[Leica]The new T-Max 400

[drodgers at casefarms.com (David Rodgers)]

A few of the remaining die-hard engineers, production superintendents
and cost accountants no doubt did some white boarding in the one room
that still had electricity and they suddenly realized, "Hey, lets trim
the overhead, focus on the right products, and roll up our sleeves.  We
can make money making this stuff!" Forget economies of scale. If done
right being a niche' player can work, too. Fortunately there are lots of
really good film cameras out there. They were built with longevity in
mind, so the market for film remains as long as they do. It's not like
all those film Ms stopped working. They just got less expensive. Might
we not see a film renaissance to some degree at some point? 

OTOH, the new TMax may be something they came up with a few years ago
and they just now put into production. R&D is always ahead of the game.
Heck there might be Tmax that's even newer than the new Tmax. It's also
possible that Leica already has a prototype M9 that we'll see as soon as
they tap out the market for M8's.   

Business is a tricky business. 

DaveR

-----Original Message-----
From: Jeffery Smith [mailto:jsmith342@gmail.com] 
Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2008 2:14 PM
To: Leica Users Group
Subject: Re: [Leica]The new T-Max 400

I was under the impression that Kodak had halted all R&D on analog
photography (film and chemicals). Apparently not. Perhaps the demise of
several major film manufacturers gave them a bit more "business" so they
decided to avoid being trumped by Fuji.