[Leica] Re: Henning's RD 1 report - Emanuel's calling me out...:-)

[eperea at walkereng.com (Emilio Perea)]

On Thu, Oct 21, 2004 at 11:20:46AM -0400, B. D. Colen wrote:
> And what say you to the far more Leica-relevant news that Solms will
> only sell M7s and Mps with .72 finders, unless one wants to pay a $1000
> premium? I would think you'd be far more concerned about the
> Hermesification of Leica, the end of Leica as a company that produces
> real cameras for real photographers, than you would be about how good
> the Epson RD-1 is or isn't.

Where does the "$1000 premium" figure come from?  I see that the
configurator starts from a list price of $3500, which I assumed to be
the list price of the standard cameras.  B&H has them for about $2800,
and although I haven't bought any real cameras recently, a 20% discount
from list is about what I expected from a large mail order retailer.

It is possible that the current management is stupid enough to think
they can charge $1000 extra for the privilege of letting you ask to pay
even more for cosmetic changes.  It is even possible that Leica fanatics
would be stupid enough to pay it.

But I see no reason to believe that $3500 is not the normal list price,
and that therefore there is no $1000 premium except in a few Luggers'
imagination.

I'd appreciate being corrected if I'm wrong (other than for rooting for
the Buffalo-Bills-on-the-Bronx this year).

-- Emilio

 "My favorite team is whoever is playing the Red Sox"