The quite positive side of the 'Mini-M' flap

[thompsonkirk]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Now that the shouts have died down, I can hear a quieter voice telling me I'm rather glad it all happened – because now Leica has surely heard how many Leica customers would like, guess what, an actual Mini-M! It was a kind of market research through the back door, where every note of disappointment could be read instead as an enthusiastic call for what was initially advertised.

 

Whenever I pick up my M4 I realize how the M8/9 and now the M240 have bulked up. And as enticing as Sony RX-1s and Fuji 100Ss seem, each has a major flaw of its own: Slow autofocus in the former, and smaller sensor in the latter. And together they share the biggest flaw: I can't use my M lenses!

 

The recent flap expressed, I believe, a lot of pent-up demand for the real Mini-M or digital CLE that would take M lenses and would focus either through a rangefinder or through a built-in electronic viewfinder like the Fuji 100. Never mind video or other bells and whistles, just a – well, let's call it a 'Mini-M,' something smaller and as ergonomically perfect as the M4 that was for so long my ideal camera.

 

From this standpoint, the reaction to 'Paula' was nothing more than a loud expression of pent-up consumer demand?

 

Kirk

[earleygallery]

But there are already plenty of 'mini M' digicams that take M lenses, why aren't you using one of those?

[thompsonkirk]

Crop factors

[250swb]

If it had been a mini-M I was hoping it wasn't designed for M lenses, but just a bit more ambitious and aimed at it's own lens line, with AF, with IS, with EVF, etc. In fact with all the things Leica don't currently offer in an interchangeable lens digital camera. Just imagine, a genuine up to date camera, that people can buy looking into the future, with a lens line that becomes the 'new' premium line with all the necessary electronic contacts. A fanciful idea but Leica could even consider a new 35mm film body to go with the new system, again taking advantage of AF, more sophisticated metering, etc.

 

So I can't see the point of a small version of an M9, just repeating themselves yet again by re-packaging essentially the same design ethos into a different body. Leica need to move on, and while I hope they never move entirely away from the rangefinder I think Leica users should expect a bit more ambition. The world does not need another alternative platform just for M lenses.

 

Steve

[pgk]

Whenever I pick up my M4 I realize how the M8/9 and now the M240 have bulked up.

For a bit of perspective, in its day the competition to the M4 was substantially bigger.....

 

dM rangefinders are still reasonably small. I always found the CL undersized....

[250swb]

The CL was a dog in sheep's clothing. A great little camera, I have one, but the 'small' accolade doesn't really ring true, it hardly slipped into an overcoat pocket like an M body and a 50mm Elmar because the lens had to stick out due to the metering cell. No the CL is an overly romantic idea of what a small M film camera was. In practical use it was the same size as any old M3, M2, M4 etc.

 

Steve

[TomB_tx]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Just imagine, a genuine up to date camera

The "minimalist" vs. "feature list" debate will never be settled. When I found the M9 I thought "Great! and almost up-to-date camera that got rid of nearly all the un-needed frills."

But then I still plane guitar tops by hand as well...

[lct]

The Elmar 50 is hardly a small lens on the Leica CL but the Summicron 40/2 is tiny enough and the whole package is significantly smaller than any M body. 120x76x54mm with the 40/2 vs 138x77x58 for the M6 with the same lens. To compare old to new apples, the CL has more or less the same length as the Sony Nex-7. Give me the same with a sensor please Mr Leica.

[darylgo]

Hi Kirk,

In addition to Leica hearing what people would like the marketing department learned a lesson or two....or will they see it as success, it's all press whether negative or positive.

 

 

Whenever I pick up my M4 I realize how the M8/9 and now the M240 have bulked up.

 

Kirk

 

Compared to the competition the M9/M are small and it is only the last year that downsizing of full frame has been seen from other manufacturers. It will be interesting to see if future Leica M continue to grow (albeit by tiny increments) or will they attempt to downsize.

[250swb]

Hi Kirk,

In addition to Leica hearing what people would like the marketing department learned a lesson or two....or will they see it as success, it's all press whether negative or positive.

.

 

It will all have worked and got peoples attention. But after Leica wound up their customer base to a fever pitch with the promise of an interchangeable lens camera for many there will have been only one outcome,...... and they are reading their Fuji instruction manuals right now.

 

Leica managed to create defeat from what should have been an easy victory. Spoilers hinting at a 'Vario X' would have been met with nothing but excitement and everybody would have seen the point of it, an easy and logical progression on the 'X' theme. This debacle should be the Waterloo of the Leica marketing department, because like Napoleon nursing his piles off the battlefield, they assumed they would win with little effort because they always do, such are the expectations of Leica fans. But this time they forgot their winning tactic's, and also forgot about the arrival of another army in the form of Fuji looming into view at the end of the day when all the analyses are done.

 

Steve

[lct]

Without exxageration of course

[Peter H]

It will all have worked and got peoples attention. But after Leica wound up their customer base to a fever pitch with the promise of an interchangeable lens camera for many there will have been only one outcome,...... and they are reading their Fuji instruction manuals right now.

 

Leica managed to create defeat from what should have been an easy victory. Spoilers hinting at a 'Vario X' would have been met with nothing but excitement and everybody would have seen the point of it, an easy and logical progression on the 'X' theme. This debacle should be the Waterloo of the Leica marketing department, because like Napoleon nursing his piles off the battlefield, they assumed they would win with little effort because they always do, such are the expectations of Leica fans. But this time they forgot their winning tactic's, and also forgot about the arrival of another army in the form of Fuji looming into view at the end of the day when all the analyses are done.

 

Steve

 

Steve, I enjoyed reading your extended analogy so much, and waiting to see just how far you could take us, that I forgot all about whether I agree with you or not!

[250swb]

Well if you didn't laugh you'd cry

 

If you would like me to take the Napoleon analogy even further consider one of his famous quotes

 

"The best way to keep one's word is not to give it.", which I think should be the new company motto.

 

 

Steve