earleygallery Posted September 29, 2008 Share #41 Posted September 29, 2008 Advertisement (gone after registration) Certainly not based on people who see a camera with "Nikon" in large font smack on the front and ask if it's a Leica Well at the time the camera was on a table with the front facing the other way, he just saw a 'classic' camera and wondered if it was a Leica. I know a few instances doesn't prove a theory but from my experience, anyone with a basic knowledge of or interest in photography does appear to have heard of Leica and associates it with serious/older/traditional/expensive equipment. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted September 29, 2008 Posted September 29, 2008 Hi earleygallery, Take a look here To Leica from an angry customer. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
glickrick Posted September 29, 2008 Share #42 Posted September 29, 2008 I have a contax G2 system. It is now obsolete. Thank your lucky stars that Leica is still around to upset you with expensive product. Better that than no product. As many have said, you have options. I own a canon 5D system now. I am still waiting for the right moment to jump to Leica. May never do it. But I still hope... The S system looks amazing, and yes, waaaaaaay tooooooooo expensive for prosumers like me. I leave that to the professionals and a rental to get it out of my system. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SJP Posted September 29, 2008 Share #43 Posted September 29, 2008 To snap your garden flowers it is a must have ! For some inexplicable reason I recently found myself drawn to exclusively using it to take pictures of cats, clicky here if you must. Somehow they appear more pleasant than other species. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NZDavid Posted September 30, 2008 Share #44 Posted September 30, 2008 Do Leica photographers have superior looking cats -- why is that? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SJP Posted September 30, 2008 Share #45 Posted September 30, 2008 The financial burdon of owning a Leica needs justification so you get an appropriately photogenic domestic animal to match. Moreover as stated elsewhere it is not suitable at all for serious photography, so this is all that is left for us to do Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
zapp Posted September 30, 2008 Share #46 Posted September 30, 2008 Well, it could be worse, Leica could be bankrupt and out of business What they presented last week, was the most interesting think for years in the whole market, besides micro 4/3 with live view. Do you actually think, you can buy a new Phase One back off the shelf right now, or a Leaf back? No you can not. Several companies try to bind customers with long term announcements. Leica takes a long time, but business wise they underwent a lot of changes and I agree, if they can not deliver something in the next 6 to 10 months they are in serious trouble. The S2 should be ready soon, and a working model of the R10 just after that. That would help M users to think that the M9 is also close. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sinwen Posted September 30, 2008 Author Share #47 Posted September 30, 2008 Advertisement (gone after registration) Well, it could be worse, Leica could be bankrupt and out of businessWhat they presented last week, was the most interesting think for years in the whole market, besides micro 4/3 with live view. Sure it is interesting but that's all ! We want something less interesting but usable NOW ! Do you actually think, you can buy a new Phase One back off the shelf right now, or a Leaf back? No you can not. Several companies try to bind customers with long term announcements. Right off the shelf so to say may be not, but within a month surely. I know that a CFV for example is in stock. Leica takes a long time, but business wise they underwent a lot of changes and I agree, if they can not deliver something in the next 6 to 10 months they are in serious trouble. The S2 should be ready soon, and a working model of the R10 just after that. That would help M users to think that the M9 is also close. S2 wont be on retail before next summer, how many sales this will make in a year time? They can deliver the M8 and lenses, this market is already saturated, I fear they fall on their back before. R10 is for the time being "speculation", hope for next Kina at best ! Pity because that is very long waited and could have put Leica back on track if it was on the market NOW. A micro-third compact was also a good idea and expected, missed also! You cannot present a product and tell your customers, "it is nice, innovative but you'll get it in a year time" (sic!!!!). Kidding kind of marketing and business ! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DuquesneG Posted September 30, 2008 Share #48 Posted September 30, 2008 Well at the time the camera was on a table with the front facing the other way, he just saw a 'classic' camera and wondered if it was a Leica. I know a few instances doesn't prove a theory but from my experience, anyone with a basic knowledge of or interest in photography does appear to have heard of Leica and associates it with serious/older/traditional/expensive equipment. Which is exactly what I said in the first place. In the population at large however, meaning everyone who has a little camera they use to take vacation and party snaps, the name Leica is hardly recognized, whereas Nikon and Canon are. Those companies both have commercials running in prime-time TV. Ashton Kutcher is in Nikon's latest. As I said, Leica needs to market differently. Inasmuch as they have a line of rebranded Panasonic point and shoots, there's no reason they couldn't appeal to a youthful mass market. Some of those young people are bound to get more serious about photography at some point in the future, and when they do, maybe years from now when they are out practicing dentists or doctors or lawyers and have lots of money, they will be the customers of tomorrow for Leica's ultra-expensive M, R and S products. Otherwise when today's customers die off, who will replace them? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill Posted September 30, 2008 Share #49 Posted September 30, 2008 What is an Ashton Kutcher? Do my Ashtons need Kutching? How will it improve my photography? "Otherwise when today's customers die off, who will replace them?" Hm. That's never been said before in the past, oh, 80-odd years. And yet, funnily enough, they get replaced. I actually wouldn't mind betting that the sheer number of people with a Leica in their homes has never been higher. Have you never heard of the birds and the bees? Regards, Bill Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fotografr Posted September 30, 2008 Share #50 Posted September 30, 2008 Otherwise when today's customers die off, who will replace them? We old timers will leave our Leica gear to the youngsters and they will be immediately hooked. Then after another long period came the M8, a flawed 5K$ piece of electronic with a very annoying cropping factor. It was that bad that they proposed a special upgrade plan/contract for another 1K to partially correct misconception. We don't hear about it anymore, they propose the M8-2 instead. Sinwen--Some people spend so much time lamenting what they don't have that they don't leave time to enjoy what is already available to them. I fear you are one. I've been using the M8 since it was first released and I can honestly say I've gotten far more than my money's worth out of it in both pleasure and professional payment. No, it's not a perfect camera--but it's a damn fine one and is my first choice as a tool for making images. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
arpey Posted September 30, 2008 Share #51 Posted September 30, 2008 "Otherwise when today's customers die off, who will replace them?" Well ... a very interesting question ... I can speak only for myself ... I own Leica soley because I inherited some nice R-gear from my Dad ... most of it goes back to the early-70s and it all still works fine for film work. As I've said here before, I'd really like the option of using these fine Leica R-lens with a Leica FF digital body (as well as my existing film bodies), so I'm saving my money and waiting patiently for that option to become available. I've toyed - from time to time - with the idea of acquiring a Canon 5D and using an adaptor, but simply haven't found the motivation to pull that string yet. While I fear that I may never have the economic capacity to purchase an R-10, the idea that I'll at least have the option in the reasonably near future is enough for me right now. In the meantime, I'm having a lot of fun with what I already own. Most of my camera gear is significantly older than my grown children ... and infinitely less troublesome. That says something positive about the Leica brand. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luigi bertolotti Posted September 30, 2008 Share #52 Posted September 30, 2008 Dikdik is right, and I sympathize with him: nowadays, a photog that MUST use long teles and has DECIDED to go digital, today cannot count on an available Leica product: this is a fact... and the splendid African pics by Jaap, taken with DMR, only prove that a Leica customer who, at proper time, decided to trust the DMR system, has a gear that is still capable of taking supelative photos when in the right hands... he didn't make a "mistake", at that times, but today buying a used DMR isn't a serious alternative... . (nor attaching a Viso+Telyt 400-560 to M8 as I do... ) But cannot agree with sinwan spirit : defining M8 as a "flawed 5K$ piece of electronic with a very annoying cropping factor" is simply reductive : what is so "annoying" in 18x27 vs. the flagships APSs of the top vendors? M8 has given excellent results to many people... lot of discussions have arisen about its "flaws" (real or not, exaggerated or not... won't enter the discussion) but Leica must be credited to have made a WELL-WORKING camera around a basic concept that was seriously difficult to engineer... and imho also this is a fact ... and has little to do with the circumstance that many of us are Leica lovers. And I still believe that many of us will not have to "dig their pocket" if and when a M9 arrive ... in this case, it will have a price, and anyone will be free to make what he likes... so as, at the moment, I don't feel any need nor any "marketing push" to upgrade my M8 or have a M8.2, I imagine i'll feel not so different with a costly M9 available... after all it will not make worsen the pics I take with M8... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jc_braconi Posted September 30, 2008 Share #53 Posted September 30, 2008 Dikdik is right, and I sympathize with him: nowadays, a photog that MUST use long teles and has DECIDED to go digital, today cannot count on an available Leica product: this is a fact... and the splendid African pics by Jaap, taken with DMR, only prove that a Leica customer who, at proper time, decided to trust the DMR system, has a gear that is still capable of taking supelative photos when in the right hands... he didn't make a "mistake", at that times, but today buying a used DMR isn't a serious alternative... . (nor attaching a Viso+Telyt 400-560 to M8 as I do... )( Luigi, I got my DMR used but mint, only 959 pict taken for less than the price for a Canon or a Nikon camera and as I have 2 R8 I have the alternative with rolls and digital with a lot of R lens including 28-70 and 80-200 with ROM. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luigi bertolotti Posted September 30, 2008 Share #54 Posted September 30, 2008 Luigi,I got my DMR used but mint, only 959 pict taken for less than the price for a Canon or a Nikon camera and as I have 2 R8 I have the alternative with rolls and digital with a lot of R lens including 28-70 and 80-200 with ROM. ...ehm... people like you and me (with my Viso Telyts... ) ... let'say we are special... ... I tried to enter in a "less-leicaphile mood" in my above post... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jc_braconi Posted September 30, 2008 Share #55 Posted September 30, 2008 ...ehm... people like you and me (with my Viso Telyts... ) ... let'say we are special... ... I tried to enter in a "less-leicaphile mood" in my above post... I understand ... I tried with the M8 and Viso's but with the Viso lens to Leica R adapter 14167 it is more easy for me, I can use Vlens from 65 to 560 (no I do not have a 800) ) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luigi bertolotti Posted September 30, 2008 Share #56 Posted September 30, 2008 I understand ...I tried with the M8 and Viso's but with the Viso lens to Leica R adapter 14167 it is more easy for me, I can use Vlens from 65 to 560 (no I do not have a 800) ) So better... I could KILL for it ... (even a gun-wise man... ) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jc_braconi Posted September 30, 2008 Share #57 Posted September 30, 2008 So better... I could KILL for it ... (even a gun-wise man... ) My friend, you saw his name in Lager book, has a brand new one in carrying case. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luigi bertolotti Posted September 30, 2008 Share #58 Posted September 30, 2008 My friend, you saw his name in Lager book, has a brand new one in carrying case. Kn..k ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chanyr Posted October 6, 2008 Share #59 Posted October 6, 2008 You seem to be a R camera user. Consider using the EOS 5D Mk.II until the Leica R10 comes out. Just imagine, you can even record video with your Leica telephoto lenses using an adapter, this could make hobbies like birding really interesting. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Posted October 17, 2008 Share #60 Posted October 17, 2008 I actually understand the complaint to some extent, albeit not the length of it. It was not easy reading so I skimmed and understand as this is being said by more than a few people. There is something to be said for the argument the lenses are 1.3 on the M8 and the aperture has to be used differently than as is indicated on the barrel. For the money spent, one wants precision, and ease of use. Had the M8 been a full frame I am convinced it would have sold a lot more and expanded its adherents. Very film oriented I use my M7 and MP almost exclusively. Had the M8 been full frame I would have bought it. As others, I don't understand Leica marketing strategy, including this recent development into the a huge S2 not quite medium format.....etceteras. Why the ambiguity? Maybe Leica sees farther ahead and more clearly than I do, and in ten years time people will look back in wonder at its foresight. In the meantime, in order to avoid becoming too lengthy here myself, let me just add I enjoy the M series cameras and lenses and have no regrets about having moved to Leica. If I do add a digital camera next year, unless Leica comes up with something unexpected I must say though I would look for something in Nikon or Canon. But never would it take the place of my film M cameras and lenses. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.