Black chrome or black paint-who decides?

[kivis]

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Who, at Leica, decides which Leica Camera bodies get the black chrome and/or the black paint treatment? It seems so random but maybe not.

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[250swb]

I imagine it will be the marketing department based on their knowledge of what comes next and how they can exploit the in-built dissatisfaction with current options and turn that into planned upgrades.

 

The M9 had a grey paint finish that not many people liked, so as a part of the M9-P upgrade it was offered in chrome, which many people had wanted all along, so they sell a perfectly good grey or black paint camera and buy another, only in chrome this time. These things aren't accidents by Leica, they know how to manipulate the cosmetic upgrades. The M-A is offered in tough but utilitarian black chrome or silver chrome, so expect to see a black paint version after 18 months, and people will 'upgrade' because enough would have liked black paint better all along. In a similar vein Leica do know that a lot of people dislike the size and prominence of the red dot when applied to their high sellers even though it won't put people off buying an M240 in its early production years. So they sell as many as they can with the red dot, then offer as an upgrade the M-P without a red dot, you see the tactic, it is no accident that the red dot was put onto the camera in the first place. But for slower sellers a big red dot may put enough people off and make the project far less profitable, so cameras such as the Monochrom, MP and M-A don't get a dot by default.

 

Steve

[Herr Barnack]

Word on the street is, they consult their Ouija board.

[tobey bilek]

I imagine it will be the marketing department based on their knowledge of what comes next and how they can exploit the in-built dissatisfaction with current options and turn that into planned upgrades.

 

The M9 had a grey paint finish that not many people liked, so as a part of the M9-P upgrade it was offered in chrome, which many people had wanted all along, so they sell a perfectly good grey or black paint camera and buy another, only in chrome this time. These things aren't accidents by Leica, they know how to manipulate the cosmetic upgrades. The M-A is offered in tough but utilitarian black chrome or silver chrome, so expect to see a black paint version after 18 months, and people will 'upgrade' because enough would have liked black paint better all along. In a similar vein Leica do know that a lot of people dislike the size and prominence of the red dot when applied to their high sellers even though it won't put people off buying an M240 in its early production years. So they sell as many as they can with the red dot, then offer as an upgrade the M-P without a red dot, you see the tactic, it is no accident that the red dot was put onto the camera in the first place. But for slower sellers a big red dot may put enough people off and make the project far less profitable, so cameras such as the Monochrom, MP and M-A don't get a dot by default.

 

Steve

 

Pretty much my view also.

 

Might add paint is likely cheaper. Environmentally acceptably paint is soft and useless if you tried to use any lately. Cars use a clear over coat.

 

Chrome of either color generates toxic waste and become an expensive solution. But it is a $7000 camera.