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Lenny Kravitz Edition - cool, pretentious, or hoax?


Winedemonium

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I'm not offended by the ersatz worn look. It's a beautiful camera. My Monochrom, being black chrome, is wearing to silver, not brass :(

 

Guitar companies have been doing this for years.

 

I'd be more interested, price/value aside, if it had the monicker of a Magnum tog rather than a pop star. To me it's like an Iggy Pop set of golf clubs. No offense to Mr. Kravitz. I'm more attuned to Keb Mo, Amos Lee or BB King.

 

But it's a limited edition (meaning Leica knows not many will sell and forced exclusivity breeds interest), so good for Leica.

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I wondered if the wear on the lens is logical.It's only a little spot.

 

I recently got a camera of 1950. Near mint. The only thing you could see was the wear around the lens barrel, but that was all around the lensbarrel. Seems more logical to me if they had done it that way.

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I'm not offended by the ersatz worn look. It's a beautiful camera. My Monochrom, being black chrome, is wearing to silver, not brass :(

 

Guitar companies have been doing this for years.

 

I'd be more interested, price/value aside, if it had the monicker of a Magnum tog rather than a pop star. To me it's like an Iggy Pop set of golf clubs. No offense to Mr. Kravitz. I'm more attuned to Keb Mo, Amos Lee or BB King.

 

But it's a limited edition (meaning Leica knows not many will sell and forced exclusivity breeds interest), so good for Leica.

 

After much soul searching and personal reflection, I have concluded as follows: At the end of the day, does it really matter? If Leica makes money from this kit and stays in business as a result, I say OUTSTANDING. If 125 people with a buttload of spare cash can fess up $24,500 USD for the Kravitz kit and they are happy to do so, let 'em. In other words, live and let live; is that so wrong??

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When one sees someone using a worn tool one has a small but real pleasure in appreciating their evident connection and apparent content with the apparatus (and admiration for their resistance to GAS). These things are stolen from us by the proliferation of simulacra perpetrated by sandpaperers. The only sensible reaction to a brassy Leica now is indifference. Live and let live is an attitude those who rob us of reality should adopt; we who are made poorer should not be admonished for scorning the vandals.

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...The only sensible reaction to a brassy Leica now is indifference...
I would say that the only sensible reaction the Lenny Kravitz M-P is indifference. A nicely brassed film M is another matter entirely; these will always tug at the heart strings, and rightly so.
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After much soul searching and personal reflection, I have concluded as follows: At the end of the day, does it really matter? If Leica makes money from this kit and stays in business as a result, I say OUTSTANDING. If 125 people with a buttload of spare cash can fess up $24,500 USD for the Kravitz kit and they are happy to do so, let 'em. In other words, live and let live; is that so wrong??

 

Doesn't that just encourage Leica to trot out more of these 'special editions' and take the cameras even MORE out of the hands of those who may actually make decent use of them.

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Rick, I'm a hater of this and I have a small exhibit up at the new Leica store in Bellevue. Have you seen his book? The trope of photographing those who have photographed you wears off in about... well, about after one page. Sure, they're technically fine photographs but is really just a one note "Look at me, ain't I clever experience. Leica really needs to go back to real photographers (which they've done splendidly with their M and S magazines) to promote their products instead of musicians who don't mean much outside of the poor taste of some wealthy Europeans.

 

All that said, I hope it does add more to Leica's coffers so they can bring out cameras with electronics that aren't dated three years behind. After the new CEO of Leica gave me his spiel about family, tradition, etc etc I said yes that's nice and all but I just want a bigger buffer for my Monochrom! He laughed heartily which is a good sign.

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Hi Charles!

 

I'll have to stop by the Bellevue store and look at your stuff. Is it from your collection of rock/grunge musicians?

 

I agree, Leica has a ways to go before they completely rise out of the ashes and deliver a more electronically advanced camera. But, realize that your Monochrom is really just a version of the 2006 M8 with a bigger sensor and the color filter striped off.

 

The M was a pretty good effort 2-3 years ago with a sensor that rated 4th by DxO. Not bad for a struggling company.

 

But, I agree, let's hope all of these vanity camera sales help Leica bring out an even better camera next.

 

In the mean time I don't see any point in critisizing Lenny just because he shoots the same subject matter. I guess that could be said about a lot of photographers. :rolleyes:

 

 

***********************************************

 

Hey, I was looking through my CDs and guess who has the label shot on the CD? And, there is another photo there I don't recognize. I don't remember when I bought it but, it was up on Roosevelt at that record store?

 

 

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

 

 

Rick

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Lenny Kravitz has a gallery show at the LA Leica store. Just wondering where I can view any of the haters' exhibits? :p

 

Rick

 

I think you're confusing 'haters' with those who find pretentious trinkets amusing or annoying. Hate is a strong word, and a strong emotion.

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A few days ago strolling with my wife downtown Milan we came to the Leica Store (strange, isn't?) and we decided to enter to see the exhibition. In the window was the LKEdition but i didn't like the look, maybe all what I read but I found it very "artificial" . Anyway not being forced to buy one if this helps Leica to make a profit to invest in the business why not?

The book from Lenny Kravitz was not bad in my opinion.

robert

PS: that was dangerous, before going out my wife saw the new D-lux and told me that her DSLR is too large, she really needs a smaller camera. Does my wife suffer GAS? :eek:

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I have a hard time understanding why Leica is considered a struggling company.

I come across this comment throughout the forum quite often. New lenses and cameras are produced every year and every few months I read an announcement of a new Leica store. These are not signs of a company in trouble. Does anyone have any facts they can share?

Are they in financial depth? Do they have legal troubles?

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I have a hard time understanding why Leica is considered a struggling company.

I come across this comment throughout the forum quite often. New lenses and cameras are produced every year and every few months I read an announcement of a new Leica store. These are not signs of a company in trouble. Does anyone have any facts they can share?

Are they in financial depth? Do they have legal troubles?

 

A company is widely marked on the internet as in financial trouble when:

- shareholders deem ROI too low for their liking or even quantifiably lower than planned and documented by their budget estimates

- new products are deemed more than often not covering the wants of a wide user base (see the disconnect between those "new products" (actually warmed up long year existing products with a new superficial finish) and the features of new products wanted by users

- substantial quality issues have occurred and are commented on in the media

 

Leica is not the only company struggling, ALL other traditional camera manufacturers are in this boat currently.

What Leica's warmed up nth's "new" edition camera is other makers nth's iteration of the same recipe of the digital SLR.

What Leica's shrinking growth is other manufacturers decline in market saturation.

What Leica's rotting sensor issues and long repair waiting times are other manufacturers autofocus issues, oily sensor issues, etc.

 

Speaking in terms of aunty Gisela and uncle Manfred's corner shop, Leica is probably doing great and nobody involved in the business couldn't be happier.

 

The point is, different businesses are judged by entirely different rules, whereas it is expected that one/the (?) oldest camera maker in business simply delivers perfect quality with perfectly happy customers, ships out significantly new products regularly, returns investments to shareholders as expected and makes for a nice smile and good press.

Just earning a profit isn't enough anymore.

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