Wall Street Journal Article on Leica

Damaso

Damaso

Photojournalist
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An interesting article in today's Journals about our favorite company. It doesn't break much new ground but fills in some details for those who are interested in some of the gossip around the past year's tumult...
 
letter to the author

letter to the author

Good article. I ent this reply to the author

Thx for the article.

You seemed to have neglected the avid (rabid?) customer base that is Leica’s. Having started with a film body that cost $1800 or so new, when Canon and even Nikon were offering for half of that, I eventually took the digital plunge when I bought a ‘floor model’ M8 for $4200US.

Worth every penny.

No matter what one shoots, there is nothing that feels the same in a shooters hands. The glass is superb. The bodies feel like one could hammer a nail with them. The experience is superb.

Is that enough to keep the company going? Probably not. But I will insist that any demise of Leica will be a larger loss to the photographer than any investor. There is just nothing like one.

Regards

David Rose


I do SO hope this company doesn't go south. I am sick of spending top dollar and getting garbage (witness my long complaints with the $850 Nikon 18-200 lens)
 
An official Leica dealer here in the Netherlands told me, when I was there to try the M8 in comparison with my M7, that Leica was hard working on a M9 but, since they lack funding, couldn't make it at the coming Photokina, and therefore had to come with a poorly upgraded M8.......well anyway he - the dealer - seemed quite convinced they will come up with the M9 next year........for what it is worth
 
Good Article

Good Article

This is such an interesting article. Maybe I have not paid attention to it all.

I would never buy a camera from Best Buy, so it's a total fish out of water for Lee and Leica. German companies run much differently than US, and Best Buy is a retailer that is only about sales, whereas Leica is an engineering and manufacturing company that is all about precision. Best Buy just tries to push boxes to the customer.

I can understand the frustration of "it won't work" and "it can't be done", as I have had to put up with that from some German companies, but once DEMONSTRATED with facts, science and statistics, they will get behind you 100%+.

Anyway, I hope that they can find someone who truly loves precision photography FIRST, and that way will have the leadership skills and technical basis to lead the company.

I have to say the new lenses, although very expensive, break nice ground.

Perhaps someday Mr. Kobayashi (please for spelling) of Cosina may sit on the board of Leica, and then wait and see what happens.
 
Did anyone check out the slide show? Read about the M3 & tell me what happened to the M2? a bit confused about the M3 being the first.
 
gb hill said:
Did anyone check out the slide show? Read about the M3 & tell me what happened to the M2? a bit confused about the M3 being the first.
Click to expand...

Are you confused because the M3 was introduced before the M2, or are you confused about something else in the article? M3 introduced 1954, M2 introduced 1958.
 
Interesting aspect of the article, in the business sense, was the failure of the Summarit lenses, in terms of the attempt to go lower-end. While at the same time people are saying the M8 is too expensive.

And the article mentions that perhaps the greatest problem is that their new products compete not only with cheap digital cameras, but 50 years of used Leica in the market. Considering you can get a decent M for $1,000 that has a few decades of history with it (which many see as a good thing), that's tough competition.
 
I didn't know it either until I started down the Leica buying road.....

Let's see... first came M3, then M2, then M1. Oops! we ran out of numbers, what do we do next...? Of course! The next camera HAS to be called the MD! Then the M4, and after that, what? An M5? NOOO! an MDa, THEN an M5. Sounds like Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First?"
 
M3: three framelines
M2: a low-cost M3 model, not quite the same, hence the lower number.
M4: four framelines (it grew later to five and then six)
M4-2: a low-cost M4 (no self-timer, minus one frameline)
MP: an M2 for professional photographers
M5: five framelines, built-in meter
M4-P: an M4 for professional photographers
M6: six framelines
M7: six framelines and autoexposure
M8: digital
M1: M3 for the visoflex and microscope and copying jobs
MD: an M4 for the same purpose as the M1 (correct me in these last two if necessary, please).

At least, that's how I remember it! :)
 
I'll second what Paul said. No full-frame, not for me then. I want my wides to be wide and camera package that is small like the film Ms. Who knows, sony's got the full frame 24megpixel sensor, maybe in a year or so we'll see a new standard.
 
Steven Lee did not get that this is one of the few brands that is build on Love and Passion. You can't treat it like other commodity brands....
It is and will remain a very niche brand. That will attract the customers by doing what no other brand does. Believe in its own philosophy. Its needs a strong leader with a vision that shares the same passion of its loyal clients and employees.
God forbid that Leica ever becomes a publicly traded company!
 
I won't get a digital M unless its full frame. There are so many good FF DSLR available at half of the price, the M9 must be spectacular to attract my interest. Price is an issue but not a deal breaker. I wish they can just put Nikon D3's chip in it and sell for whatever they want.
 
SolaresLarrave said:
M3: three framelines
M2: a low-cost M3 model, not quite the same, hence the lower number.
M4: four framelines (it grew later to five and then six)
M4-2: a low-cost M4 (no self-timer, minus one frameline)
MP: an M2 for professional photographers
M5: five framelines, built-in meter
M4-P: an M4 for professional photographers
M6: six framelines
M7: six framelines and autoexposure
M8: digital
M1: M3 for the visoflex and microscope and copying jobs
MD: an M4 for the same purpose as the M1 (correct me in these last two if necessary, please).

At least, that's how I remember it! :)
Click to expand...

Makes good sense to me. Thanks for the lesson.;)
 
I truely hope that Leica does not "go south" but to be honest the financials don't look too rosey to me (allthough not a financial expert). Question is if there are enough NEW consumers attracted to buy such a high value product for it's beauty and built quality when there are multitudes of cheaper products available that offer same or similar functions at a fraction of the price.

Let's face it, is any 20 something year old of today generally interested in long life products or is it just the next new version of the I-touch / I-pod/ I-whatever or any Zune player etc. Next year or maybe at the start of the holiday sales season there are new versions out there and millions will be sold.

Are there enough people growing up with different values - getting a bit too philosophical here I guess....
Today it's all about marketing and the feature count (incl. mpix of course). I'm not sure if the values Leica stands for / stood for (?) will survive in this market. If they really can pull of a FF M9, there might be hope - but otherwise what sense would the new WA lenses make that are seemingly targeted at M8 owners? I'll be curious to see M7 pictures taken with these new lenses. The Leica website only shows the cropped M8 shots... Are these lenses truely for FF?
 
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