Is the "Rangefinder Renaissance" kicked off by Voigtlander over?

[fotomeow]

"Is the "Rangefinder Renaissance" kicked off by Voigtlander over?"


I know what you mean, but not sure if "Renaissance" is the word I would use to describe it.
Its a tricky one, and I am probably splitting hairs here.
I mean, the Leica/Canon/Nikon, etc RFs have been around for decades, with only Leica making new products until CV jumped in.
I guess I would say it was the CV Marketing, modernized lenses, and competitive pricing that sparked a renewed interest in RF gear.
And producing the first dRF wasnt so much renaissance in my mind, but cutting edge leaders.

In any case, Renaissance or whatever it is, I dont think it is over for two reasons. One is that CV is still putting out quality RF lenses,
albeit at a slower rate than before. And two, the used market for CV lenses is very active. They have almost maxed out what
they can do with film RF cameras for as "mass market" of a crowd the RFers will ever be. He can successfully put on more RF products,
but they will have to be more "niche" than before, for a select crowd. Think Limited Production.

Its unfortunate that Mr K said he was only interested in analog. The Japanese culture is very culture and integrity driven,
meaning that if he goes back on his word, he will catch tons of sh*t and lose street cred.

 

[Vics]

I doubt there was ever a renaissance... just another player in the niche market.

I agree. I started thinking about RF seriously in about 2000 and discovered CameraQuest in about 2003. Now I'm always behind the times and I don;t think Mr. Gandy was even discussing Cosina at that time, but he sure seemed to be leading the charge in the RF world back then. Maybe it all resulted in the current Mirror-less digi craze. I've only gotten as far as the M3.

 

[jsrockit]

The Japanese culture is very culture and integrity driven, meaning that if he goes back on his word, he will catch tons of sh*t and lose street cred.

So, in Japan, you are not allowed to change your mind? How does one evolve and learn? Just curious. 🙂

 

[dct]

Very nice!

I thought I read on Ken Rockwell that the 21 Voigt was not a good choice for digital? So I avoided it.

Ken's site is interesting and worth reading. But he has a very dedicated belief which doesn't always match the experience of others or mine. So take his articles always with a pinch of salt and don't make decisions based only on his opinions.

 

[traveler_101]

I think renaissance--"rebirth"--is a good word for what has happened. There is a relation between Mr. Kobayashi's producing and marketing an affordable film rangefinder camera and lenses--a kind of rebirth of an old classic, the LTM camera, and all kinds of developments in the photography world today--from the new small mirror-less cameras to the interest in b&w--aimed at recovering the skill and excitement of the hobby photography once was and has become again.
Thanks to Mr. Kobayashi I was able to purchase affordable CV lenses for my m43 camera and then moved on to b&w film photography when I realized I could best use the CV lenses that way.

 

[NazgulKing]

One of my disappointments is that the only company that seems to be interested in the Leica nostalgia market has thrown off LTM people, completely. All of the new lenses are M, and it appears all of the LTM stuff is discontinued. Given the number of LTM cameras around, and the fact that an adapter turns an LTM into an M lens, the one place they built their brand seems to be the one place they don't care about anymore.

Don't care about LTM, don't care about digital--they're leaving themselves a smaller and smaller slice of a small market. But hey, it worked for Kodak! 🙂

Cosina makes more money making Zeiss SLR lenses than making RF lenses.

And let's be frank here. Digital entails a massive amount of investment, something that Cosina cannot afford. At best they supply the RF and the body, but someone else must be willing to supply the electronics.