Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/06/16
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hi Larry, I believe you are referring to my report of the meeting we had last year at NY Photo Expo with representatives of Leica USA & Solms. What I was told is that fewer than 500 of the 180mm *2.0* Apo Summicron (not Elmarit) were sold. Regards, Akhil Larry Kopitnik wrote: > > >>>>>>>>>> > So would someone kindly explain to me why there is such limited call for the > Leica version of a lens that is a true standard for both the Nikon and Canon > autofocus cameras?...Or am I asking a stupid question, because the reality > is that there is limited call for as expensive a manual focus SLR as the > R8...? > <<<<<<<<<< > > Stupid question, no, but I do think you've answered your own > question. There was a post a year or so ago (I'm too lazy to look it > up in the archives at the moment) from someone who had spoken to, as > I recall, an executive at Leica and said fewer than 500 180 f/2.8 APO > lenses had sold worldwide since its introduction. I'd bet the Nikon > and Canon equivalents have sold in the tens of thousands, maybe more. > > An unverified report on the LUG awhile back said that one recent year > only 2000 R8s sold. For the year. By comparison, a check of serial > numbers suggests Nikon is selling over 10,000 F100s a month. > > Recent incentives in Europe have probably improved R sales since > those reports were posted. But the reality is, despite its quality > and its virtues championed by users on this list, there appears to > have been little demand in recent years for the R system, especially > when compared to other SLR systems. > > Larry