Has Leica alienated photographers?

[infrequent]

Everlasting? Digital cameras? 😕🙄🙁

Not this one obviously...struggles to last even 5 years!

 

[Emile de Leon]

I would have never thought digital cams would last as long as they are..all my Panny Lumixes are still going strong..from the GH1 onwards..way over 5 years now..zero problems..
As far as Leica goes..I only buy Leica lenses..as the bodies are way too risky for me..esp for that kind of cashola..
Maybe if they come out with an M11 with video..and I have a good year businesswise..I will take a chance on them..but I value reliability..and well...Leica..seems to be anything but..

 

[jaapv]

My M8 is still going strong... and my Digilux2, and my DMR (the only thing that broke was the R9...)etc., etc. Reliability is not the issue.

 

[robert blu]

My Leica X1 more than 6 years old still works...
...day

and night!

robert

 

[ChrisLivsey]

My M8 is still going strong... and my Digilux2, and my DMR (the only thing that broke was the R9...)etc., etc. Reliability is not the issue.

My M8 is not still going strong, it has multiple issues, reliability may be an issue.
(It was purchased new and was "promised" by a Leica executive now long gone to be upgradable "forever", Leica makes Promises like Pie-crusts, both made to be broken.)

 

[noisycheese]

As Dick Marcinko famously said "The pain is how we know we are still alive."

I think Johnny Cash wrote a song along those lines.

 

[Ronald M]

Leica prices have kept with inflation. Problem being average persons income has not.

That leaves hedge fund managers, doctors and lawyers , being those who can afford one.


Restrictions on pro photogs almost mean tele photo glass, not Leica forte. The pro market is decreased substantially and they make less money except for a few.

 

[jaapv]

Not Leia's forte? What about the Apo-Telyt 135, Apo-Telyt 280-4.0, Modular Telyt system, Vario-Elmar 180-200, Vario-Elmar 105-280, Vario-Elmar 90-280 SL, to name but a few industry-leading lenses?

 

[Phil_F_NM]

Not Leia's forte? What about the Apo-Telyt 135, Apo-Telyt 280-4.0, Modular Telyt system, Vario-Elmar 180-200, Vario-Elmar 105-280, Vario-Elmar 90-280 SL, to name but a few industry-leading lenses?

For most daily hustling working photographers, these as well as the camera systems they are used on and the reliability of those systems, are not an option.

Phil Forrest

 

[jaapv]

I would have never thought digital cams would last as long as they are..all my Panny Lumixes are still going strong..from the GH1 onwards..way over 5 years now..zero problems..
As far as Leica goes..I only buy Leica lenses..as the bodies are way too risky for me..esp for that kind of cashola..
Maybe if they come out with an M11 with video..and I have a good year businesswise..I will take a chance on them..but I value reliability..and well...Leica..seems to be anything but..

Why don't you get an M240 then? Video, reasonably priced nowadays and no known reliability issues.

 

[Emile de Leon]

Why don't you get an M240 then? Video, reasonably priced nowadays and no known reliability issues.

Been thinkin about that..
But didn't you get rid of yours? For the CL..lol...

 

[jaapv]

I did - but the M9 and MM are still around - with a number of other Leicas. I preferred the selling of the M240 over a kidney...😀
I'm exceedingly pleased with the CL BTW.:angel:

 

[jsrockit]

I'm exceedingly pleased with the CL BTW.:angel:

Native lenses or M lenses?

 

[jaapv]

Both. The native lenses are "real Leica" quality and it performs impeccably with my M and R lenses.

 

[muser53]

That someone is alienated by the cost of a camera, that they presumably cannot afford, says to my mind more about the person and their world view than the item in question.

FWIW the current M line of cameras are out of my price range as well. Somehow, thankfully, I don't feel any sense of alienation.

 

[ptpdprinter]

That someone is alienated by the cost of a camera, that they presumably cannot afford, says to my mind more about the person and their world view than the item in question.

What does it tell you about their world view?

 

[Photog9000]

Not sure if "alienated" would be the right word for me. I have shot Olympus, Nikon, and now Fuji over my time in photography including a decade as a news photog. Leica has always been out of my price range or just would not have sufficed for my work as a newspaper guy. Now retired, all my SLR/DSLR gear has been sold in favor of just a Fuji X100S (with both the WCL & TCL) and a Yashica Electro35 GS (with the two converters). I like the light weight and quality of both cameras and they are satisfying my needs. I have always thought about a Leica but if $ were available, I would probably opt for a Zeiss Ikon ZM in film. The only Leica I really lust after is the Monochrom as I print only b&w and only post on the web in b&w.

 

[muser53]

What does it tell you about their world view?

That someone feels a sense of alienation because they cannot afford a (luxury) item indicates a degree of entitlement (and envy) I do not understand. A Leica is far removed from the necessities of life. Now if we were talking about food, shelter, a decent paying job and or access to an education then that's a whole other story.
Off to work now...I'll let you all ponder this.

 

[bluesun267]

That someone feels a sense of alienation because they cannot afford a (luxury) item indicates a degree of entitlement (and envy) I do not understand. A Leica is far removed from the necessities of life. Now if we were talking about food, shelter, a decent paying job and or access to and education then that's a whole other story.
Off to work now...I'll let you all ponder this.

Nail on the head. The thread title was: Has Leica alienated photographers...not has Leica alienated people who desire expensive luxury goods...

In the film era, a Leica camera was a necessity of life for many working photographers.

Even then, there were cheaper options to get the job done, so to speak. (There's always a cheaper way to do most anything). But owning a Leica meant better reliability and optics for the price. Increasing the working photographer's chances at survival basically.

Perhaps Leica still excel at optics but at least on their digital cameras, the reliability edge seems to be gone. And we are left with just the high price and high expectations. The competition offers six of one, half dozen of the other, at a much lower price.

As Morrissey sang (in The Queen is Dead): Has the world changed or have I changed? (It is always a little of both).

 

[noisycheese]

That someone feels a sense of alienation because they cannot afford a (luxury) item indicates a degree of entitlement (and envy) I do not understand. A Leica is far removed from the necessities of life...

Hear, hear.

At the end of the day, not being able to easily afford a Leica could not be anything other than the very definition of a first world "problem."