British article on Leica troubles

[Flow]

I think Leica's management has some serious problems. They constantly bring out special limited edition Leicas but how many of us are actually going to buy one AND use it. I think the people on this forum are the ones who enjoys making photographes. Not really those types that buy a limited edition camera and leave it in its case for years then sale it on eBay or something. Also because Leica constantly brings out limited edition cameras, I wonder how special they really are. Well maybe I am not the type to apprecial the specialness of the Hermes edition Leica MP but sorry I want to use the camera not as a fashion accessory.

Leica try to keep their cameras at a "royal" level that is not is really reaching most of us. It is fine to get a new Leica because they do last a long time but quiet a few of us simply cannot afford one because we have a family to feed. And instead of reaching photographers like all fine camera should, qyiet a lot of them are reaching the selected and wealthy people who aren't really interested in photography instead. They just want to show "they know their stuff and they use the best available cameras there is". Personally, I know someone who uses a Leica M7 and a few lenses BUT his camera's shutter speed is ALWAYS on AUTO and he never change the aperture on his lenses. Why? Because he thinks AUTO does everything for him... :bang:


Flowen

 

[StuartR]

I think the idea was the speical editions would allow them to raise cash so that they could continue to sell their regular items at the prices they had them at. Thnk about it: the Hermes MP sold for 8000 bucks right? Do you think that it required an extra 6000 dollars per unit in manufacturing, designing and marketing fees? Probably not... Personally, I don't care about special editions one way or another -- I don't have any, but if someone can afford a special edition and wants to use it, so what? And your logic that rich people can't photograph is kind of strange. There are just as many rich no-talent SOB's as there are poor no-talent SOB's. In fact, many of the best photographers in history have been wealthy -- they had the time to go out and just take pictures while others had to work. Take for instance Henri Cartier-Bresson or Jacques-Henri Lartigue -- both were quite wealthy, but they still managed to create lasting images.

In any case, I guess my point is that Leica should do whatever it takes to keep going. If that means making absurdly expensive special editions or an inexpensive Bessa competitor, no one should begrudge them either way. I just want them to continue churning out their fine cameras and lenses....

 

[Flow]

Oh no no no... I did not say rich people cannot photograph. Sorry maybe I had my words in a wrong way. I never meant rich people cannot photograph. I just meant there are rich people who do not really know about what they are getting. They buy a Leica just because of the price of the cameras and never get to use the cameras as they are supposed to. Because there are people who just buy the camera for the braggin factor. 😱


Flowen

 

[bobofish]

I think some of the comments about Leica's obsolescence are a bit asinine and short sighted.

Leicas are known for very high quality (except when they cut corners...) and are sold at a market niche that can pay for that high quality. For a pro photographer, $10k for a couple of bodies and lenses is a bargain, especially since those cameras will last and last and last in a way that most other cameras can not.
Likewise, the M's have been such stellarly popular journalistic cameras because they did not use whizzbang automatic features that required batteries and frequent maintenance.

My bestfriend's late grandfather was a photojournalist, and then later owned a few newspapers. More than once, he needed to use his Nikons as hammers and weapons. Since they were well made, he could then proceed to shoot pictures.
I think a Leica rangefinder mechanism probablly wouldn't appreciate that treatment, but my point is that frequently working pros beat the living hell out of their equipment, and it has to keep working. And the lenses have to be of the HIGHEST quality.

One big problem that many people seem to skirt around is that photojournalism now LIVES in digital. Three or four years ago that was not totally the case, but now with good Canon and Nikon digital cameras, pro photographers can get their shots to their employers in minutes, rather than days, and never have to worry about drunk lab employees using fixer instead of developer.

However photojournalism has been moving away from the Leica for a long time, due to very high quality autofocus from, Canon and Nikon. It's a fact of life. You can dominate the market some of the time, but not all of the time. (unless you're Microsoft)

As much as we poor people would not like it, it may be in Leica's future to become a small, niche company that makes highest quality cameras for nostalgics using film, and concentrate their money making on the lenses, to compete with Zeiss, etc.

Or, another related possibility would be to follow the lead of the new ALPA. Those cameras are as obsolete as obsolete can possibly be...all they have is shutter, aperature, tilt and superfantastic unbelievable quality, second to none in the world.
They are ridiculously, completely absurdly expensive, and yet they are selling like hotcakes (relatively speaking) because they offer a completely different style of shooting.
The people that buy Alpas are largely very very mature (not old) pro's and very very good amateur photographers (well, and celebrities) who don't feel like shooting whizzbang snappedyboo pictures.
For the love of God, the viewfinders don't even have a link to the lens!

And yet.....they offer ultimate creativity, unmatched performance, and they're purty.
A leica rangefinder could potentially be the AlPA 12WA of the small format world. Alpa goldplates their components, but they don't fritz around with Hermes leather.
Anyway, it's late, and time to stop babbling.
Cheers,
L