[Leica] Photokina Notes

[mikiro at yahoo.fr (MIKIRO)]

This is a critical issue to Leica. No one would be happy to see their 
$7K Leica cameras worth $2K in two years. In my opinion, this is 
justified only by those who make enough money with the "tools". And 
then, how many Leica users can do that? However, decrease of resale 
value will possibly be smaller than expected because 6-10MP digital 
M-mount cameras are produced in small numbers and probably work well 
enough even in three years.

MIKIRO
Japan

Stephen Gandy wrote (in part):

> I suspect Epson priced the RD-1 at $3000 to make it look like a bargain
> compared to the estimated $7,000  for a digital Leica M, not
> understanding how much price resistance they would get for the RD-1 in
> that rarefied price category.   At the moment the RD-1  is the world's
> best digital M mount camera, but Zeiss Ikon and Leica have both
> announced digital M cameras.  What happens when there are 3, or who
> knows, more?  The basic problem of any digital camera is that has a
> computer style shelf life, with most digital cams having a very low
> computer like resale value only two years after their initial sale.  to
> justify $3000, most buyers will either simply have bucks, or be able to
> make the investment back before it becomes obsolete.
>