Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/03/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Vince you are right on. I couldn't agree with you more. I can't afford the price of used m glass much less new. Sooooo! I content myself by looking at the "New" LUG's endless supply of superb M8 & 9 photographs hoping that being 64 I can live long enough to pick up someones used 8 at an affordable price. Jack Vince Passaro wrote: > 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 >> >> > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > >