[Leica] Re: Konica Price

[Godfrey DiGiorgi <ramarren@bayarea.net>]

Not that I wish to rush to the defense of the Contax G cameras - they can 
stand on their own as fine photographic instruments well enough - but 
I've heard this "snazzy P&S" crap enough to make me ill. 

The Contax G system is not a P&S and anyone buying it as such is bound to 
be disappointed. It's a quality camera with excellent features and 
lenses. It's quite different from a Leica M and the new Hexar RF and 
offers more features, for those that want them, then either. It takes 
understanding to get the most out of it. I suspect the reason that a lot 
of people buy them and sell them is that they are told that it's as easy 
as a P&S to use, which is flatly not true. 

I suspect that the Hexar RF price is what it is for two reasons: because 
Konica anticipates a relatively limited market for this kind of high-end 
RF camera and because building an optical rangefinder to the precision 
required is very expensive. These factors are part of the reasons why 
Leica Ms are expensive too. The Contax G is priced lower because an 
electronic rangefinder is much less expensive to manufacture and because 
Contax is looking for a higher volume market with their products than 
Konica or Leica. 

Godfrey

>>A lot
>>more expensive that the G2. Why do they think that their
>>camera's can fetch more money that Contax?
>
>Because - and this is only based on what I've read, not hands-on
>experience - the Konica is a real camera, while the G2 is a really snazy P&S
>with interchangable lenses.