Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/05/11
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hi Seth, I'm not so sure that someone in management at Leica wasn't paying attention. A local dealer here told me that Leica management informed him last year that they were considering doing with their cameras just what you suggested. Regards, Greg Seth Rosner wrote: >All of this stuff about M features and what should and shouldn't be on the >new M10 - oh no, that's a tank - prompts me to describe a letter I wrote to >Herr Cohn a few years ago, shortly after he became Leica CEO. > >As I may have mentioned here, I've been a business lawyer for over 45 years >and in the process have worked with some very fine, imaginative and >enterprenurial corporate executives. > >I suggested to Herr Cohn that Leica consider offering buyers the opportunity >to order M6 cameras with whatever features the customer wished, i.e., >classic or TTL, 0.58, 0.72, or 0.85 viewfinders, black or silver finish, >meter or meterless and pay only for the features they order. > >Inasmuch as a major cost of any manufactured item, especially one with a >relatively small production run, is tooling, all of which Leica already had, >and since we are not talking about an item of which millions are made each >year, I did not believe it would add enormously to cost to set up the >production line in such a way that Leica factory workers could build a >camera to order. > >Apart from being hugely satisfying to the Leica user, this would have had >the additional benefit of reducing on-hand inventory in the hands of the >factory, the distributors and the dealers. > >Helas! I never had a response from the gentleman. > >Seth LaK 9 > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Jim Shulman" <garcia@chesco.com> >To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us> >Sent: Saturday, May 10, 2003 11:55 PM >Subject: RE: [Leica] word on the street - changes to MP already! > > >>Usefulness really isn't the basis for the new MP: it's nostalgia for the >>first generation of M cameras. The rewind knob, all-metal wind lever, >>and small shutter speed dial are all cute affectations designed for >>those of us who are still nuts about the 1954 M3 and its immediate >>successors. After all, if Leica had just wanted to offer a manual M >>camera, it would have been much easier to have stuck with the M7 body >>and simply gone without AE, returning to the TTL-type manual shutter >>arrangement of the last M6 cameras (and likely at a lower price than the >>standard M7--though perhaps that niche has been satisfied with the Bessa >>R2?)The new MP shutter speed dial is just perfect as it is--consistent >>with the rest of the camera's 1950s appearance. My only quibble with the >>MP is that it should really have traditional vulcanite (as the limited >>edition Japanese version does!) >> >>If a photographer wants a Leica with useful modern features and great >>build quality, with the bigger shutter speed dial that matches the R's >>rotation, rewind crank, plastic-tipped wind lever, and option for AE or >>manual exposure, there's the M7. With the MP, you pay a little more >>money for fewer useful features. On the other hand, the MP is the >>closest thing we have to a classic all-mechanical Leica with a BTL meter >>and modern viewfinder. They're both incredibly nice cameras, but from >>two distinctly different approaches. >> >>My question to Leica remains: now that you made a great retro camera >>just right, why screw it up? If the MP doesn't sell, just get rid of it >>and introduce something else, perhaps an all-manual M7, or even a >>meterless M camera. >> >>Jim Shulman >>Bryn Mawr, PA >> >> >>-----Original Message----- >>From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us >>[mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us] On Behalf Of Mark >>Rabiner >>Sent: Saturday, May 10, 2003 11:01 PM >>To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us >>Subject: Re: [Leica] word on the street - changes to MP already! >> >>Jim Shulman wrote: >> >>>Doesn't sound right to me--Leica obviously went to a great deal of >>>trouble creating an M2/3-manque camera with modern viewfinder and >>> >>meter. >> >>>Why would they want to spoil the effect with the wrong shutter speed >>>dial--one of the very elements that gives the camera its charm? If >>> >>they >> >>>were to do that, I think they'd have a lot of unsold $2600 cameras in >>>the warehouse. >>> >>>J >>> >>Which are the elements which give the MP it's charm and which are the >>elements which take away from it's functionality. >>Some mileages differ. I happen to like the bigger knob turning the same >>direction as the R series and I have serious reservations about the >>rewind mechanism. The point though is which features get deemed good and >>bad, stays and goes, we hope by it's usefulness. Not cuteness >> >> >> >>Mark Rabiner >>Portland, Oregon USA >>http://www.rabinergroup.com >>-- >>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 >> > >-- >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