Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/09/17

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Subject: [Leica] LEICA bei MEISTER Newsletter 15.09.2005
From: nathan.wajsman at planet.nl (Nathan Wajsman)
Date: Sat Sep 17 22:53:36 2005
References: <BF516FF0.24B73%telyt@earthlink.net>

Well, I do not think film is dead--35mm color negative film probably is, 
but the B&W stuff, high-end slide film (though not Kodachrome I am 
afraid) and the larger formats will undoubtedly continue to exist.

But we all know that Leica as a company has to find a way to play a role 
in the digital world, otherwise IT is dead. The Digiluxes were actually 
a promising strategy, in that they coupled Leica's excellence in making 
lenses with Panasonic's electronics experience. The end product was not 
to everyone's liking, but at least it was a step in the right direction. 
The DMR is a bit of kludge, sort of like the Visoflex 40 years ago--a 
stopgap measure until they can come out with a proper digital body, just 
as the Visoflex was something to tide Leica over until they could come 
out with a proper SLR.

In this context it is disheartening to see Leica come out with a 8K Euro 
  retro camera which is clearly not indended for photographers. 
Everything in the marketing copy that was posted says "collectors"--the 
price, the artificial scarcity (only 1000 to be made) etc. I used to say 
that all these special editions were a good thing if they gave Leica 
some extra cash with which to develop new products, but I am no longer 
so sure. Leica is a small company, and even though the product 
development that went into this is modest, it is still a distraction and 
does use some resources that could be better used elsewhere in the company.

Now, it may be that I am wrong, and that LHSA members will 
enthusiastically snap up this offering; assuming Leica has a 5K margin 
on each unit, this would provide a nice 5 million EUR cash injection, 
which for a company of Leica's size and with its financial problems is 
material. But somehow I doubt it; I suspect that this is going to end up 
more like the original LHSA cameras which one sees languishing at 
dealers, discounted down to a level not much above the regular 
corresponding equipment.

Nathan

Doug Herr wrote:

> on 9/17/05 1:33 AM, Rick Dykstra at rdcb37@dodo.com.au wrote:
> 
> 
>>Well I must say chaps, I'm a bit surprised at all the negativity on
>>this one.  I would imagine that every buyer of an MP would've been
>>quite happy if it had been just like this MP3.  It's great.  And why
>>not?  If one is after a really nice MP as a treat, and a 50 1.4
>>Aspherical, then this would be just the ticket.
> 
> 
> I think the primary objection is the price; it's clearly intended for
> collectors instead of users.  But then I'm reminded nearly every day on 
> this
> and other forums that film is dead and digital is the only way to go,
> particularly among wildlife photographers.  Perhaps Leica is smarter than 
> we
> think: if serious photographers are using digtial capture, who aside from a
> collector would buy any film camera?  :-(
> 
> Doug Herr
> Birdman of Sacramento
> http://www.wildlightphoto.com
> 
> P.S. I ordered more film this week.
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
> 
> 

-- 
Nathan Wajsman
Almere, The Netherlands

General photography: http://www.nathanfoto.com
Seville photography: http://www.fotosevilla.com
Stock photography: http://www.alamy.com/search-results.asp?qt=wajsman
http://myloupe.com/home/found_photographer.php?photographer=507
Prints for sale: http://www.photodeluge.com



Replies: Reply from telyt at earthlink.net (Doug Herr) ([Leica] LEICA bei MEISTER Newsletter 15.09.2005)
In reply to: Message from telyt at earthlink.net (Doug Herr) ([Leica] LEICA bei MEISTER Newsletter 15.09.2005)