Leica as a fashion accessory in Bangkok

[Vincent.G]

Michael, I am sure there are online photography forums in Bangkok. Maybe that is a place you can reach out to more fellow photography enthusiast.

 

[kuuan]

passing through Bangkok ( if I had more time sure I'd have contacted you, Michael, hoping for a meet up ) I could not help but notice that a new Leica store just opened, I believe April 2016, at the Gaysorn Plaza, a luxury departement store:

and now they get free adverticing by me right here 🙂
There is a section with used gear too, a handful of bodies and some 20+ lenses, but no price tags. No tags nor descriptions at all, which, as I am not up to date with Leica bodies, I'd have appreciated.

 

[giganova]

Michael, you need any help to convert them to film lovers? 😀

Each time I visit Tokyo I am amazed how many girls are dangling film Leicas around their necks. Its the antithesis to cell phone selfies. I love it!

 

[giganova]

passing through Bangkok ( if I had more time sure I'd have contacted you, Michael, hoping for a meet up ) I could not help but notice that a new Leica store just opened at the Gaysorn Plaza, a luxury departement store.

Gotta give it to Leica: while other camera companies like Nikon are at the brink of bankruptcy, Leica is posting record sales. They must be doing something right!

 

[Timmyjoe]

I've been out of the digital Leica fold for some time now. Just wondering, do they have a smart phone app like Nikon and Canon do, where you can take a picture with your Leica digital camera and send it to your smartphone (for Facebooking, Snapchatting, Twittering, etc.)?

I would think that would bring more young people into the fold.

 

[kuuan]

Gotta give it to Leica: while other camera companies like Nikon are at the brink of bankruptcy, Leica is posting record sales. They must be doing something right!

believe me I am anything but a nationalist, but now I can't help but note that it was a countryman of mine, an Austrian, Mr. Andreas Kaufmann who had bought Leica, saved it from bankruptcy and made it prosper..oh, and he is an Andreas too 😉
cheers, andreas

 

[ReeRay]

Just wait until they try taking a selfie or asking their mates to snap a shot off with an RF patch to focus! Most of the Thai girls I see never venture beyond that level.

 

[Vincent.G]

Each time I visit Tokyo I am amazed how many girls are dangling film Leicas around their necks. Its the antithesis to cell phone selfies. I love it!

I saw quite a number of female film camera users on John Sypal's blog, "Tokyo Camera Style" too.

 

[Leica All Day]

passing through Bangkok ( if I had more time sure I'd have contacted you, Michael, hoping for a meet up ) I could not help but notice that a new Leica store just opened, I believe April 2016, at the Gaysorn Plaza, a luxury departement store:

and now they get free adverticing by me right here 🙂
There is a section with used gear too, a handful of bodies and some 20+ lenses, but no price tags. No tags nor descriptions at all, which, as I am not up to date with Leica bodies, I'd have appreciated.

Yes, that store just opened. They had a really big grand opening June 15th and one of our RFF members (LeicaShot aka Kristian Dowling) had his photos up and conducted a talk and a special workshop the following day. I was just at the shop yesterday to meet up with some of my friends, the prices are a little higher than the other stores in Bangkok that carry Leica, that said, it is nice that they opened up the store.

I spoke to a good friend who is well connected to the store, the owners and the official Leica distributors in Thailand and I asked my friend how can they survive when there are other stores in Bangkok that sell Leica gear for cheaper. My friend explained to me that they cater to a special market in Bangkok. He explained to me how the business works and I sort of understand it now. I guess the same could be said for most "official Leica stores" worldwide, I imagine that there are other stores in the same cities as official Leica stores that offer slightly cheaper prices.

I am not one of their "target customers", and I don't really get involved in that whole business aspect, nor do I understand it fully and I am OK with that. I am more of a shooter and I am not willing to go into one of those stores and pay the prices that they are asking. I prefer to spend my money on traveling, film and good times.

cheers, michael

 

[YYV_146]

Yes, that store just opened. They had a really big grand opening June 15th and one of our RFF members (LeicaShot aka Kristian Dowling) had his photos up and conducted a talk and a special workshop the following day. I was just at the shop yesterday to meet up with some of my friends, the prices are a little higher than the other stores in Bangkok that carry Leica, that said, it is nice that they opened up the store.

I spoke to a good friend who is well connected to the store, the owners and the official Leica distributors in Thailand and I asked my friend how can they survive when there are other stores in Bangkok that sell Leica gear for cheaper. My friend explained to me that they cater to a special market in Bangkok. He explained to me how the business works and I sort of understand it now. I guess the same could be said for most "official Leica stores" worldwide, I imagine that there are other stores in the same cities as official Leica stores that offer slightly cheaper prices.

I am not one of their "target customers", and I don't really get involved in that whole business aspect, nor do I understand it fully and I am OK with that. I am more of a shooter and I am not willing to go into one of those stores and pay the prices that they are asking. I prefer to spend my money on traveling, film and good times.

cheers, michael

I was at Leica Store NYC the other day with my fiancee and a young Chinese couple was buying an enormous amount of gear (M-P 240 with evf, grip, case and thumbie, Noctilux and 35lux FLE in Silver, 90 APO cron, Oberworth bag).

Now I've owned these lenses but only after soul-search and haggling extensively for the best deals and going for demo copies...and certainly not paid NYC-level sales taxes for them.

With one of these sales a day I think official stores are going to do just fine...

 

[Hern]

I was at Leica Store NYC the other day with my fiancee and a young Chinese couple was buying an enormous amount of gear (M-P 240 with evf, grip, case and thumbie, Noctilux and 35lux FLE in Silver, 90 APO cron, Oberworth bag).

Now I've owned these lenses but only after soul-search and haggling extensively for the best deals and going for demo copies...and certainly not paid NYC-level sales taxes for them.

With one of these sales a day I think official stores are going to do just fine...

I wonder, will Leica stray too far from the path of providing good functional practical cameras for the photographer or will they resign themselves to mere producers of rich-people bling?

Then again, a rangefinder isn't the most practical camera to start with...

 

[nongfuspring]

I wonder, will Leica stray too far from the path of providing good functional practical cameras for the photographer or will they resign themselves to mere producers of rich-people bling?

Then again, a rangefinder isn't the most practical camera to start with...

I don't think functionality and bling appeal are mutually exclusive. Cost might be proportional to luxury but luxury is arbitrary to practicality.

I've seen a lot of Leicas lately, all of them touted by young Chinese with mainland accents at tourist sites. I would imagine the demographic has changed a lot. Yet to see anyone actually take a photo with one.

 

[Doug]

Interesting, Michael, thanks for your observations. Good to think the young ladies will learn their new gear and make some photos.

Before this week I'd not been in a Leica store, though I've bought online from Leica Store Miami. This past Monday, however, I found my way to the Leica Store in an upscale suburb of Seattle, next door to the Apple Store. Interestingly, it looked just like Kuuan's pics of the Bangkok store!

I had some gear for them to send to New Jersey for service, and they were helpful and surprisingly knowledgeable about the technology, more detailed than usual for salesfolk.

 

[Huss]

In Los Angeles the Leica Store has the same prices as the regular camera stores, but it is a much nicer experience, with very friendly staff who know what they are talking about and will bend over backwards to help.

 

[David Hughes]

I wonder, will Leica stray too far from the path of providing good functional practical cameras for the photographer or will they resign themselves to mere producers of rich-people bling?

Then again, a rangefinder isn't the most practical camera to start with...

Hi,

It's the other way round; the rich people's bling becomes the good functional camera for the photographer about 6 months to a year later on. Well, that's how I get mine and it's a system that works even better six years after the rich buy them.

Regards, David

 

[Bille]

It is a rare thing here to see young people interested in "real cameras"... I only wish things here were similar with excitement as shown in your image.

That image looks completely staged to me.

 

[Huss]

Hi,

It's the other way round; the rich people's bling becomes the good functional camera for the photographer about 6 months to a year later on. Well, that's how I get mine and it's a system that works even better six years after the rich buy them.

Regards, David

You're welcome David!

😛

 

[jaapv]

Didn't anybody notice that they were holding those cameras properly? I'd say good luck to them. If I were younger I would be asking for telephone numbers.