New Leica Statement

This does somewhat bear out the suggestion I made in another thread that Lee got the push for shooting his mouth off once too often.

More than one person inside Leica has said to me:

"Yes, one day, full frame will probably be possible. We don't know when, and it won't be soon."

This has been their consistent message for a year or so, which is why I was astonished to read the 'full frame at photokina' message.

From the same conversations, I completely back Ben's disinclination to believe in a FF 'upgrade' to the M8. M9 or M10 maybe; not (I suspect) M8.

As ever, I could well be wrong. I am not arrogant enough to believe that my contacts at Leica tell me everything.

Cheers,

R.
 
namelast said:
Alternative translation: "we are still debating if doing an M9 or an R10 for our FF chip".
Agree? Not agree?
Click to expand...
Not agree, because they are completely different chips and an FF chip 'off the shelf' would be vastly easier for the R.

Leica are not, and cannot easily become, chip manufacturers. They therefore rely on external suppliers meeting their standard at a price they can afford -- or indeed, being willing to supply a small, high-end, high-precision company at all.

Cheers,

R.
 
Olsen said:
So far Leica gear has fallen far less in value than my Hasselblad and Canon gear, relatively speaking. My Noctilux has doubled in value since I bought it, if I am to believe the figures. Further; buying photo gear has never been an 'investment'. I relatively optimistic on behalf of Leica, - FF-M is not such a big issue. But price, - and the falling dollar is. The dollar fall, - yes, I am glooming, could kill Leica. - As I have stated several times here.
Click to expand...

The fall of the dollar is supposed to make imports more expensive, exports cheaper. And so it has. I'm rooting for the American rangefinder company to take advantage of this. No...wait...there isn't one? Oh darn. Maybe Leica should move it's new plant to the US instead of Wetzlar. How about Youngtown? I hear there are alot of out of work steel workers there who can work on Leica's all metal rangefinders.

/T
 
Olsen said:
The dollar fall, - yes, I am glooming, could kill Leica. - As I have stated several times here.
Click to expand...
Dear Olsen,

And today the euro went above the $1.50 level for the first time. From $0.88 at its all-time high, as far as I recall. Will the euro hit $2?

I just hope that Leica is selling well in China and India. I almost wrote 'and other hard-currency countries' before realizing what a reversal of perception that is. Fortunately, I think they (Leica) rely on the US market far less than they used to, or they'd be dead by now.

Cheers,

R.
 
from a marketing point of view declaring that they will release a FF M camera in a near future could sounds correct, since it is crucial as a camera company to be up-to-date in this days. It is a blade with 2 sharp edges; you create a perception of being on the loop, that you will compete with the big brands technological speaking. but in the other hand there is a narrow market who do not buy this sort of things just for impulse, so any claim of this nature could put on hold any possible new clients... what a dilemma!

As I posted a long time ago here, Audi has the A line, with all the versions in between: 3,4,5,6,8, all the way to the S line and finally their crown jewel R8.
If Leica stop thinking like Bentley or Bugatti and they read the thousands of posts regarding this topic they could offer digicams between $1000-$2500 to fulfill a big market demand. Digital CMs, Digilux2 reloaded etc, real products with real consumer benefits, not smoke and mirrors like crystal LCDs and fancy engravings. Costumers are far more intelligent than that.
 
from a marketing point of view declaring that they will release a FF M camera in a near future could sounds correct, since it is crucial as a camera company to be up-to-date in this days. It is a blade with 2 sharp edges; you create a perception of being on the loop, that you will compete with the big brands technological speaking. but in the other hand there is a narrow market who do not buy this sort of things just for impulse, so any claim of this nature could put on hold any possible new clients... what a dilemma!

As I posted a long time ago here, Audi has the A line, with all the versions in between: 3,4,5,6,8, all the way to the S line and finally their crown jewel R8.
If Leica stop thinking like Bentley or Bugatti and they read the thousands of posts regarding this topic they could offer digicams between $1000-$2500 to fulfill a big market demand. Digital CMs, Digilux2 reloaded etc, real products with real consumer benefits, not smoke and mirrors like crystal LCDs and fancy engravings. Costumers are far more intelligent than that.
 
Sarcasm alert!

Sarcasm alert!

Tuolumne said:
The fall of the dollar is supposed to make imports more expensive, exports cheaper. And so it has. I'm rooting for the American rangefinder company to take advantage of this. No...wait...there isn't one? Oh darn. Maybe Leica should move it's new plant to the US instead of Wetzlar. How about Youngtown? I hear there are alot of out of work steel workers there who can work on Leica's all metal rangefinders.

/T
Click to expand...

Maybe somebody can buy the Argus name and make a digital Argus C3....
 
Roger Hicks said:
Dear Olsen,

And today the euro went above the $1.50 level for the first time. From $0.88 at its all-time high, as far as I recall. Will the euro hit $2?

I just hope that Leica is selling well in China and India. I almost wrote 'and other hard-currency countries' before realizing what a reversal of perception that is. Fortunately, I think they (Leica) rely on the US market far less than they used to, or they'd be dead by now.

Cheers,

R.
Click to expand...

On Euro News, this evening, a rate of $ 1,51 is confirmed - and a further fall of the dollar (and price increase of Leica goods) is expected. The Fed's reduction of the interest rate was an act of panic; that is the opinion of the financial world over here. With the same inflation figures as USA, Sweden's National Bank recently increased their interest rate. So has Norway. Etc.

The good thing about it is that employment in the US should pick up since more and more multi national producers just as well can produce the good for the US market in USA. - And that you now can buy a huge cattle farm in Texas for the price of a small summer house on the Norwegian south coast..... Mind-boggling...
 
Well I hate to rain on all of your parades but this move is a power move. Leica wants to be Leica again with no outside ownership or representation which includes an outsider CEO. Firing Lee was the first step in restructuring the company to more aggressively move into the digital market. There will soon be a more aggressive marketing of the M8 which involves customer loaner programs of the camera to allow photogs to try out the camera before purchasing. What has consistantly sold this camera has been ease of use and image quality- so the trial program to get it into the hands of prospective buyers. Leica wants to develop more boutiques in stores and improve delivery of products. They also want to step up development of product. Does this involve a full frame? Only they know and they ain't talkin.' I don't understand the negative talk on these forums about Leica's demise. It almost seems that some posters here would rejoice in seeing Leica go under. Do you not understand that for every camera company that does go under your choices become more and more limited? Do you really want a day when Canon tells you what your going to get in a camera and how much you'll pay for it? I certainly don't. I hope to see a full frame DSLR out of Leica, which is more realistic at this time than a FF M and a compact M that is in a lower price range. These developments seem more realistic than this constant desire by non owners and non users for a FF m9 or whatever it is that you want to call it. Those who don't own the M8 won't buy the M9 anyway so why not just stop your chronic and annoying whining on this forum about it and let those of us who own the M8 discuss something productive on this forum for a change.
 
Olsen said:
\
The good thing about it is that employment in the US should pick up since more and more multi national producers just as well can produce the good for the US market in USA....
Click to expand...
That would be reassuring...if we still had a real manufacturing base. (Cars and fighter planes we can still do, but we're not gonna run this economy on just those, however many we think we can sell in a year, and, last time I looked, we're not the only place making 'em.)

Roger Hicks said:
Yes. Greenspan is sorely missed.
Click to expand...
Maybe it's just me, but I think Mr. G was a bit more lucky than clairvoyant.


- Barrett
 
Life is too short to worry about nonsense, once the Leica was down, I can still shoot with the RFs and excellent lenses I owned if film is still available, on the other hand, I'll be glad to have Sonys or Nikons with powerful autofocus and metering system that are relative cheap that I can buy at will when I am too old to manual-focus. At present, I can enjoy the outstanding performance of leica M gears, just get what suits you.
What's the point worrying?
 
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