BIG News for Europeans

[jaapv]

What was wrong with the DS-ID series???

 

[sgy1962]

20.000 a year would stretch their capacity to the limits i was told.
Yes is is a small company!

So there's a very real possibility that these things aren't not on store shelves until the latter part of 2007.

 

[sgy1962]

after a difficult time, do you think leica could be saved by the M8? It's cheaper than quite a few professional DSLRs after all...
Or on the contrary, will leica be definitely sinking after that, as Citroên did after they launched the Traction Avant?

For the short term, most definately. When you think about how big is the rangefinder pool and what percentage will find a reason to open up the bank accounts for this camera, the next couple of years look bright. And I don't believe the M8 will steal sales from film cameras, because I believe most of the buyers of this camera will either be folks who already have a stable of film rangefinders or maybe people who have already gone digital, but have used rangefinders in the past.

But I got the Leica World in the post yesterday and one item which is clear to me is that the M8 is just one peice of Leica's marketing strategy. Along with the DMR, it may represent the cornerstone for Leica, but there's their whole D line which is getting more extensive -- Digilux 3; V-Lux 1; D-Lux 3 and C-Lux 1. The V-Lux 1 particularly looks like something special, and as Leica cameras go, it's relatively affordable.

And remember what Leica film cameras have done in the last ten years? There was the M6 going to the M6 ttl and then the M7 and then the MP, not to mention all the special editions. I suspect the same is true for the M8. In two years or so we'll have the M8-2 with a little tweaking. And then in a couple more years we'll have an M9, ect. And there'e a segment of the Leica rangefinder crowd who need, or just want, the latest and the best.

And who knows, maybe Leica will come oout with some special edition M8s.

 

[Mark Norton]

Even 20000 is hugely ambitious. Work it out and that's one every 5 minutes. My guess is the final alignment and quality control takes at least an hour, so they will be doing that with 12 cameras in parallel.

You then wonder whether the suppliers can produce the required parts. How much of a challenge for Kodak is 80 sensors a day with the required yield? What about the supplies who mill the top cover out of solid brass? And so on.

20000 cameras at ex-factory would be €50-60m and together with continued success in sports optics, DMR, M+R lens drag-along, the digital compacts, plus of course my lens coding business (LOL) and Leica should be back onto the road of profitability.