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Das Wesentliche - Core Values and Leica Design Decisions


lencap

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Forgive my poor German translation skills, but I recall reading about Leica's "Das Wesentliche" approach to cameras.  My understanding is that it translates to "the essence of what matters".  

While like many of you I enjoy the RangeFinder camera experience in all of its various forms, the larger photographic world has moved to new platforms and tools to take advantage of today's technology.  If I were looking for the best photography tool to create the photographs that I want, I have more choice today than ever.  In this brave new world Leica has to make a lot of decisions, any one of which could have significant financial and business consequences.

 

With the M10 the "Das Wesentliche" choices are clear - Leica choses to keep the M platform rangefinder based, and apparently doesn't believe that the integrated EV options that some competitors have embraced are good enough for a discerning Leica clientele.  Instead of forcing things, they took what was "essential" to the Leica M experience and incrementally addressed many of the concerns that their loyal customers have voiced.  Overall, I believe that was the "right" decision, but time will tell.

 

What is more interesting is from the Das Wesentliche perspective, now what?  The M seems to be their Porsche 911 - a platform that was far ahead of the competition when it was introduced, but as technology has improved and changed over the decades, other choices available today make the 911 still attractive, but no longer the clear frontrunner of sports cars.  And Porsche has no choice but to cater to their loyal 911 clients or risk long term damage to their brand.  I suspect Leica is following this model and will continue to support and develop the M line, if for no other reason than that's their core client base.

 

Ferrari went a different way.  Their sports cars are to many the epitome of what a sports car should be.  Much of the joy of driving a Ferrari was the joy of becoming proficient at manually shifting the transmission through the gated shifter that was a Ferrari hallmark.  The joy of interaction of man and machine was, for many, a wonderful synergy.  Yet Ferrari decided that the manual transmission was no longer suitable for the high performance machines that they were creating.  So they abruptly stopped making ANY manual transmission cars.  Today you can't order any Ferrari with a manual transmission. They have "moved on" and decided that the technical improvements offered by a fully integrated high performance transmission require technology to maximize the performance potential.  So far the market has accepted this choice, but I wonder if it is the right one from the perspective of Das Wesentliche?  Does "technical perfection" overcome the man/machine interface?  Is performance optimization a higher perceived value than interaction?

 

And that's where I think Leica is now.  Trying to figure out do they follow Porsche or Ferrari?  Will there be a M15 some day, or will the Leica SL/Q/QL/? eventually displace the M platform as the flagship for Leica?  That's hard to know, but it seems to me that Leica realizes that their history and identity is firmly planted in the M "ethos" - and that Das Wesentliche is a core value that can't be replaced.

 

I hope that is so.  I still enjoy "rowing my own" and if I were in the market for a high end sports car, despite what might be a superior platform in the Ferrari drivetrain, I'd much prefer to manually shift a Porsche.  I suspect that Leica M owners will make the same decision in the future and continue to reward Leica for supporting and developing the M line.  I think Leica realizes this, and I for one, applaud them for listening to their clients and giving them (at least for most features) what they asked for.  

 

Further supporting the new M10 body are some quite amazing new M lenses - APO/ASPH becoming common, and the Summarit line of lenses are nearly ideal small footprint partners for the high ISO M10 digital platform.  Yes, the bokeh of the Nocti/Summilux line is important to many photographers, but Leica seems intent on providing the right tools for any M photographer, and I'm glad to see it.  We now have updated film M platforms (M-A), both video capable M digital bodies (the M240 remains in the catalog), and a new "Das Wesentliche|" camera to compliment the "pure focus" ethos of the original platform.

 

Bravo!

Edited by lencap
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I'd also add that for some of my work the M is still my best tool.  Working close in documentary, music or theatre performance, especially with rapidly changing light levels, the speed of response, the reliability of manual focus and IQ from lenses in the 28-50 range make the M essential for me.  Of course I don't depend on it for when I want to use a fast AF telephoto lens.  For me a true DSLR remains the best for this kind of work.  But for so many applications, the M gives me the best results, whatever the competing platforms offer in terms of apparent ease of use.

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