10 years too late

[BerndReini]

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Why single out Leica?

Good point. I was only quoting another poster, and I don't mean that Leica customers aren't good photographers, but that my Leicas can do everything I need them to do and it is up to me to exploit that potential.

[AlanJW]

It is the marketplace that will decide whether Leica is 10 years too late with the Q.  Period. 

 

The original post here sounds like there should be a death knell for photography in general, so if there is an issue it is not a Leica issue, but an issue for all.  If it is right, then aren't Sony and Oly and everybody else 10 years late?  In fact, why should anyone build any new cameras at all?  The answer is that cameras get built because people buy enough of them to make them worth building.  This is so even with the proliferation of camera phones because camera manufacturers (at least some of them) must be building cameras that people want notwithstanding technical and social change.  Not always of course.  The T has not done well (maybe because it departed too much from traditional camera basics) but the Q seems to have struck a chord and looks like a winner.  Maybe not everybody likes it but then a camera can be very successful without everybody liking it.

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[viramati]

 

 viramati   Where is the angels fear to tread stuff  on your sites ? It all looks a bit drive by shooting of the innocent

 

 

Okay so of course a bit of an exaggeration but I do like and have explored some of the less known areas of south London where pointing a camera in someone's face is not probably best advised. I have lived in and around the Brixton area of London on and off for over 35 years and can remember the 80's riots and when 'Railton rd' was known as the 'Frontline' and thought to be a no-go area for those not of an Afro-carribean background and my family all thought I was mad and wouldn't come near the place. In all this time I have never had a problem with a camera on the streets. It is true that there is a paranoia about photographing certain subjects and recently we had the problems of Photographers being stopped by the police just for photographing in certain areas of the city and I took part in various demonstrations against this.

http://dpsampson.zenfolio.com/p246106649/ha78a48d#ha78a48d

Of course I feel the Q will make an excellent documentary camera and will hopefully be used alongside my A7 with FE55 for these work projects

Edited June 12, 2015 by viramati

[Manoleica]

I worked (circa 1980) in the Brixton, very near the Police Station and surrounding areas before, during and after the riots.. In those days I was using an older Pentax SLR.. It was always a tricky area to openly use a camera.. Not too many miles down the road is a Blue Plaque:- Charlie Chaplin lived here..  Back to Brixton, I never had any issues with the locals, my motto:- treat everyone with respect.. One of the buildings in Atlantic Rd used to be a Poor House & Laundry.. Nowadays I would imagine it's best to keep your car doors locked and drive thro" asap..

ps.. I also worked & lived in the Tottenham (North London) area during the 1985 riots.. A very scary escapade.. 

[viramati]

I worked (circa 1980) in the Brixton, very near the Police Station and surrounding areas before, during and after the riots.. In those days I was using an older Pentax SLR.. It was always a tricky area to openly use a camera.. Not too many miles down the road is a Blue Plaque:- Charlie Chaplin lived here..  Back to Brixton, I never had any issues with the locals, my motto:- treat everyone with respect.. One of the buildings in Atlantic Rd used to be a Poor House & Laundry.. Nowadays I would imagine it's best to keep your car doors locked and drive thro" asap..

ps.. I also worked & lived in the Tottenham (North London) area during the 1985 riots.. A very scary escapade.. 

Strangely Brixton has become one of the most trendy areas in London with the market being full of small restaurants and boutiques and overrun with 'hipster' types which is somewhat bemusing for the older inhabitants 

[LocalHero1953]

Nowadays I would imagine it's best to keep your car doors locked and drive thro" asap..

Not at all. I've walked around there often. And Honest Burger in Brixton Market makes the best burgers I've had in this country.

[viramati]

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I worked (circa 1980) in the Brixton, very near the Police Station and surrounding areas before, during and after the riots.. In those days I was using an older Pentax SLR.. It was always a tricky area to openly use a camera.. Not too many miles down the road is a Blue Plaque:- Charlie Chaplin lived here..  Back to Brixton, I never had any issues with the locals, my motto:- treat everyone with respect.. One of the buildings in Atlantic Rd used to be a Poor House & Laundry.. Nowadays I would imagine it's best to keep your car doors locked and drive thro" asap..

ps.. I also worked & lived in the Tottenham (North London) area during the 1985 riots.. A very scary escapade.. 

Just check this out

 

http://www.popbrixton.org

[Manoleica]

Hi, LocalHero1953 & Viramati,

I am most obliged to you both for your updates & info.. Obviously many good changes since my last foray into the area..

Next time I visit the Uk, I will endeavor to visit & enjoy the photographic opportunities in and around the area......Regards, L

Edited June 12, 2015 by manoleica

[imants]

Why single out Leica?t

 

you can get leica phone button stickers six for $2 design in japan

 

Not the same it needs the price tag to legitimise the panasonic as a fine engineering marvel

[imants]

In fact, why should anyone build any new cameras at all?

 

Not in their present form ..............

  The Sonys ,Leicas Fujis etc  boast Wi Fi  Why? so that the images can be used , viewed, shared etc they are transferred  to phones, and tablets  here the images are altered, resized,  improved, stuffed up etc depending on ones skill levels. Lets get rid  of the middle man the cost and R&D  the  physical cameras on these devices that we communicate with.

 

 Cameras should be produced to meet the needs of the commercial community , the advertisers, medical needs,  etc ......all this technology will filter down the  consumers ' smartphones

 

 Will it kill of creativity no way just look at the stuff kids and the not so young  in both still and video format   it is brilliant,  sure there is a heap of rubbish and boring stuff  but a heap of jewels

 

 

 

Q seems to have struck a chord and looks like a winner

 

 Yep we are seduced by the frivolous sensors that surpass  our viewing capabilities,  sensors that can produce billboard size prints( we all print in that format) 10 frames a second (ideal for manual focusing and precise  image composition) etc

 

 

 No death knell for photography just a way forward for the image as a language of communication and social interaction  ........................... saying all that I will get my  fuji x e2 and my 40 year old 35mm Leica  lens out on do some shooting  ..............................along with the Panasonic  CM1 that is on loan  will it be worth 1000 bucks I shall see  soon enough.

[AlanJW]

No point in arguing. You win.  You obviously are smarter than I and understand more than I do about the camera market 10 years ago, today, and 10 years from now.   But I will have fun when I get my Leica Q even if you try to be a killjoy by saying that anyone who buys one is an idiot. You may be right but I'd rather be dumb and happy and out shooting with a Q in my hands rather than worry about whether there is a future for cameras. 

[Chuck Albertson]

It should work fine (the Q) as a street camera. Everybody is so busy staring at their phones these days, street photography is like shooting fish in a barrel. Take a look at that Lee Friedlander series in the NYT magazine a couple of weeks ago - he makes the same point. They wouldn't notice a howitzer going off, let alone chase after you with a pichfork.

[imants]

 Alan  Yea it is hard when one is  mentally shackled by old technology  (I am not immune from preferring  cameras from the past ).............. but alas  the image is now  the domain of social media.  DSLRs mirror less cameras are a part of a ever shrinking market just like  desktops  that are also  disappearing from the homes of consumers. There are heaps of kids and adults out there who may use a computer for work or school but for personal use they have a smartphone no books, no cameras, no magazines just a smartphone.

 

 ps I never said owners of the Leica G were idiots you made that up yourself  .......I actually started the thread with     Great  stuff from Leica

 

 as for the Panasonic  CM1 not a game changer but sure highlights the shift in boundaries, the second incarnation  should be worth the buy not so sure about this one, the iphones and smasungs etc  etc just has the backing of all those apps and care more communication/media savvy devices.

[jaapv]

You are confusing idle-chatter like communication by images with photography. Monkeys will be monkeys.

[imants]

 No i am not you just play the elitist game  photography is for all and it is a language so that is the best way to use it   apes will be apes

Edited June 13, 2015 by Imants

[pgk]

 No i am not you just play the elitist game  photography is for all and it is a language so that is the best way to use it   apes will be apes

Rather like Literature and comic methinks. People will be people (and some will want quality whilst others - perhaps many more - will be content with, all too often pointless, content). There will be a place for 'photographer's cameras' but it may be a smaller place than today.

[imants]

Another  comment this time about literature  from someone who evidently feels that they are a cut above the rest of society

Edited June 13, 2015 by Imants

[pgk]

Another  comment this time about literature  from someone who evidently feels that they are a cut above the rest of society

Not at all - merely a realistic view. Whether you agree or not I don't really care, but literature HAS survived despite the vast majority of the written word being transitory (I read some but most of what I read is probably in the latter category), and the same will more than likely be true of photography. You may not want photography to have, what you (inaccurately) describe as an 'elitist' element, but get real, it exists and will continue to do so. I refer to pointless content which may have riled you, but much of what we see and read is 'small talk' - transitory and fundamentally pointless although necessary enough at the time(a bit like a lot of the chat here (perhaps the last few posts included).

[LocalHero1953]

As far as I can tell, imants, people who take photos are either narcissists or elitists - have I got that right? Have I missed a category?

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica Q

[imants]

Paul you do care otherwise you would not respond.............  literature is full of small talk always has been  without it there is only a random  letters and words

 

 Henri Cartier-Bresson puddle picture is  about a bloke trying to keep his feet dry  just  day to day trivia.  A bit like Durer's bunny drawing  all be it a good drawing    selfies are as old as art and photography have been around in the end it is just a selfie

Edited June 13, 2015 by Imants