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2014 - Possibly a big year for Leica


rramesh

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I don't know the reasons for Leica's decisions. Still, if they managed to get the thickness of the body down, they'd have to raise the mount from the body or attach the lens with a short extension tube, in order to maintain the distance from the lens to the image plane.

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I'd rather see the LCD raised on an otherwise M6 body. Hopefully LCD tech will gradually reduce that thickness. I don't think it's that much really, we're talking a couple to three mm? But I do notice the extra 'heft' both tactile and weight-wise. It doesn't feel light, agile, nimble like the M6. Subjective feelings I know.

 

Edit - how about this? I'd like the body size and mass to be improved (reduced) from M240 to M360 as the shutter speed and precision (feeling) was improved from the M9 to the M240.

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Problem is: I used to agree that the thickness should be reduced, but nowadays when I pick up a film M it feels too thin for a good grip. Subjective as well, but it is just what your hands are used to, I guess.

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Problem is: I used to agree that the thickness should be reduced, but nowadays when I pick up a film M it feels too thin for a good grip. Subjective as well, but it is just what your hands are used to, I guess.

 

It's all very relative and subjective, you're right. But there's some haptic correlation between the weight, the width and the cover material grip that doesn't work on the grey M9 or the M240 but does work on the M6 and M9-P. :confused:

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Yes but Sony have HUGE manufacturing plants with people constructing products almost in slave conditions...

 

Slave conditions. That's a very patronizing view ...

 

I'm an Amrican of Indian origin and have been working in Singapore for a number of years. Tried twice to return to North America but fortunately realized that being an economic refugee here was a much better deal. Now, many years later, there's a whole flood of people coming to the same conclusion and voting with their feet. Besides, these cameras, whether the high-tech Sonys or the low-tech Leicas we all love, are hardly made in back-room sweatshops...

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Oh goody, another slow reveal/teaser web ad campaign then?

As far as I know Leica is loath to repeat that. At some point – when it’s ready – the T will be announced and that’s that. I trust it will actually be available around that time.

 

This one can't be a 'Mini M' though, so perhaps it will be a 'Baby S' ? :D

It will be neither. Not a Mini, Macro, or Micro M, S, or X, but the T.

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Here's my suggestion for Leica: improve production capacity and quality control, fix the bugs in their current M cameras, and sell them for $4,795 like they did the original M8. If they could produce higher numbers of the same camera and get a little more down to earth with their pricing (as in twice as much for a Leica rangefinder than for a Sony without), I believe they could sell more cameras and get closer to their goal of gaining more market share.

 

The way it is definitely not going to happen is by producing more product lines with different lenses and bodies that require tons of research and try to compete with the giants, but sell them at three times higher prices. That's just not going to work.

 

I don't know what the sales of the X Vario are, but I am sure they are not great compared to the M. Shouldn't this be an indication on what the company should focus on?

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I don't think that is going to happen with the weak dollar...

That is 3550,-- Euro.

 

The M8 was 4192,-- Euro at introduction. In 2006....:rolleyes:

 

Inflation was 16 % up till now, so 4862 Euro makes 6620 USD in 2013.

 

That is fairly close to the M 240, I'd say.

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...their goal of gaining more market share.

 

How do you know this is their goal?

 

I don't know what the sales of the X Vario are, but I am sure they are not great compared to the M. Shouldn't this be an indication on what the company should focus on?

 

So, on one hand you say you don't know what the sales of the X Vario are, but then on the other you're SURE they are not great.

 

I think it would fascinating to learn about Leica's mission and core values, what really motivates them and their product development. I highly doubt it's market share, but I don't know. And to know what the profitability of certain cameras are to them, would also be interesting. It very well could be that selling fewer at higher prices is a better business model for them and positions the Leica brand effectively.

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Leica is striving for a 1% market share. (as stated by the CEO)

 

Is this their only goal? If it is, achieving that would be relatively straight forward, but I doubt that's the whole story and not principally how the company defines itself. But again, I don't profess to know. I was just surprised that everyone else seems to. Anyway... I'm all for big things for Leica in 2014. But would be disappointed if they did anything to compromise the quality and craftsmanship of the products and dilute the brand equities that I connect most with.

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Agree. The market simply does not exist.

 

I am not so sure that it does not, it won't be high but I see that Leica has the potential with the M to compete admirably in the canon and nikon markets of the d800 or 5d.

 

If the Leica M were able to put a 60mp sensor into its camera, 6k video, some kind of electronic rangefinder focussing as well as optical and allow the camera to beep once focus was manually achieved on the existing lenses then they would be well set. This kind of tech is conceivable?

 

I could never imagine myself lugging around the 5d or the d800 or putting up with inferior optics

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