Jump to content

Best announcement since 1954?


Recommended Posts

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Having read the reviews, watched the videos... But not yet played with one...

 

I am excited for Leica with this. It looks like it will be a real shot in the arm for them, and the beginning of a system that may well sustain itself, and carve out new (albeit still niche) markets - both location ( I'm especially thinking Asian markets) and demographic (those whose habits have evolved with the iPhone).

 

Like the M3, you can point to most individual components and say they weren't world firsts. Apple got fewer firsts than people think too. But this Leica T, much like the iPod and iPhone, (and the M3), combine quite sophisticated technologies in a new way, with simplicity and intuitive use at the core, while being beautifully made in every detail.

 

I really think this could be their biggest breakthrough since that M3.

 

I hope so. For while I haven't decided if I want one (though I'm anxious to play with one), I'd like to see Leica enjoy success with this. It looks like a breakthrough system for them. And, in the very least, selfishly perhaps, a strengthened Leica is good for M users.

  • Like 16
Link to post
Share on other sites

...It looks like it will be a real shot in the arm for them, and the beginning of a system that may well sustain itself, and carve out new (albeit still niche) markets - both location ( I'm especially thinking Asian markets) and demographic (those whose habits have evolved with the iPhone)...

 

Do you really think mainlanders will be queuing up outside IFC or Times Square to purchase Leica T cameras and lenses? OK, that's not fair as you did say "new, albeit still niche market". However Leica is not Apple, or LV or Cartier and this is a niche product from an already niche camera manufacturer.

 

Just look at the color strap and accessories options for the T...this will be the ultimate mistress camera, right up there with white convertible BMWs and Chanel handbags.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

T...this will be the ultimate mistress camera, right up there with white convertible BMWs and Chanel handbags.

 

I hadn't thought of it like that. But that is already good business if it becomes the must have tai tai camera. :rolleyes:

 

I do visit the IFC Leica store from time to time. They do a good trade, including a lot of mainlanders. 33m visitors p.a. from the mainland to a city of 8m is good business.

 

Put it this way, the T has the greatest chance of becoming a "hot item" here of anything Leica have manufactured to date. The red dot on a solid aluminium body that works like an iPhone, won't attract iPhone user numbers, or even a fraction of 1% of them. But it is a camera to capture a moneyed generation of Chinese youth who aspire to brands and who learned to take photographs on their iPhones and iPad minis. The timing is perfect, and the brand is right.

 

The T won't shift Leica's fortune on the same scale that the iPod did for Apple, but I do imagine it being a game changer here for them.

 

Let's see. I'm just excited for them that they got this right, it seems. I don't mean that from an M user's perspective, but rather from the point of view of a business tapping into a growth market.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Put it this way, the T has the greatest chance of becoming a "hot item" here of anything Leica have manufactured to date. The red dot on a solid aluminium body that works like an iPhone, won't attract iPhone user numbers, or even a fraction of 1% of them. But it is a camera to capture a moneyed generation of Chinese youth who aspire to brands and who learned to take photographs on their iPhones and iPad minis. The timing is perfect, and the brand is right.

 

 

I agree with everything you say...right up to the last comment. I believe Leica are just too late to the luxury camera party. If this were 2011 or even 2012 I think the T would have been a home run, but now with Xi Jinping clamping down I think it's a hard path for all luxury brands, especially those without a devoted following.

 

Crocodile purse tears: Hermès reduced to holding first ever sale in China: Shanghaiist

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

with Xi Jinping clamping down I think it's a hard path for all luxury brands, especially those without a devoted following.

 

Is the change quite visible? If Hermes are having a sale things must be tough!

 

Hard to tell from here in Hong Kong, except that in my industry it popped the Lafite bubble.

 

Next time I'm in the IFC Leica store I will ask about initial demand for this camera.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I agree with everything you say...right up to the last comment. I believe Leica are just too late to the luxury camera party. If this were 2011 or even 2012 I think the T would have been a home run, but now with Xi Jinping clamping down I think it's a hard path for all luxury brands, especially those without a devoted following.

 

Crocodile purse tears: Hermès reduced to holding first ever sale in China: Shanghaiist

 

The difference between a Hermes handbag and a Leica T is that one is a functional tool.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

It is no small feat to manage to be called the Apple of cameras. Everything points there, and I am also beginning to wonder if there is already an undergoing agreement for more cooperation with these two companies. Touch interfaces will play a major role in upcoming products that we everyday use.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

If Erwin Puts is right about this:

 

"The Leica T is a most interesting product, not for its features, it is the iPhone of the mirrorless camera breed, but for the signpost it sets for the design direction of the Leica company,"

then the touch features and perhaps unibody of the T may see their way elsewhere in the Leica line. Why would Leica invest in this direction and then limit its application solely to the T? The next generation M may be a camera with an optical RF that uses a M mount but may take "design direction" from the T. That is why the OP may well be right about the most important announcement since 1954.

 

Yes, this is all speculation but it is fun. I would welcome an M RF camera that also adopts 21st century technologies. A combination of the old and the new. Isn't that what Leica wants to be?

Link to post
Share on other sites

Gee, you'd almost think Leica invented the touchscreen interface for cameras. Considering what it leaves out and how it would make me use the camera, I am not even of the opinion that this is a good design. That does not mean the buyers won't like it, but there is no one size fits all solution. There are a lot of compromises in it.

 

BTW, my favourite smartphone was an HTC model that had hardware buttons for video and still shooting. I didn't have to turn on the phone and look for a soft button to take a photo. At any point I just had to hit the camera button and it would go into photo mode, then I could press that same button again to take a photo. Minimalism and Apple had nothing over this design.

Edited by AlanG
Link to post
Share on other sites

The design direction of the Leica company was already well signposted by certain other elements.

 

One famous Leica ambassador, a certain black t-shirt. They say loud, unoriginal, pretentious... definitely the things required to capture 1% market share, and I wish Leica much luck with that.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I have a feeling that the people most in love with the new Leica T are to be found at Leica's new headquarters in Wetzlar...

 

I can't think of a single camera that Leica have released that's been universally praised on this forum, and yet despite that they seem to be able to sell everything they manufacture.

  • Like 4
Link to post
Share on other sites

I can't think of a single camera that Leica have released that's been universally praised on this forum, and yet despite that they seem to be able to sell everything they manufacture.

 

The M9 was a home run, and still is.

 

To your second point Leica don't sell everything they manufacture anymore. The halcyon days of 2009-2012 are over, and you need look no further than the Hong Kong shops to see inventory languishing and prices falling. There is a growing business in Hong Kong where Chinese brokers buy dealer excess inventory at or below dealer cost and sell for very slight margins. As an example you can buy a brand new M240 today for approximately $1000 less than the US list price. When you look at the dealer cards in the boxes the stamps come from all over the world.

Link to post
Share on other sites

the camera actually looks a lot like the new Black Magic Pocket Cine camera... Looks very dumb with the huge EVF on top... should have an inbuilt one. :p

 

however it is ok- and I think Leica should send a T body with M adapter to every M240 owner as a back up until all glitches have been ironed out of the M (='s probably never:rolleyes:)...

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...