Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/01/12
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]> Why do you need a long-term commitment? First off, with film use fading > faster than a print that hasn't been fixed, the market for film > equipment is going to be miniscule five years from now - and there will > be far more than enough used M lenses around to keep the diehard > aficionados in equipment. Second off, assuming for a moment that the > Zeiss offerings are even close to as good as Zeiss is claiming they'll > be, if they offer them for a year that's a year longer than not having > they available at all. I don't know about you, but in the 46 years I've > been involved with photography one way or another (starting at age 12) I > have NEVER had to send a lens for service. I buy them and use them. > Period. So I can't say I'd lose any sleep over Zeiss only offering this > stuff for a year - or for a month. Of course the body is another matter. > The quick dominance of digital over film over the present years does not make the issue of which lens to use on our cameras an issue of the used glass market. The dead and pass? this or that. The Zeiss lenses coming out now are new state of the art lenses designed to work on new state of the art cameras. Film or digital. Just like any lens made for the Leica M mount is. Many and most new lens we get for our Leica, Nikon or Canon EOS and other systems are lenses which for the most part work with either film or digital bodies. Even Olympus. Lets not forget the Leica M mount has one existing digital camera for it so far and one from Leica itself in the works. Digital photography with the Leica M mount has taken hold and it can do nothing but become more firmly entrenched. I got the Calumet catalog and there it was up front and big, on the B&H site and just about everywhere. You would think it was not such a nietzsche market item. We're not giving up on Leica as quickly as others so quickly have over the years always finding any excuse to justify disposing them to the quaint archaic junk heap. Leica has survived and or absorbed SLR's, Auto exposure, program exposure, quick load and point and shoots, auto focus, and now it will survive and absorb digital. They have met each other half way. Low tech digital. Mark Rabiner Photography Portland Oregon http://rabinergroup.com/