Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/10/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On 10/16/04 6:52 PM, "Stephen Gandy" <leicanikon@earthlink.net> typed: > a lot of Nikon shooters use M too. it's not an either or world. > > if Leica can't justify keeping trained staff and has to lay them off in > these slack times, I have a difficult time believing Leica can find the > funds to develop a new modern AF SLR. even if they did, every new Leica > SLR design since day one in 1964 has only been 10 to 20 years behind the > best current designs from Nikon or Canon. Leica needs to admit its own > failures and move on to survive. > > I believe from a profit standpoint, it is smarter and far more cost > effective for Leica to just license the R mount for already in production > digital cameras, and possibly a new generation of AF Leica glass in a new > mount with those partners. So a Sigma or Fujica or Kodak does not have > the build quality of a R9. so what? in three years a digital SLR is a > doorstop anyway. > > Leica has to keep making cameras and lenses at a profit, not investing > precious capital into dead ends which won't generate a profitable return. > So 100 shooters pop for the $6,000 digital R9 back. big deal. with the > ever changing world of digital imaging, just by the time it catches on, it > will be outdated, and a lost investment. > > granted, these are all guesses. but the fact is, that what Leica has been > doing with its SLR lineup and precious investment capital just has not > worked out financially over its entire 40 year R history. it's time to > wake up and think differently, or there will not be a Leica as we know it. > > Stephen Gandy > Not everyone is as convinced of the non viability of Leica R bodies as the guy who is doing a booming business pushing Leica R to Canon adaptors. NOT selling Leica bodies. NOT selling Leica glass either. NON Leica bodies for Leica glass. NON Leica glass for Leica bodies. It's the beast 666 antiLeica! I believe such commercial stance should be at least alluded to in a post like this. Mark Rabiner Photography Portland Oregon http://rabinergroup.com/