HI BILL your feeling on the m8 upgrade

[peterleyenaar]

All this can be explained with one word : CONSUMERISM, a simple concept really,
create a need in the mind of the consumer , through clever advertising .
My Dad owned his cameras for 30+ years, we buy cameras every few years, because we "need" them .

 

[Dogman]

We have been marketed this need. And we now serve an economy based on consumption of products. Funny how that worked out. I always thought the economy was to serve us.

 

[peterleyenaar]

Some effects of consumerism:
1 Money, it is never enough.
2 Whenever something takes place that doesn't seem to make sense, or that is not
obvious, someone or some company is making a lot of money.
Micosoft offering 40 billion for Yahoo ?, it is all about creating the "need" in the consumers mind.
I guess I am of topic now

 

[kevin m]

Leica is simply no longer relevant. The brand started off with a bang of innovation: putting small, yet capable cameras in places cameras had never gone before. But now they're trapped by their own history producing cameras that have the nostalgic look and feel their affluent, aging customer base nostalgically demands, innovation be damned.

Leica needs to make a competitor the the Ricoh GR-D; Leica needs to make a "CL" equivalent that would allow the treasure trove of M and LTM lenses out there access to an affordable digital sensor; most of all, Leica MUST stop letting the demands of people who appreciate "the finer things in life" dictate what it produces.

There is no future in their current path.

 

[kevin m]

FWIW, I shoot film then scan it. I had a darkroom in my house with a V-35 enlarger, but broke it down and sold it about a week after I bought Photoshop CS.

 

[kevin m]

It might not be relevant to you, but for several others it is.

"Several" ain't gonna keep the company solvent much longer.

They can keep making the M8 and their "money is no object" lens line, but they need to also produce a more affordable, more accessible product line or they're finished. By "accessible," I mean some technology that a lay person can pick up and instantly understand its usefulness.

 

[ZebGoesZeiss]

As an M8 owner, I have to agree with Kevin M: In the real world, Leica means nothing at all. That doesn't mean I don't like my M8, but it's only a very expensive amateur camera.

 

[RF-Addict]

It seems that Leica wants to be the "Rolls Royce" among camera manufacturers and will be content with fewer, but higher margin sales. It is the only explanation for their policy. Yes, manufacturing in Germany is more expensive than in Japan or Korea, BUT look at german car manufacturers - they compete nicely in the global market, despite the high Euro. Leica has become a small niche player and seems content with that status.

 

[kevin m]

I should add that I don't think there's anything wrong with Leica making expensive goods, just that they need to make something simply....useable, too. Das best oder nichts didn't work very well for Mercedes, either. 🙂

Personally, if Leica started selling the R-D1 tomorrow with the red dot and a factory warranty, I'd be among the first in line.

Also, there's still a HUGE hole in the consumer digital P&S market for a useable, analog-ish camera with manual controls, and that seems well within Leica's capabilities. The Lumix cameras are halfway there.....

 

[mourges]

You got to wonder if Leica started selling their cameras at half the price, would they sell twice as many?? I'm guessing they would. I'd buy a $2K digital leica in a flash - it can't cost that much to make and cover the development costs.

 

[breathstealer]

Personally, if Leica started selling the R-D1 tomorrow with the red dot and a factory warranty, I'd be among the first in line.

Better yet, if it had been Leica and not Ricoh that came up with the GR-D, it would've been hailed as the revival of a historic brand. Or maybe even the Canon G9. Leica's really having trouble coming up with cameras that normal people want to buy, much less use.

I'm going to have to second everyone who's saying film is fast becoming irrelevant to the new generation as well. I'm in my last year of high school, and I try to use my Canon 7 and OM-1 as much as possible, but when my friends ask "how come you lug those old bricks around", I have trouble answering. It's true that a classic camera is much more of a joy to shoot with, but when I'm paying twice the cost of the film to have my negatives scanned, or scanning them myself and getting dusty blurred messes, I'm not sure if it's worth the trouble any more.