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Lenny Kravitz Edition - cool, pretentious, or hoax?


Winedemonium

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The Lenny Kravitz Edition is almost certainly going to become the release that will make it valuable for being quirky! A strange and unlikely commitment by Leica, unique so that it will be drop-dead collectible. Seriously! Can you imagine the reported condition? "Original Leica wear. None by owner. Never used. Mint! Photographs of unboxing included!"

 

Somebody at Leica is looking forward.

 

...now, how about a Pico edition? A half-frame digital edition. No? Then smaller! Less significant - but priced to the moon?

:)

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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.

 

 

Menos, thank you for taking your time and explaining this struggle issue. What you say makes sense although I wouldn't consider Leica an absolute traditional camera manufacturer, they always kept up with the technology. After reading t the warmed up ..superficial finish part now I'm wondering if Monochrom was nothing more then an attempt to get rid of the M9 stock.

 

Do you personally think Leica would give us better M series cameras if the company was purchased and run by Sony, Canon etc.?

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Hi Charles!

 

 

 

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?

 

 

Rick

 

Hi Rick,

 

Of course you are right about that that most photographers shoot the 'same' thing. And of course that's what makes a 'body' of work - often with the same camera body, lens, etc over the course of many years. But it's what the photographer does with that 'same' subject that counts, and personally I don't think he really moves the genre of 'shooting the shooters' along very much with this work. It's too easy of a target for him. Kind of like when one goes on holiday to a developing country and one comes back thinking they have amazing groundbreaking work because they took pics of small children swarming them them the whole time. Yes, they're fun pics, mean a lot to you, but they've been done and done again. Problem is there's lots of great struggling photographers with amazing bodies of work that can't get a book published to save their life, or need to fundraise five figures in order to get it published. But celebrity always sells. That's the takeaway for sure.

 

That is the Sub Pop 200 cd which I did all the photos for. At the time it was released it was a three disc vinyl box set with a 16 page book of photographs by moi. At the time a crazy idea for a one room record label to do, but it ended up as a great coup.

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Dropped from a bike maybe?

 

;)

 

Actually, it stayed on the strap and embedded itself into my ribs. From old film habits I carried it with the lens facing my body. So to be accurate the Pico edition would have to be blood smeared. Yuck!

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

 

James,

 

It is fine to have an opinion and believe that it is silly for Leica to sell these vanity cameras. I get that. But, as a grown man why allow yourself to be "annoyed" by a camera. Aren't you able to allow something like a pre-brassed camera to not evoke an emotion like annoyed?

 

As for the hate. Go back and read the vitriolic posts towards Lenny Kravitz. I think it is simply repulsive, and yes, hateful. I believe the people that post these opinions are envious of his fortune, success and hard work. I find them to be a very little persons.

 

You can choose to be in this group or stand up and refuse to conform to the trolling here.

 

Rick

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James,

 

It is fine to have an opinion and believe that it is silly for Leica to sell these vanity cameras. I get that. But, as a grown man why allow yourself to be "annoyed" by a camera. Aren't you able to allow something like a pre-brassed camera to not evoke an emotion like annoyed?

 

As for the hate. Go back and read the vitriolic posts towards Lenny Kravitz. I think it is simply repulsive, and yes, hateful. I believe the people that post these opinions are envious of his fortune, success and hard work. I find them to be a very little persons.

 

You can choose to be in this group or stand up and refuse to conform to the trolling here.

 

Rick

We are not the little persons. Lenny is the little persons.  But he is also a very sexy little persons. Look at this photograph, just look at it. He is a bronze god that Lenny, also a bit hairy.

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As for the hate. Go back and read the vitriolic posts towards Lenny Kravitz. I think it is simply repulsive, and yes, hateful. I believe the people that post these opinions are envious of his fortune, success and hard work. I find them to be a very little persons.

 

 

Hi Rick,

 

I think this is a bit overstated.  Looking back through this thread, you were actually the first person to raise "hate" in past #74 - I couldn't see it.  I think we get it that you like Lenny, and you like this camera, but I think you might be taking all this a bit personally.  I like your posts, but I think on this thread you might have taken a bit of a wrong turn. I mean that in the kindest possible way.  Most of the comment looks pretty robust to me.  

 

Oh, and the idea that you can't have an opinion on anyone's photos unless you can take better pictures yourself is just silly.

 

Cheers

John

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I'm not sure if you really know what a chrome black M4 looks like. It is none of those things you are describing or imagining. Black chrome on the M4 is thick and even and has a wonderful satin look. It is not tacky-shiny or thin or any of the things you mention. Oh, it is very difficult to damage. If, your post was tongue in cheek, please ignore.

 

 

Anyway, this is what black should look like on my M4 and it wears like you wouldn't believe: (image removed for brevity)

 

 

Rick, are you certain that's not a black chrome M4? I cannot read the serial number to check for certain.

My black M4s are glossy black, and one I actually use is very worn through to the brass.

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I think there is room for the next special- editions:

The Horst-Faas- Edition, the HCB- Edition and the Alberto-Korda-Edition.

The special tools for making them are already planned and maybe look like this, say the Leica-Rumor- pages:

 

attachicon.gif4/6/7/5/3/486287.attach

 

attachicon.gif4/6/7/5/3/486288.attach

 

attachicon.gif4/6/7/5/3/486289.attach

I think the HCB edition should only have a words in French and only have meter markings on the 50mm lens, no feet. Also the Manual should be in French with a special order option to add your own language for a cool $500 more.

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The expression is "... more dollars than sense (cents)."

.

Not so sure about that, Pico. The English expression "more money than sense" dates from the 1800s. There may be an American pun on that saying, but I doubt the Victorian English used dollars (a Swiss word) in their idioms.

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  • 2 weeks later...

We are not the little persons. Lenny is the little persons.  But he is also a very sexy little persons. Look at this photograph, just look at it. He is a bronze god that Lenny, also a bit hairy.

 

    ...okay, so I am just catching up, but I still do not get this post + image.

 

What exactly has Lenny Kravitz done to you, patrick parker, to warrant this outpouring of increasingly infantile and personal expression. If, for some reason, you do not like the Lenny Kravitz limited edition camera/lens combo, then surely your argument is with Leica? Surely.

 

You have every right to voice your opinion - but then again this a forum, so there are written and unwritten codes. If you really feel so strongly about the product, I urge you to pick up the phone, call Leica HQ, and let them know the level of your angst. Perhaps, based on the perceived importance attached to the quality of your griping, they may see fit to pull the product. Alternatively, register your displeasure (like many have done) and move on. There is no need for this sort of petty, low-brow sniping. It does the forum a great disservice.

 

For the record, I do not like the combo and would never have considered purchasing it. If gifted one, I would immediately arrange for a sale. All because of the artificial brassing - for the photographer in me, there is something wholly disconcerting about it. But there it ends.

 

I can only hazard a guess as to why Kravitz was identified by Leica as the appropriate 'name' for this product - but that is neither here nor there. I don't own Leica, I merely buy some of its products. The others I do not buy for a variety of reasons. I suspect this dichotomy applies to most (if not all) of us here. The beauty of the whole thing is that it remains optional.

 

I hope you take this post in the spirit in which it was intended. One more thing - I wonder if Kravitz is a forum member?

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