R-D1s Luigi Case purchase experience

[victoriapio]

R-D1sers,

I was looking for some protection for my R-d1s and after reading some comments on RFF and then seeing the quality of Luigi's work on his Web site, I broke down and ordered a black half case model on Wednesday (three days ago). I got a personal acknowledgement from Luigi within an hour and finalized the price with his standard Fedex shipping. I paypaled the money to him.

Later Wednesday I got another commuication from Luigi that he received the payment and would ship the case on Friday. Well, the case ARRIVED on Friday (yesterday)!

I can only conclude that not only does Luigi live up to his high reputation on craftsmanship, but he goes out of his way to please his customers. It goes without saying that I highly recommend both his products and his service.

O.C.

 

[GrahamWelland]

The secret to much success in retail and other endeavors is to under promise & over achieve. Luigi is a class act.

Luigi does, however, need to hire the services of a web designer to sort out his Frankenstein of a web site/store!! http://www.leicatime.com - I still find it hard to navigate past the 15 fonts, sparkling graphics, 8 colors and confusing purchase/pricing/ordering process.

 

[Iron Flatline]

Yar... the web site is not pretty. Luigi, you could charge another 10% more if your site looked as fashionable as your products. Explain to your customers about your choice of leather, for instance. Also, I love the pics of you and your wife. Somehow it makes me think of the Ferragamo store in Firenze, and all those pictures of him and his shoes... you are right to be proud, let your website shine!

The cases themselves, however, are marvelous. And so is the service. I have one for my M8, and my R-D1... and people notice the cases, not the cameras.


I ordered mine on a Monday, and had it by Thursday.... and that's because it took me a day to realize Luigi had answered one of my questions - but my spam filter moved it to a quarantine folder. Doh!

Luigi is also a gentleman who will answer questions about products, because he knows and likes what he does. Others will just send you back to your dealer...

 

[jarski]

to me Luigi's website, although a bit different, is good. not the usual eBay lookalikes. same goes with cameraquest.com . lots of info and items, I dont do this for work anyways 🙂

 

[cmedin]

to me Luigi's website, although a bit different, is good. not the usual eBay lookalikes. same goes with cameraquest.com . lots of info and items, I dont do this for work anyways 🙂

Those two together with Photo Village have me wanting to burn my retinas out when I look at them. A shame that good information and products are hidden behind such unsightly facades.

 

[GrahamWelland]

Luigi's site is pure circa-1995 splendor. I get goosebumps every time I see it and begin to remember sending my first email after installing Netscape Navigator 1.2 on my 486. The animated GIFs are priceless. I say leave it alone. Luigi is an unpretentious guy in an extremely pretentious business and his site is part of that allure.

PS: I have his RD-1 case with the detachable LCD panel and it's awesome!

I have two Luigi cases for my M8's and they are absolutely superb. Worth every penny - pure craftsmanship at work. I gave up trying to order them direct and got them from Photo Village & JT instead - much simpler!

I can live with the ugly homegrown web site (quaint?) but I just wish a little bit of attention could be paid to the actual flow through the site so that I could actually find the precise price, specifications and appearance of the various leather choices, custom case pricing etc etc .

 

[louisb]

Luigi's site is pure circa-1995 splendor. I get goosebumps every time I see it and begin to remember sending my first email after installing Netscape Navigator 1.2 on my 486. The animated GIFs are priceless. I say leave it alone. Luigi is an unpretentious guy in an extremely pretentious business and his site is part of that allure.

PS: I have his RD-1 case with the detachable LCD panel and it's awesome!

I completely agree about the web site - it is absolutely wonderful - and I speak as a web designer from the neaderthal period of internet development.

On the issue of the cases, be they half cases etc - I keep going hot and cold about getting one. Yes, they look lovely and I imagine myself walking around with my R-D1 or Leica M6 encased Luigi-style, then I think, well it does make me more of a target. I keep coming back to using my Crumpler Lollypop where my camera completely protected from both the environment and envious eyes.

LouisB