Erwin Puts: " Leica can not disregard the writing at the wall"

[hamey]

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As for the first time I left my Leica R at home when going overseas and wasn't sure how the M 240 range finder would perform on high speed Train shots of travelling at 300 KMH, well it certainly passed the test.

 

The first shot taken with the M240 and the 50mm 1.4 asph

 

Second shot taken with the Fuji X-T1 and the 18-55mm.

 

Personally, I don't think Leica has anything to worry about as I feel they still make a top notch product

I have been using them since 1973 and still love the bloody things, they are simply in a league of their own.

 

Ken.

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[jrp]

Things do change. Film has all but gone. The DSLR era has peaked and the convenience of smaller mirrorless cameras is starting to have a real impact. For most non-professional photography that convenience will surely win in the end. Most people care about that more than about absolute image quality, once you get beyond a basic threshold of noise and clarity. Being able to manipulate and share images easily is also important.

 

How many pictures on this site could not have been taken with a smartphone or a compact mirrorless? (I say this site because DSLRs are different, as they can use longer, shorter and more close-focusing lenses, outside the rangefinder's 28-70mm comfort zone.)

 

Which is not to say that there will be no niches like Leica rangefinders, but I do wonder whether, as I get older, I will continue to want to be bothered with the picture-taking process and focus more on getting more interesting content: travelling more, or getting pictures where a camera would be unusable because it draws attention to itself.

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[lct]

There will still be nice compact cameras like Leica T, X, D-Lux or V-Lux for that... and/or a Leica S if you happen to do some gym during your retirement .

[IkarusJohn]

However, I guess the percentage is small enough to make an an attempt at entry into the niche extremely uninteresting/unprofitable for other companies.

 

 

True, and technically difficult. However, the appeal is sufficient, and it is technically not so hard, to pass off a mirror less camera looking like a rangefinder (eg, the X-100). If there was no appeal, why bother?