Re: [Leica] Re: Digital M

[Jonathan Borden <jonathan@openhealth.org>]

LRZeitlin@aol.com wrote:

>By the way, did anyone suspect that the announcement of the PLANS for digital 
>M development was a red herring to mask Leica's dismal financial news and 
>personnel layoffs. REMEMBER THAT THERE IS NO CAMERA! There are just plans to 
>develop a digital M contingent on Leica's ability to sell 15 million Euros worth 
>of bonds. Since many Leica stockholders are avid photographers, the proposal 
>for the digital M may just have been sugar to make the bitter medicine go down.
>  
>
I'm not so sure the financial news is all that dismal given the state of 
the overall financial market.

Leica certainly has challenges to face. One of its main "problems" is 
that it has somewhat of a niche market and its products continue to work 
40+ years after they were produced -- perhaps this is also why Deardorff 
has gone under -- but the real issue is why should I as a loyal customer 
buy *new* lenses and bodies at a premium when I can get perfectly 
adequate lenses and bodies on the used market.

For example: take the "new" Schneider 150 Symmar XL (8x10 coverage) 
which is an amazing ASPH lens that is both super small and has great 
resolution and with shutter costs ~ 1/2 that of a Noctilux. On the other 
hand is the Cosina/Vogt 35/1.2 ASPH for a fraction of the cost of its 
Leica counterpart (albeit not of the same quality).

The "problem" here is that for the "ultimate" in quality I can slap a 
nice new Schneider on an old 'Dorff and get amazing shots -- at the same 
time for the ultimate in (handheld/low light) quality I can get an old 
M3 with an old Noct -- both  for thousands less than new.

In the same way that competition from Cosina is chipping away at part of 
the Leica market, competition from digital is chipping away at another 
part of the market. That is life/business, and I am still using and 
buying (used) M-ware.

Jonathan
- --
To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html