[Leica] Impressions from the Leica Day

[nathan.wajsman at planet.nl (Nathan Wajsman)]

Hi Didier,

This brings fond memories--I also went to Leica days at Foto Ganz a 
couple of times, and had my cameras checked as well. Ganz is a good 
shop, but as you say, everything in Switzerland is expensive, and while 
I wanted to support a local shop, the savings by buying in Germany were 
just too compelling when it came to Leica gear. I did buy all my 
Kodachrome and some other film at Foto Ganz.

Some specific comments:

> Leica general:
> I had a longer talk with the owner of the shop about the future of 
> Leica. He said he was not very happy about the Hermes participation 
> ("they don't know anything about photography"), but was very convinced 
> that Leica will survive in any case. He was also very sure that Leica 
> would never, never be sold to a japanese company ("Lieber sterben" - 
> "prefer to die").

With all respect to him, I think that the last sentence represents 
everything that is wrong with Leica and with the way many Germans (and 
Swiss) think about the global economy. The "not invented here" syndrome 
is something I encountered many times when I worked in Switzerland. To 
say that he prefers Leica to die rather than being taken over by a 
larger company that might provide desperately needed technology, capital 
and management, is just plain stupid.

> 
> Digital M:
> The shop owner told me frankly that he was very unlucky about Leica's 
> decision to produce the DMR before the digital M. He said he sells much 
> more M than R, and that he could sell digital M's like fresh bread (as 
> said, it's the biggest Leica dealer in Switzerland, which is probably 
> the country with the most Leicas per resident). He is also believing 
> that the digital M will be presented at the Photokina 2006. He hopes 
> strongly that the delay scenario like with the DMR ("seller's horror") 
> will not be repeated with the digital M.

As the owner of a large Leica shop, of course I would expect him to be 
optimistic. I hope he is right. While I have no interest in the DMR, I 
will take a hard look at the digital M if the price is not insane.
> 
> DMR:
> I have never been interested in the R system, but of course I could not 
> resist to take a R9 with DMR in my hands. I can't say much except the 
> finder is the brightest one that I have ever seen on a SLR camera. And I 
> cannot confirm Nathan's concern about squeezing the nose to get closer 
> to the viewer. It's true you have to press your cheek and nose a little 
> bit; but I guess Nathan's nose must be significantly bigger than mine - 
> no wonder if one considers how much single malt he get's at the father's 
> day :-)!... Another point was the heavy size and weight of the 
> "hunchback of Solms", which is not comparable to the M's compactness, 
> but probably compares very well to a Canon EOS-1D/s.

No question--the viewfinder on the R8/9 is the best of any currently 
produced SLR (although I agree with Doug's comments about the Leicaflex 
SL). Regarding the DMR--I don't think my nose is particularly large, but 
I guess it just goes to show that different people have a different 
level of tolerance for small imperfections like this. In a camera 
expected to cost several thousand Euro my tolerance is very low. The 
weight is not an issue for me, in fact at times I think my 20D is too 
light relative to the lenses (I tend to buy large aperture lenses, hence 
on the big side). But on the other hand, after I have walked around in a 
city all day with the camera, I do appreciate its low weight.

Nathan
-- 
Nathan Wajsman
Almere, The Netherlands

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