Issues with Leica, the company

[kshapero]

Can't keep up with all the new Leica's. Everything was fine up to and including the M9 then it all went haywire. Every time someone mentions an MA, M-P or whatever I have to go the Leica website and look it up. Why Leica after all these years have you made such a nomenclature mess of things?:bang:

 

[dogberryjr]

"Mystique."

 

[kknox]

Trying to expand thier customer base. Im 61' my kids would never shoot my M4, M6, or M8. They would shoot at Leica T etc. These kids grew up with tech everything. Heck the T is some what like an iphone.

Leica can't survive on film cameras or old school digital. They have to target a younger buyer, that wants wi-fi better screens, hip styling. It's called a conquest buyer, sell them a T to get them away from the iphones. Then maybe they will see the value in something other than a phone camera, and move up the Leica product line.

 

[dave lackey]

I have the same problem.. Too many alphabet soup models. Too many overlaps. I liked it better when they kept things simple.🙄

 

[jarski]

agreed, I got confused after M9 also and fall by the wayside. perhaps its just "web distortion" but now that same line of camera is called M240, not just M as Leica obviously intended. similarly their analog camera names got lost in translation, least for me. was M-P a digital or analog? oh without dash its analog and with dash digital? 😕 :bang:

 

[hendriphile]

Nikkor lens labelling is perhaps even worse. Who can keep track of D, F, G, AS, AI, AIS, AP, UPI... 😀

 

[Ko.Fe.]

I have to google almost every camera I don't have. So what...

 

[kshapero]

Nikkor lens labelling is perhaps even worse. Who can keep track of D, F, G, AS, AI, AIS, AP, UPI... 😀

It's an epidemic of confusion. But at least as of late their camera bodies are fairly logicaly named.😱

 

[bayernfan]

they're doing the best they can with a limited number of single digits. i say give them a break. 😀

 

[CameraQuest]

Can't keep up with all the new Leica's. Everything was fine up to and including the M9 then it all went haywire. Every time someone mentions an MA, M-P or whatever I have to go the Leica website and look it up. Why Leica after all these years have you made such a nomenclature mess of things?:bang:

As many of you know, I hate this new Leica naming scheme. I find it confusing, unnecessarily so.

So the bottom line question is why? Did Kaufman's Elfs just make a huge error, or was it something else?

I think it was something else. I suspect the new confusing model names was carefully designed with the intent to confuse -- so hapless consumers would be forced to consult with their ultimate Leica resource - the LEICA STORE.

Yep, I think its a scheme to drive confused consumers into Leica Stores.

Of course maybe thats not it at all. None the less its difficult to imagine Leica making a huge blunder like this without having a very calculated reason for it.

Stephen

 

[Godfrey]

Bothers me not at all. If I have to look something up, I look it up.

Consider the M sequence, not counting various specialized, low-production editions in all the different basic model production.

film:
M3
M2
M1
M4
M5
M4-2
M4-P
M6
M6TTL (0.72x, 0.58x, 0.85x)
M7
MP
M-A

digital:
M8
M8u
M8.2
M9
M9-P
M-E
M Monochrom
M typ 240
M-P typ 240
M Monochrom typ 246
​

I don't know what's so confusing. The M8 family has three models in it, the M9 family has four models in it. The typ 240/246 succeeds the M9 and has three models. The M-A is a film MP without a meter, in essence. What's for sale today, new production, are M7, MP, and M-A in film and M-E, M/M-P typ 240, M Monochrom typ 246 in digital. Seven models ...

Surely photographers who keep a half dozen different film types and characteristics, with sliding scales of time/temperature/dilution for different speeds and contrasts, in their head can remember seven camera models ... ?

G

 

[Addy101]

It isn't that difficult:
S = the medium format camera system.
M = well, M - the 240 being the latest digital version
X = fixed lens APS-C digital camera
T = interchangeable lens APS-C digital camera

-E = is the (cheaper) economy model within a range (usually last generations tech)
-P = is a better build version of the main camera
The M60 is a speciality camera
And there are two film M's listed: M-A and M7.
See, it isn't that hard. 😀

Somebody mentioned Nikon - what is the thing with D3, D3s, D3x? D800, D800E? But all this is much, much easier then the Canon Rebels - while they have a nice number in Europe (now at 760D), the American Rebels have it seems a random set of letters and numbers: XT, XS, T1i, SL1 and the T5 and T5i where the T5 is newer then the T5i :bang:

 

[Particular]

Leica could go back to a naming scheme like they used for their screw mount cameras, and there would be even more confusion.
Aesthetically I don't like the dash, and the Typ 240, 246 etc. numbers seem arbitrary, but other than that it is all fairly logical.
I think Epson are the worst offender, because they reuse number ranges that they have used for scanners on their printer line. That is confusing!

 

[dave lackey]

It is totally ridiculous, IMO.

 

[jarski]

copying from Godfreys: M9, M9-P, M-E, M Monochrom, M typ 240, M-P typ 240, M Monochrom typ 246.

to me this looks like one helluva mess, because it was made in past few years only. not like two decades of M4, M5, M4-2, M4-P (that also can look odd).

 

[rhl-oregon]

At least they've resisted the temptation to tack on zeroes (Nikon) or "marques" (Canon). If Leica nomenclature had taken an unswervable course back in the economy of the Weimar Republic, there might have been a Leica II,000,000a...

Current branding appears to be based on kindergarten blocks (special attention to letters M, T, Q, X, followed by P and A; C and D traded to Minolta and Panasonic in return for blocks marked $$$$$$ [i.e., all 6 sides]), superstitiously avoiding ordinal numbers after 9 or rather skipping to the small-print 3-digits (Typ 113 et al).

If you choose to be amused, it's playtime! My M5 and OM4 look on like grandpa and grandma outside the sandbox....

 

[kshapero]

Bottom line: techno-weenies are wack jobs. (Oops, I'm an actuary)😱😱

 

[Bille]

I don't know what's so confusing. The M8 family has three models in it, the M9 family has four models in it. The typ 240/246 succeeds the M9 and has three models. The M-A is a film MP without a meter, in essence. What's for sale today, new production, are M7, MP, and M-A in film and M-E, M/M-P typ 240, M Monochrom typ 246 in digital.

Ok, now I´m confused.

 

[Godfrey]

copying from Godfreys: M9, M9-P, M-E, M Monochrom, M typ 240, M-P typ 240, M Monochrom typ 246.

to me this looks like one helluva mess, because it was made in past few years only. not like two decades of M4, M5, M4-2, M4-P (that also can look odd).

The M4 was in production from '68 to '74, the M5 from '71 to '75, the M4-2 from '78 to '80, the M4-P from '81 to '87. Even the M3 was only in production from '54 to '68 and the M6 (longest production life of all) from 1984-2003.

No single Leica body has been in production for two decades yet. Most of the film models have a four to five year production span. The digital models are changing more quickly because the underlying digital capture technology is only just barely 20 years old in a production sense, where the 35mm film camera technology, even at the introduction of the M, was already past thirty years old.

G

"If the name of the camera confuses you, just call it Friedrich."

 

[Godfrey]

Bottom line: techno-weenies are wack jobs. (Oops, I'm an actuary)😱😱

I'm a writer and photographer. In my writing work, I explain what techno-weenies create. They may be "wack jobs" but they are extremely smart people.

G