[edlaurpic]

Sean -

I don't know who to send the message to, but is it expecting too much to expect that someone in Solms reads this, their own Leica Users' Forum?

Further to your reference to having an open architecture or similar words by which any M lens could be used on the M8 and in which one could simply go to a lens selection menu and choose, for example, a Leica lens with a focal length and f stop close to one's non-leica lens, I am reminded of the incredibly foolish decision that Sony made in the early 80's not to license the Betamax system to other companies... expecting people who wanted to play beta tapes only to buy sony VCRs. As a result Matsuchita stepped in with VHS and licensed it to every single Japanese, Korean and US maker, quickly rendering the Beta system obsolete. This is all the more poignant given the fact that beta is far superior to VHS in audio and video quality (and is still the standard for professional broadcast).

There are other examples of this kind of company-centric thinking that ends up shooting the company in the foot, the most noteworthy probably being Apples refusal to license the Mac system to other computer companies, thereby creating the opening for Microsoft to copy the look of the Mac with Windows, a much inferior product (let's not have an ideological struggle about this now...everyone knows Mac is better).

The relevance of all of this is that the other shoe hasn't dropped at Zeiss-Ikon, which is making some very nice affordable lenses now. If they can come out with a dependable digital camera that focuses as well as their film RF entry, AND they make all M mount lenses useable on it, that would be a benefit that Leica potentially will have missed. I personally doubt the Zeiss or a successor to Epson could come up with cameras that will equal or surpass the M8, but if they are priced right and are completely flexible regarding Mmount lens choice, that is simply a potential way to compete against Leica, which, if they are unwilling to provide the firmware lens selection option, will have alienated some of their customers. But I come back to a different point, and that is this: refusing to make one's camera other-lens-friendly is an insecure, defensive, second-runner's (not front runner's) position to take, and it isn't appropriate for Leica.

Sean, please feel free to forward this if you would like to whomever at Leica you think will read it.

P.S>. It's interesting that in the Sony example above, when VHS first came out Sony's diehard supporters strived to let everyone know that Sony Beta was better (and it was), but in the end it was simply the fact that more tapes were made for VHS because more VCRs were made as VHS machines that killed consumer Beta . . . .