Leica has stopped making film cameras already in 2009 ?

jonmanjiro said:
I took some photos of the Asahi Camera article that I will upload during lunch in an hour or so. The title page of the article says for both M7 and MP -> 生産終了 "seisan shuuryou" which translates as "discontinued".
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Define 'discontinued!'

Twenty years from now they'll dust off the tooling, make a fresh batch of five hundred or so and ask about twenty five thousand dollars each for them!

:D
 
Well all I can say is this is proof Leica only sees customers as a source of cash flow. So if they think selling a Leica "Droid phone" by slapping a red dot on it with "snake" skin in a platinum case would some how generate a single red cent, these guys would not care. They have been taken over by the mind set if it makes money it must be proof it's artistic. Hell isn't more important to appear to be trendy than actually advancing photography with innovation based on a generational leap of technology. Why sure.

The moment that Leica went down the digital highway they doomed themselves to being a "me too" product that is inferior to the film cameras that created the Leica legend.
 
jsrockit said:
The MP is too beautiful to discontinue.
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That's what they said about the Ferrari F40.

But, it sounds like the answer's been settled, so we can calm down for now. If you want a new M7 or MP, you'll be able to buy it, box-stock or customized out the proverbial wazoo. Be happy for this.


- Barrett
 
Just as taxes are about to greatly increase (U.S. in 2011), you are telling me that I have to buy used. Geee... I already figured that out.

I wouldn't count Leica out with regards to new film cameras at very high prices / low volume.
 
larmarv916 said:
Well all I can say is this is proof Leica only sees customers as a source of cash flow.
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How true. It is so much better to run a company at a loss. Eventually you can fire all your employees and sell your name and logo to Cosina.

The Nikon rangefinder reissues were a money losing scheme and one of the most expensive cameras for them to produce. Mostly because they had to relearn how to make rangefinders--the expertise in the company had retired long ago. Even if they had plans, that is not enough to to put a camera into production.
 
The Asahi Camera magazine cover:

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First page of article:

4725889749_d1183bc413_b.jpg
 
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Finder said:
The Nikon rangefinder reissues were a money losing scheme and one of the most expensive cameras for them to produce. Mostly because they had to relearn how to make rangefinders--the expertise in the company had retired long ago. Even if they had plans, that is not enough to to put a camera into production.
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Of course, Nikon may not have initiated the limited reintroduction of the S-series RFs simply to make a buck. In fact, I can't imagine them not having done the math when undertaking the project.

No publicly-traded company is in business to operate at a loss. But not every product introduced necessarily has to return a hefty profit...or even much of a profit at all. (Word has it that Chrysler has lost a small sum of money for every Dodge Viper produced. They're still making them, last time I checked.)


- Barrett
 
Finder;1352337 The Nikon rangefinder reissues were a money losing scheme and one of the most expensive cameras for them to produce. Mostly because they had to relearn how to make rangefinders--the expertise in the company had retired long ago. Even if they had plans said:
Nikon did not loose money on the re-issues. The ones who lost were the dealers who paid a premium for the cameras, anticipating a stampede of eager Nikonistas to snap them up at, initially $4000+ for the S3/50 combination and $5000+ for the SP 2005.
I dont think Nikon made a profit as such, but they certainly broke even. It must have hurt some of the dealers who held on to these 'collectibles" in anticipation of great value increases. Instead they saw the values drop to less than half.
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amateriat said:
Of course, Nikon may not have initiated the limited reintroduction of the S-series RFs simply to make a buck. In fact, I can't imagine them not having done the math when undertaking the project.

No publicly-traded company is in business to operate at a loss. But not every product introduced necessarily has to return a hefty profit...or even much of a profit at all. (Word has it that Chrysler has lost a small sum of money for every Dodge Viper produced. They're still making them, last time I checked.)


- Barrett
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All Japanese special edition cameras are not money making ventures. But Nikon is a far bigger company than Leica and can absorb the cost of special editions much better. The traditional film-camera business model just does not work anymore. Leica is going to be hard pressed to continue it.

Besides, this article says Leica has discontinued their film cameras. Why is this a surprise?
 
Tom A said:
Nikon did not loose money on the re-issues. The ones who lost were the dealers who paid a premium for the cameras, anticipating a stampede of eager Nikonistas to snap them up at, initially $4000+ for the S3/50 combination and $5000+ for the SP 2005.
I dont think Nikon made a profit as such, but they certainly broke even. It must have hurt some of the dealers who held on to these 'collectibles" in anticipation of great value increases. Instead they saw the values drop to less than half.
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Tom, I don't have the production cost numbers from Nikon (I worked for a different Japanese camera manufacturer). From what I understand, the production cost was higher than they budgeted for. Now whether they compensated for that, I have no idea. But then manufacturers tend not to let folks know about their losses. But they could have come out even--but I am not sure what that means.
 
If they could hold out with film for 3 more years they could celebrate 100 years of Barnack's invention of the 35mm camera. Touting the M9 on that occasion just won't be the same.
 
The significance of the company that brought us 35mm photography ceasing to market 35mm film cameras is definitely up there on my scale of importance!

That really only leaves Cosina as a manufacturer of film bodies now!
 
I think the option most of us have right now is to wait and see. Either that or take a vacation to Solms to tour the factory and put the squeeze on any and everyone there for information.

Regarding Leica's backlog of M9s I'm sure they wish ELCAN was still under their ownership to pick up the production rate.
 
Yesterday I spoke to the gentleman who is considered 'Mr Leica' in Australia. He has had a working relationship with Leica stretching back over 40 years, working in various capacities for Leica until very recently when he retired. We were chatting about the scarcity of both the M9 and X1 in Australia and the world in general. Neither of us knew anything about this thread, but he had just returned from Solms. He told me that Leica had stopped production of the film bodies to try to meet the demand for the M9. Due to a simple lack of skilled labour, Leica has had to shift all its production capacity to get as many M9's into waiting photographer's hands as possible which will help Leica enjoy its most profitable year in a long time.

No idea how this observation relates to the long-term survival of the film M's.
 
P. Lynn Miller said:
Due to a simple lack of skilled labour, Leica has had to shift all its production capacity to get as many M9's into waiting photographer's hands as possible which will help Leica enjoy its most profitable year in a long time.

No idea how this observation relates to the long-term survival of the film M's.
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good information, and makes sense. wonder what is their next move, if even this shift in production emphasis does not help with shortage of output. open up plant in Canada again ? :)
 
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