One of the great things about Leica equipment is that nothing becomes
obsolete. This is in stark distinction to digital electronic equipment which
is designed to become obsolete in "Internet time". In my mind, Leica is the
direct opposite to digital. Canon is where digital is at (and there are also
many great things about being digital). It is no big deal to change your
lens mount every few years because you plan to buy a completely new system
every few years regardless. So the two cameras which spend the most time
sitting on my shelf are my Canon F-1 and my Sony Mavica, the F-1 because it
is sooo much louder than the EOS and has no real benefit except that it does
work without batteries (but I already have my M6 for that purpose :-) And
the Mavica which serves its only purpose when I need to e-mail pictures to
someone, or if I am giving a talk and I need to digitize something onto my
laptop (so it is really the combo of a Polaroid and a compact scanner).

    Even though CDs are somewhat cheap (say $1-2) for writeable, that's not
the point. Who wants to deal with figuring out what to rewrite? I just had a
terrific ciba print made of a 15 year old kodachrome  discovered at the
bottom of a box! In the same box is a large computer tape I have no idea of
how to deal with. oh sure I *could* find a VAX somewhere and transfer it
onto a CD but who wants to deal with that. The chrome is usable in the same
format as on the day it was created. The Omega D2 enlarger I use is probably
25 years old and still uses the same format lightbulbs.

Jonathan Borden