[Leica] Re: Film/digital wars

[FELIXMATURANA at telefonica.net (Félix López de Maturana)]

>Why should Leica's core be professional shooters? There are far more
>amateurs in the world than professionals. The digital war is lost anyway,
>and if I read all the replies on this subject, there's one constant: people
>shoot digital because they have to, because they don't have time anymore,
>because the market demands it, etc.
>
>But if it comes to real and pure photographic pleasure, they all use analog.
>As a kind of (almost physical) pleasure they grant themselves.
>What better tool for this than a Leica and its lenses?
>Maybe the company should focus a bit more on that.
>And forget about digital.

The problem, Philippe, is that consumers, those who really count in 
marketing researchs,  wish but digital. Film is not nowadays an actual 
fashion for the man of the street . If Leica focuses on film will be in 
the niche of a niche and his funeral will be sooner than if they make a 
strong and quick digital effort. A very quick and at a "reasonable", by 
the terrible Leica standards, launching of R and M digital bodies will 
prolong the life of the sick firm but, sincerely, if Solms insist in 
being the paradigm of the quality in the new digital bodies instead of  
presenting reasonably good and efficient bodies whose main feature is to 
be able of using M and R lenses, then I don't give a dime for the company.

My opinion is, and this may scandalize many members of the LUG, that 
it's not Leica who's the most retrograde pphotographic company in the 
world having cameras with 50 years old design but that most Leica 
customers do not love new designs and are reluctant to modernizing their 
designs. Perhaps the M5 commercial failure was due to this behavior and 
the "relative" success of the MP is, again, a consequence of this 
particular "old style" customer basis. Therefore Leica needs to be 
extremely prudent in any new development or basic customer base will 
reject it.

However many, many users are combining the uncomfortable but efficient 
mix of Canon digital bodies and Leica R excellent lenses. This should 
have Leica reflecting about the true necessities of users, pros or 
amateurs, but I have no faith in marketing capabilities of Leica, and 
less in the financial potential for new products development. So IMHO 
the sick firm will finally die.

Felix