anandi
Gotta catch the light.
FYI if you haven't seen this, apologies if this has been posted already.
Leica refocuses
Sep 28th 2006
From The Economist print edition
The legendary camera-maker belatedly embraces digital technology
PETER MAGUBANE, an acclaimed South African photographer, used to hide his Leica camera inside a hollow loaf of bread to evade the police as he quietly snapped scenes of apartheid. Henri Cartier-Bresson used a Leica to capture his decisive moments; many of the 20th century's defining images were the products of the German firm's cameras. But Leica continued to trade on its illustrious history, and sales slumped as photography moved into the digital age. The firm nearly collapsed last year. With the launch of a digital version of its rangefinder camera, the M8, at a trade show in Cologne this week, Leica hopes to make a comeback.
Although Leica has sold compact digital cameras since 1998, Leica fanatics have been waiting for a digital version of its M-series rangefinders. Unlike a single-lens reflex camera, where the photographer looks through the lens while composing and focusing, a rangefinder camera uses a separate viewfinder with a “split-image” focusing system. This makes it smaller and quieter, and explains Leica's popularity among photojournalists. The new M8 combines classic Leica craftsmanship with modern digital trimmings, such as a 10.3-megapixel sensor.
But can the new camera revive this luxury brand? Most Leicas are sold to art photographers, rich hobbyists and collectors. The M8, which will go on sale in November, will cost $4,795—without a lens. Leica makes other cameras too, such as its R-series single-lens reflex cameras. But, says Ralph Nebe, Leica's marketing director, “the most important impact on us was the loss in sales of the rangefinder camera.” As a result, he says, launching a digital rangefinder is crucial.
Leica is hoping that late is better than never. The firm has lost €30m ($38m) since 2004, and has been through a series of restructurings since 1997, the most recent of which was last year. Sales have since picked up, growing by 16% in the year to April, but not everyone is convinced that the company has turned the corner. Just this month Hermès, a French luxury-goods firm, sold its 31.5% stake in Leica to ACM Projektentwicklung, an Austrian investment firm that already owned 36%.
And despite the launch of the M8, photography's switch from film to digital technology could spell trouble for Leica. It is now so easy to tinker with digital images after the shutter has snapped that photography has become as dependent on computers as on cameras. “The newer generation coming up are less enamoured by high-end camera manufacturers,” says Steve Hoffenberg, an analyst at Lyra Research in Massachusetts. Leica, however, caters to a unique audience willing to pay for quality and cachet. Richard Caplan, a specialist Leica shop in London, had 25 orders for the M8 before it was even announced.
Leica refocuses
Sep 28th 2006
From The Economist print edition
The legendary camera-maker belatedly embraces digital technology
PETER MAGUBANE, an acclaimed South African photographer, used to hide his Leica camera inside a hollow loaf of bread to evade the police as he quietly snapped scenes of apartheid. Henri Cartier-Bresson used a Leica to capture his decisive moments; many of the 20th century's defining images were the products of the German firm's cameras. But Leica continued to trade on its illustrious history, and sales slumped as photography moved into the digital age. The firm nearly collapsed last year. With the launch of a digital version of its rangefinder camera, the M8, at a trade show in Cologne this week, Leica hopes to make a comeback.
Although Leica has sold compact digital cameras since 1998, Leica fanatics have been waiting for a digital version of its M-series rangefinders. Unlike a single-lens reflex camera, where the photographer looks through the lens while composing and focusing, a rangefinder camera uses a separate viewfinder with a “split-image” focusing system. This makes it smaller and quieter, and explains Leica's popularity among photojournalists. The new M8 combines classic Leica craftsmanship with modern digital trimmings, such as a 10.3-megapixel sensor.
But can the new camera revive this luxury brand? Most Leicas are sold to art photographers, rich hobbyists and collectors. The M8, which will go on sale in November, will cost $4,795—without a lens. Leica makes other cameras too, such as its R-series single-lens reflex cameras. But, says Ralph Nebe, Leica's marketing director, “the most important impact on us was the loss in sales of the rangefinder camera.” As a result, he says, launching a digital rangefinder is crucial.
Leica is hoping that late is better than never. The firm has lost €30m ($38m) since 2004, and has been through a series of restructurings since 1997, the most recent of which was last year. Sales have since picked up, growing by 16% in the year to April, but not everyone is convinced that the company has turned the corner. Just this month Hermès, a French luxury-goods firm, sold its 31.5% stake in Leica to ACM Projektentwicklung, an Austrian investment firm that already owned 36%.
And despite the launch of the M8, photography's switch from film to digital technology could spell trouble for Leica. It is now so easy to tinker with digital images after the shutter has snapped that photography has become as dependent on computers as on cameras. “The newer generation coming up are less enamoured by high-end camera manufacturers,” says Steve Hoffenberg, an analyst at Lyra Research in Massachusetts. Leica, however, caters to a unique audience willing to pay for quality and cachet. Richard Caplan, a specialist Leica shop in London, had 25 orders for the M8 before it was even announced.
Nemo
Established
It is a short article, isn't? A short column?
Thank you for the contribution. It is interesting. Leica is in the newspapers, and this means the M8 is being a great impact.
Thank you for the contribution. It is interesting. Leica is in the newspapers, and this means the M8 is being a great impact.
Mark Norton
Well-known
Yes, a short article but perfectly matched to the readership who, by and large, will not yet be agonising whether to buy a 35mm Summicron or Summilux.
V
varjag
Guest
Or that PR company they hired for promotion really knows its job. Or bothNemo said:
newyorkone
Established
Great find...
Awesome magazine too
Awesome magazine too
Grober
Well-known
A perfect summary of the entire subject. Good, thorough reportage here!
Why can't the American press write like this?
Answer: because we teach everything BUT language skills at our secondary schools these days. (Don't get me started...)
-g
Why can't the American press write like this?
Answer: because we teach everything BUT language skills at our secondary schools these days. (Don't get me started...)
-g
jano
Evil Bokeh
newyorkone said:Awesome magazine too
It's great for global and international news and issues, but I dislike how they handle anything US based. So I just skip those sections
saxshooter
Well-known
I'm going to hollow me out a loaf of bread after lunch
newyorkone
Established
saxshooter said:I'm going to hollow me out a loaf of bread after lunch
You too eh! I was going to hollow out some bread for my 5D and 35L lens but I couldn't find a load big enough. Guess, I'll just have to wait my my M8 to arrive.
DaveSee
shallow depth of field
Thanks for the post... interesting ad/marketing angle for Leica.anandi said:
...too bad it suffers the sophomoric argument of "to tinker with digital images after the shutter has snapped" as having anything at all to do with what a lens does with light, what the camera does with the lens.
And with telcos claiming "fewest dropped calls" as acceptable service, statements like "the newer generation coming up are less enamoured by high-end" are about as empty and jaded as those who really believe "CD Quality" is a meaningful measure... let them eat Haagen Dazs and drink Starbucks.
rgds,
Dave
Bromo33333
Established
Actually as a subscriber to it over the last 18 years, I would have to beg to differ!Mark Norton said:
The reader, typically an executive type (not me), who has bonus money, so "agonize" wouldn't be much of an issue, since they would just go out an BUY BOTH without a lot of agonizing. And an M8. Possibly a M7 or MP too...
The "Economist" reader demogrpahic - at least the upper end of it - might have some "luxury-priced" cameras gathering dust or used a couple of times a year that would make a typical photographer blanche.
Bromo33333
Established
DaveSee said:
I tend to agree that this shouldn't be the focus - though in the darkroom there is a lot of tinkering on some images (dodge, burn, rub, over and under expose, develop with custom chemical or over and under develop depending upon exposure) that it doesn't seem to me that offering digital tools would be cheating any more than with traditional methods.
A good picture sometimes requires a LOT of tinkering, be it in a darkroom or on a computer. Thank goodness Leica is offering the tools that make it possible without munging up the output too badly (they are using DNG as well as RAW and JPG - which allows 12 bits for tinkering down to 8!).
I agree that there is a lot of hype - sometimes way too much, so that certain features are very much oversold and the delivery is a dissapointment. I think this isn't new, too.
steve garza
Well-known
How many "art photogtraphers" "rich hobbyists" do we have?
VinceC
Veteran
Nearly everyone with a digital camera also has a computer. That makes "tinkering" much easier than in the past, when you had to have a dedicated darkroom to enhance an image.
Bromo33333
Established
VinceC said:
True - assuming you have a good computer - for about $200-500 you can get some version or other of Photoshop - and for about $800 you can get a top flight pigment based printer (like Epson 2400) which can then do what you want for sure.
A darkroom costs a similar amount of money, and requires a different set of skills - image manipulation being a bit more time consuming and less flexible than on a computer from what I can tell.
Then again, you could get a film scanner for the price of a higher end digital camera and have a semi-digital setup (and avoid the enlarger and so on, and just develop film in a tank using a changing bag for loading....)
I suppose it is a "pick your poison" situation!