Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2012/11/30
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Was flattened by allied bombs and in the Soviet zone. Leica was not and was not...had they been reversed... On Nov 30, 2012, at 10:34 PM, Phil Forrest wrote: > Check the sale prices of Contax v. Leica. > Leica outlasted Contax because Contax was broken up after WWII, half of > it being shipped east to the USSR, the rest remaining in Germany (ok, > so not quite that simple but it was broken up.) Then it was mismanaged > and sold a few times. All the while Leica survived, a lot of it due to > the ubiquity of their 39mm mount and the availability of Nikon, Canon > and a host of other countries to produce lower cost lenses which would > fit the Leica. > > The Contax was far more complicated to produce in both shutter and lens > mount/helicoid. Everything about the Contax was more expensive except > maybe the chrome. > > Phil Forrest > > > > On Sat, 01 Dec 2012 01:18:45 -0500 > Mark Rabiner <mark at rabinergroup.com> wrote: > >> Pretty much the exact opposite was true. >> Leica established the market Zeiss saw there was money in cameras and >> followed. Contax cameras were boxy looking with sharp edges Leica >> cameras were smooth and rounded and much more friendly in the hand. >> A Zeiss 50mm 1.5 that for instance HCB got made for a more affordable >> package than with the Leica lens. The combination was more common in >> the camera stores then. >> The legacy of Leica 35mm rangefinder photography the work left behind >> and the people who used them exceeds that of Contax by a hundred >> times. Nowadays the person next to you on the bus has head of Leica >> and has not heard of Contax. They think you're talking about Contacts >> for your eyes. >> >> Mark William Rabiner >> Photography >> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/lugalrabs/ >> >> >>> From: Jim Nichols <jhnichols at lighttube.net> >>> Reply-To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org> >>> Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2012 23:48:56 -0600 >>> To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org> >>> Subject: Re: [Leica] Cameras Real Pros Use >>> >>> >>>> No. When the market was early, and Zeiss was all over cameras, >>>> there was the Contax 1 and 2 and 3 and then there was the Leica >>>> ( whatever ) model. Zeiss was king. Leica the upstart. As the >>>> Good Book says, in the beginning, it was Contax and Leica. Contax >>>> was more elegant, more lenses, more you name it. Leica was >>>> cheaper by a lot. People who could not afford >>>> the Contax, bought Leicas. So why did Leica become supreme over >>>> the Contax? >>>> >>>> Because the Contax shutters required constant tweaking, constant >>>> replacement >>>> of the shutter cords, and basically were not reliable. >>>> >>>> Deja vue? >>>> >>>> Frank Filippone >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > > > -- > http://philipforrestphoto.wordpress.com/ > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/philforrest > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information