RE: [Leica] Leica, Canon, and soft images

["Kotsinadelis, Peter (Peter)" <peterk@lucent.com>]

Eric,

In business, it sales that rule.  Canon outsells Leica many times over.
That piece of grit is eventually "blinked out of your eye" in which case you
seel the dollars in front of you.

As to the Noctilux and zoom, I don't think they care.  The market is what
they are after, and is their lenses are only 95% as sharp that's fine for
most.  Especially when they are often 50% of the price of the Leica plus AF,
Image Stabilization, and other niceties that make photography easier than
before.

Peter K

<snip>
Because Leica is a little piece of grit in their eyes. They like to think 
they make the best lenses. And in some cases, they do. But Leica is there 
to poke them in the eye with a Noctilux that still outperforms their lens, 
even though it's from the 70s and doesn't have an Aspheric element. They 
claim theirs is better, but from those to date who have used both, that I 
have talked to say that they think the Noctilux has special qualities that 
make it actually a better lens to use. I'd like to try the Canon, but I 
don't think that's going to happen any time soon.

So Leica comes out with a zoom lens that has no equal. It's got to bug them 
when they think they have the best designers.<snip>