Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/10/16

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Subject: [Leica] DMR Fiasco
From: hopsternew at gmail.com (Geoff Hopkinson)
Date: Sun, 17 Oct 2010 08:09:13 +1000
References: <AANLkTinOp1fL1-M90Fx3=1qg0i8B22xEZHgw9RbYZ0fd@mail.gmail.com> <AANLkTikW=zgzRq0SgE5iNTEAEOp_-ouzSTQ=EnazPAd3@mail.gmail.com> <AANLkTik4F-0hM4F5CjuPECLgr_R55piMaBVt9JKBpov7@mail.gmail.com> <AANLkTikBHUQb5R02AjPxHB9Oi1eC+kXYWWrAXVZ8xunF@mail.gmail.com>

James you don't even have a DMR but you are talking about fiascos and
calling for boycotts!. As linked, Leica has located a company who will
restore the batteries and recommends them after a technical audit. Remember
that there were only ever a couple of thousand DMRs made (I don't know how
many are still in service) and production stopped because too few people
were interested in buying one. Specifically, from Stefan Daniel sales were
only around 10% of the M8/M8.2 for the couple of years that they were
available.

Of course Leica never made the batteries either. As far as I know it is
usual for batteries to be made by specialist companies. If there was a
sufficient commercial demand for new units, then as you say any battery
maker could produce them. Commercial reality is different to opinion! The
severance of relations with Imacon (now Hasselblad) who were the actual
maker of the DMR has since meant that no new production (for the DMR) could
take place even if there was a demand.

When you actually talk to the Customer Service people in Solms you find out
they they have made large efforts to support servicing for the R8/R9 and
DMR, even cannabalising some units to get others back serviceable. I'm told
that recently parts supply may have improved a little there.

My example about Nikon of course was meant to say that hardware does
inevitably change, nothing more. I don't have any Nikon axe to grind. I
owned quite a bit of gear from the AI era and am well familiar with the
evolution of their products.

Actually I would say that Leica Camera has an excellent track record in
maintaining compatibility and service support for discontinued models.
Again, when visiting Solms I was shown drawers of parts for screw mount
Leicas for example.

Cheers
Geoff
http://www.pbase.com/hoppyman


On 17 October 2010 03:58, James Laird <digiratidoc at gmail.com> wrote:

> mehrdad,
>
> Absolutely. My point(s) exactly! You EXPECT spare parts to be
> available from any manufacturer, ESPECIALLY from one that charges what
> Leica does! And you know damn well they can contract SOMEONE to make
> them. Ain't that hard.
>
> James Laird
>
> On Sat, Oct 16, 2010 at 11:53 AM, mehrdad <msadat at gmail.com> wrote:
> > geof here are some point to consider
> >
> >
> > 1) people pay a lot more for leica when compared to canon and nikon.
> > 2) batteries can be made anywhere and don't need a special relations with
> > hassleblad
> > 3) i heard from the horses mouth @ PMA when they told me hold on to your
> > stuff, a new R is coming
> > 4) then on/off switch for an r system equivalent or compatible has been
> used
> > for a while , not good
> > 5) u expect spare parts be available for your camera for a while, in the
> > case dmr, how can u not have the batteries, besides charging for it, it
> is
> > good pr
> > 6) thanks to george l for keeping the leica r relevant on this list
> >
> >
> > On Sat, Oct 16, 2010 at 12:06 AM, Geoff Hopkinson <hopsternew at 
> > gmail.com
> >wrote:
> >
> >> James as you mentioned you don't own an R8 or R9 or DMR module so you
> may
> >> not be aware of all of the detail on this issue.
> >> The company that did make them has severed its relationship with Leica
> >> Camera since they are now direct competitors. So Leica simply does not
> >> possess the manufacturing capability to produce more even if it made
> >> commercial sense. In fact they were not a commercial success when
> offered.
> >> Somewhere between 2 and 4000 in total is often mentioned as an estimate
> >> Leica Camera now recommend
> >> http://www.akku-mainz.de/product_info.php?products_id=192
> >>
> >>
> >> Maybe you could also call for an uprising against Nikon for changing the
> >> lens mount so that those tens if not hundreds of thousands of AI and AIS
> >> lenses would no longer meter on most Nikon SLRs now made ;-) Hardware
> does
> >> evolve. No need to call for a Jihad ;-)
> >>
> >> Geoff
> >> http://www.pbase.com/hoppyman
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Leica Users Group.
> >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> >  -------------------------------------
> >  regards, mehrdad
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > 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
>


Replies: Reply from digiratidoc at gmail.com (James Laird) ([Leica] DMR Fiasco)
Reply from leicaslacker at gmail.com (kyle cassidy on the lug) ([Leica] all this talk about the DMR makes me think ....)
In reply to: Message from digiratidoc at gmail.com (James Laird) ([Leica] DMR Fiasco)
Message from hopsternew at gmail.com (Geoff Hopkinson) ([Leica] DMR Fiasco)
Message from msadat at gmail.com (mehrdad) ([Leica] DMR Fiasco)
Message from digiratidoc at gmail.com (James Laird) ([Leica] DMR Fiasco)