Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/04/03
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]And that, Joseph, is precisely what is wrong with Leica and its business philosophy. If Leica has any thought to being more than neck jewelry for the very rich, then price must be a concern. Don't get me wrong - I am not suggesting that concern about price should lead Leica to produce garbage, but there is a long, long, long way between garbage and $7,000 for what is, in truth, one of the most mundane of modern focal lengths for SLRs. The 35-70 2.8 Leica lens may well be the best 35-70 in the world: but what does that mean? Does that mean that it will produce images that can instantly be seen, when printed, to be markedly better than those produced by Canon and Nikon 35-70 2.8 zooms costing 1/10th the price? Or does it mean that on a light table, or when projected, a slide taken with the Leica lens is marginally better? If it's the later - and I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that the later is true, that's very nice for people who only look at slides on light tables and on projection screens. But how does that marginal difference on the light table translate to the pages of Time or Newsweek, or onto a webpage - or even into a print on a gallery wall? And, as Slododan pointed out earlier - (and I'm not sure whether he was agreeing or disagreeing with me ;-) ) - there is the issue of the skill of the individual photographer, and the question of whether the difference in lens quality can actually benefit most photographers. So if Leica wants to manufacture and sell photo jewelry, fine. But I would suggest that a company that is already having trouble with its reflex line - as its sales figures of the last several years clearly indicate - it can hardly afford to take the attitude that "price is not really a concern," nor can it fail to understand "this value thingy." Best B. D. - -----Original Message----- From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us [mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us]On Behalf Of Joseph Yao Sent: Wednesday, April 03, 2002 3:06 PM To: Leica User Group Subject: Re: [Leica] leica 35-70 /2.8 I must confess I have a very poor understanding for this 'value' thingy. I am more interested in quality. I am just very heartened Leica are now offering this lens again, the price is really not a concern. Dr. J on 3/4/02 4:17 am, B. D. Colen at bdcolen@earthlink.net wrote: > But then, given that this lens is certainly not 10+ times better than it's > Nikon and Canon competitors - in fact, given that it is unlikely that it is > even twice as good - it better at least take 10 times as long to > manufacturer to give Leica a justification for charging more than 10 times > what the competition charges for its 35-70 2.8 lenses. ;-) > > B. D. - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html