M-Monochrom commercial, featuring the Ghost of Capa

[steveclem]

Much ado about nothing here, I didn't think it was so awful, just look at the dross on commercial TV and say different.

 

[Richard G]

A bit cringe-worthy. Left out the bit where she's reincarnated as a Contax.

 

[Rogier]

Its better if you understand German. But still....

 

[maddoc]

Capa used a Leica ?

 

[Bruno Gracia]

Capa used a Leica ?

And a Contax, and a Rollei..

 

[RBruceCR]

There is this program of R Capa in You Tube. It is outstanding for a lacking of a better word!

 

[palec]

Using Capa who did shoot mostly Contax is not a bad idea. Is the ad in bad taste? Not by modern standards of lying to the hilt, gross inadequacies overlooked, instant redundancy, obsolete before getting home! Be glad it was Rangefinder..Next one will be HCB with a long nosed white lens..

HCB used Noctilux back then, don't you know?

 

[krötenblender]

What irritates me most, is that the female voice is not a native speaker. I am, so I would recognize it.

Besides that, I think, it is not a very smart video (because it assumes, that Leica-buyers don't know about Capas background, which pisses off many Leica-fans and others, as we can see here), but it also was not that awful or worse than other stuff, which tries to play with emotion and the myth of a brand. I think, if you don't care about the brand or photography at all, it was in fact a nicely done commercial.

 

[jasonrutter]

I was kind of put off by the ad. Leica cameras have gone and done way more than go to war. I think of all the amazing images that have been make using Leica cameras that show the beauty, sadness, and the humor of life that gives us hope of a brighter tomorrow. To hang your legacy on war only perpetuates the failures of mankind in my eyes. For Leica to carry the mantel of war as a selling point disappoints me since I thought they could and would aim to be better than this.

 

[Socrates]

As far as my own research has come, Capa used in the very beginning a leica III. I think that he has switch to contax after the spanish civil war, all his ww II pictures are take with contax ii and a rolleiflex and as said before in vietnam he also died with a contax in his hands.
If capa had a leica in vietnam I don't think it would be a leica III he would probably would had a m. (not really a discussion point, just a thought)
(just my two cents on the leica contax discussion)

I think the reason they use Capa is that leica loves to say that Magnum is leica and so they like to pretent that all the photographers of Magnum are using a leica. There are for sure a lot of magnum photographers who shoot with leica but its not leica only.
Also I think that leica better can stick by its reputation as a streetphotographer camera, because when I think of a war photographers camera I would instantley think of a Nikon F3 and because Capa is the inventor of how we today see war photography you could say that the contax II is also one of them..

 

[icebear]

Do we any RFF member in Brazil ?
It would be nice to have some comments from the actual target group of the ad and not just some folks from parts all over the globe but not from the region for which it is intended.

The web makes it available to everyone and obviously there are enough bean counters around who feel being stepped on their historical accuracy toes big time😀.

"Art is what you can get away with" Andy Warhol
"Advertising is what you can get away with w/o getting sued" made that up myself 😉.

 

[teleparallel]

I am from Brazil. I find it a well made ad. But then, I found it is inaccurate, and now I feel sad about it. In Brazil very little people now about Leica, or rangefinder systems. Also, the target market is very restrict, since a a digital Leica here cost about R$ 23000(about 11000 US dollars). I can't really say if it works. But i'd say it hits it's target.

 

[igi]

Leica III reincarnated as the M-Monochrom?

The Leica III can't shoot color? :bang:

 

[icebear]

Leica III reincarnated as the M-Monochrom?

The Leica III can't shoot color? :bang:

I guess the vast majority of shots taken in the 1940's was black and white, >95% a wild guess 😉.
And maybe 99.5% of the most iconic pictures of this area are B&W.
That has nothing to do with camera itself...

 

[Photo_Smith]

Also I think that leica better can stick by its reputation as a streetphotographer camera, because when I think of a war photographers camera I would instantley think of a Nikon F3 and because Capa is the inventor of how we today see war photography you could say that the contax II is also one of them..

Loads of famous war photographers used Leicas, not Capa (although his most famous image possibly was) necessarily but many. I can't think of too many who used an F3 there probably were some but I'd hate to be the one to assert Leica=street Nikon F3=war photographers.

Leica war photographer? tell me it isn't so, aren't they street machines?

 

[umcelinho]

i disliked the concept of a camera having a soul and reincarnating, and it doesn't mention it's capa in any moment, probably because he was more of a contax guy anyway.

it's in german with subtitles because the rich people who have the cash to buy the camera locally will feel it's not for anyone, and it has that "foreign stuff" feeling.

visually, i really liked it.

 

[xayraa33]

Robert Capa also had a Nikon S camera along with his Contax camera at the time of his death in Indochina in 1954.