Jump to conclusion?

[dll927]

I see the thread on the M8 has been closed and moderators have been told not to allow any replies "trashing" Leica.

I'm a Leica owner (M4-2 and three lenses) and I'm in no position to "trash" them. But I can't help commenting that, in the case of the M8, maybe the marketing boys got ahead of the engineers.

Considerable ink has been used up about some high-end French company buy ing up a large wad of Leitz stock. Supposedly, said French company demanded a rather large price increase for Leitz products to make them even more exclusive.

The U. S. has a law known as the Logan Act that prohibits states or outsiders from trying to conduct U. S. foreign policy. Maybe the Germans need a similar piece of legislation.

 

[PHOTOEIL]

The U. S. has a law known as the Logan Act that prohibits states or outsiders from trying to conduct U. S. foreign policy. Maybe the Germans need a similar piece of legislation.

Germany is part of the EEC and France to, what's the problem?
Hermes (France) is a company whit a philosophy about high quality, leica to, what's the problem?
Hermes had the money and the willing on the right moment, what's the problem?
After the war, Leica's have been assembled in France (the Saar), what's the problem?
France AND Germany (in the steel and coal association) were, along with the BENELUX, the founders of the EEC, what's the problem?

No problem.

 

[rover]

I see the thread on the M8 has been closed and moderators have been told not to allow any replies "trashing" Leica.

I just went and did a search for closed threads,

I guess I should know this, but I didn't find one (searched the News, M8, M8 Problems, General and Leica M forums).

Can you provide a link to the closed thread?

 

[markinlondon]

I don't see how the pricing policy of a public limited company is related to a nation state's foreign policy. Maybe I'm missing something?

 

[Ossifan]

And don't forget the Italians - I believe they were original members, too. 😉

 

[rover]

I don't see how the pricing policy of a public limited company is related to a nation state's foreign policy. Maybe I'm missing something?

I think the closed thread is missing.

I just searched some more, the most recent 525 posted to threads, none are closed.

This must be some old stuff we are talking about.

 

[rover]

I found it, the thread is not closed.

 

[MP Guy]

I never closed the thread. And the no trashing part is to show respect for Leica stepping out and talking about the problem and solution. If one has other things they want to discuss about Leica they are free to do so in a different thread. But, don't forget the golden rules.

 

[Ben Z]

Unless I was dreaming or hallucinating, I'm sure I recall reading that Hermes' shares in Leica were bought out a while before the M8 was released to the public and they no longer have any stake in the company.

 

[Dougg]

Ben, I think you're right; Hermes' minority holdings in Leica were recently acquired by an Austrian investor group that now becomes the majority owner...
http://www.imaginginfo.com/article/article.jsp?id=1973&siteSection=4

 

[Trius]

You can not blame Leitz for the few people (less than 30 RFF
members, in a community of over 6000) that pre-ordered
the M8 un-seen and were very vocal about their high expectations,
purely based on a company brand that doesn't have a lot to do with
digital photography.

No ... the company brand has a lot to do with IMAGE quality ... analog or digital. http://www.leica-camera.us/photography/m_system/m8/

I'd say "first timeless digital camera 'Made in Germany'" sets a pretty high expectation of their digital effort.

 

[Kim Coxon]

Up to now, I have stayed out of any M8 discussion mainly because I prefer to discuss fact rather than conjecture. I don't have an M8 and so cannot comment on how serious the "issue" is. No camera is going to be perfect regardless of the maker. Any camera or lens will have it's limitation and potential problems may only become apparent after the camera is launched. The M8 was never going to be any different. How much Leica or the reviewers knew before the camera was released can only be conjecture. The validity of any "expectation" is also down to individuals. Some owners are happy to accept the issues for the time being and are keeping their cameras and some are not and are returning them.

However, there is one thing that I find very disconcerting. Leica have issued what is effectively a "press release" to all the major camera forums saying that they are aware of the issues. I followed the link in Trius's post to the Leica website. I do find it odd that the M8 is still described in the way it is and there is no mention of of the issues even though Leica have "published" and acknowledgement of them. Nor does their seem to be any mention of it on any of the dealer websites.

Kim

 

[jaapv]

That one I can answer, Kim. I spoke our importer yesterday (They are pretty big and import about every professional brand) and the manager was rather upset that I was the one to tell him about the Leica release on the internet forums. Leica clearly thought it more important to communicate directly with their customers. Understandable given the overblown internet frenzy that was going on.

 

[Kim Coxon]

Thanks for that Jaap. It would be even more interesting to know if it is just the internet releases that Leica are not telling the dealers/importers about. Although they have acknowleged the issue to the Forums, there is nothing on their website. I would be interested if they had made a similar acknowledgement to official dealers and importers.

Kim

That one I can answer, Kim. I spoke our importer yesterday (They are pretty big and import about every professional brand) and the manager was rather upset that I was the one to tell him about the Leica release on the internet forums. Leica clearly thought it more important to communicate directly with their customers. Understandable given the overblown internet frenzy that was going on.

 

[Trius]

I would be very concerned if Leica were not also communicating this information directly to their distribution channel. It is possible that distributors or dealers have not seen such an announcement through their access to a secure website, have not checked the latest bulletins via email, etc. I think the proper thing to have done would be to transmit the same information to the channel first, so they were not caught unaware. But that's just me.

 

[Ben Z]

That one I can answer, Kim. I spoke our importer yesterday (They are pretty big and import about every professional brand) and the manager was rather upset that I was the one to tell him about the Leica release on the internet forums.

I'll bet he was upset. Now if he sells an M8 he can't say later on he didn't know 😀

 

[jaapv]

I'll bet he was upset. Now if he sells an M8 he can't say later on he didn't know 😀

He sells B&W as well... 😉