Collectors and users

[kevin m]

Collecting is no worse than any other human peccadillo. The particular trouble with the M-Leica is that the company quite obviously caters to the desires of collectors and nostalgists rather than the needs of photographers. In the short term it makes sense to do so as there's a loyal, if dwindling, market ready to buy. The shame is that there's an even bigger market ready to buy a bold new design (as with the S2) that Leica hasn't made yet.

Here's Jean Renoir's take on collecting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgOXBc5zmRU

 

[Spider67]

A good example for collectors value drying up the market of user Leicas was the policy of many Camera shops in Austria to brand any screwmount Leica as collectible to be sold for a premium. Due to that fact I got my perfectly affordable IIIc from Keith/Australia as they are still an expensive in Germany and Austria.

 

[Ben Z]

Probably the price. As a schoolboy I collected matchbox labels. As far as I know, there aren't any that sell for vast sums (at least, there weren't then, though there may be now) so it's regarded as a harmless eccentricity: 'poor fool'. People have much more of a problem with 'rich fools', even though they aren't necessarily all that rich or all that foolish.

Cheers,

R.

That's a good point and price undoubtedly plays into it, but then how do you explain why art collectors, who sometimes pay in the millions for a single painting, are respected for their taste and savvy? I don't think it's just because art appreciates in value, because there was plenty of Leica-collector-bashing on the internet at a time when Leica collectibles were going up in value rapidly as well.

 

[Roger Hicks]

That's a good point and price undoubtedly plays into it, but then how do you explain why art collectors, who sometimes pay in the millions for a single painting, are respected for their taste and savvy? I don't think it's just because art appreciates in value, because there was plenty of Leica-collector-bashing on the internet at a time when Leica collectibles were going up in value rapidly as well.

Dear Ben,

Because it's self-selecting. The ones who buy ONLY rubbish are never heard of again. The ones who buy 10% good stuff (10 good paintings and 90 bad ones) are remembered only for the good stuff. By the time you're paying millions you're seldom buying art for art's sake, but art as an already validated investment.

Cheers,

R.