Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/03/09
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]We Luggers, we're like a club of Cleopatra's rejected lovers. We can't get over her, we can't forgive her. And her beauty and power only grows. Of course that story ends badly but the great thing about metaphors is you can cut them off before the end --- Two different points were originally raised: Leica pricing and its branding. First pricing: Today on B&H site (get to 'em before Pesach kids they're closed for nine days): Leica M9 7000 Nikon 3Dx 7600 Nikon D3s 5200 Nikon d700 2400 Nikon D90 (1.5 crop) 780 Canon 5D Mark II 2500 Canon 1D Mark IV (1.3 crop) 5000 SONY A900 2600 SONY A850 2000 Those are all the 35mm equivalent full frame sensors I know of. For fun I've thrown in DxOmark's raw file analysis' two highest ranking cropped sensor cameras. (Yes, the D90 significantly outperforms the D300 which at $1300 is almost twice the price; the Canons and SONYs and such are well behind). Now, if you are a serious photographer who loves and is committed to rangefinder photography and want to work in digital format why is $7000 overpriced, given this list? Keep in mind that as recently as a couple of years ago people believed full frame digital in a rangefinder was technically not possible in the foreseeable future. While there are complaints about certain firmware issues basically the vast majority of photographers who test the M9 say it is superb. The R&D that Leica puts into optics is probably roughly equal in scope across the decades but the resources and time and labor needed to figure out how to make an M9 versus making an M3 (which in 1966 cost $1400 in 2010 dollars) must be huge. The demand for the camera is also huge, and demand, even we poets know, raises prices inevitably. I wouldn't have been surprised if they'd marketed the M9 at 8K or even higher. Now, branding. Once upon a legendary time professional photographers used German rangefinder cameras. Then they didn't anymore, for a host of reasons: and by the late 70s Leica was no longer a source of professional cameras of an substantial note. But they did have the legend. They had Cartier Bresson and Gene Smith and Garry Winogrand (still) knocking around the world with their IIIa's and f's and their M3's and in Winogrand's case M4's. So how do you propose they position themselves? Like Panasonic? Well, they did that too. Their history -- their authenticy on top of their superb quality -- dictates they be a luxury brand. They can't survive any other way. Keep in mind that everything of lasting value that was affordable for working people in the US 1966 is not affordable to them now: homes, educations, holidays, cars, Leica's. So if you ever cast a vote for Ronald Reagan, Bush !, Clinton (yuuup, economically a Republican without a doubt) or Bush II, don't complain. We have reshaped our society from a hopeful, (putatively) egalitarian, demonstrably socially mobile one into a fetid and criminal oligarchy and no one took to the streets or raised a significant voice -- a voice having impact -- against the change. We all just tried to get our asses in a nearby chair when the music stopped. Vince On Tue, Mar 9, 2010 at 3:03 PM, Philip Forrest <photo.forrest at earthlink.net>wrote: > Agreed. And if/when I can afford anything new from Leica aside from > their fantastic loupe or an M8 battery, I'll certainly jump on that > opportunity. I just don't know when or even if that is going to happen > in this economic climate for the foreseeable future. It might be a > decade or more before I can afford that new 21mm 'Lux that I lust over. > Phil Forrest > > > > old leica cameras and old leica lenses lead to leica awareness, leica > > pride, new leica lenses and even new leica cameras, > > > > I think you Phil are an example of exactly that. > > > > > > Steve > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Leica Users Group. > > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >