[Leica] decline in LUG membership

[bdcolen at earthlink.net (B. D. Colen)]

If you think about it, image capture quality has deteriorated ever since
the Daguerreotype - go look at the incredible fine detail in some of
those images. :-)

You're certainly right about the pricing insanity when one considers
digital above the 35 mm range, particularly for someone who will be
using it for art and/or hobby use. But film isn't going to disappear
today or next week, although I think it's pretty obvious film choice may
begin to decline in the quite near future.



-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
Scott McLoughlin
Sent: Thursday, August 12, 2004 3:44 PM
To: Leica Users Group
Subject: Re: [Leica] decline in LUG membership


I'm not disagreeing with the described trends. But it's just really
weird  to me.  Will the only way to take an extremely detailed, high
quality landscape photo (MF 6x7 or LF 4x5 or 8x10), be to go out and buy
some $22,000 digital back? Wow, that just sounds like complete insanity
to me.

I can understand the demise of film (cameras, shopss, repairs,
emulsions) in both the P&S and "I'm playing sports photographer with my
$2K super zoom at my kids socker game" market.

But what about the smaller but still sizeable group of shooters for whom
the small 135 format was never really an option? The Zone System fine
art shooters who only use sheet film?

Economically feasible digital solutions for these folks seem still far
off in the distant future.

My goodness, I hope our collective society is not sacrificing art on the
alter of consumer electronics :-)

[BTW, yes, MF or LF shooting is my planned pet project
for next year :-) ]

Scott


Thinkofcole@aol.com wrote:

>**SNIP **
>  Kodak's end of 120 format will affect Rolleiflex and other 2x2 TTL
reflex 
>cameras,  although there should be enough other brands around for a
few 
>years. Its end of 135 -- other than Kodachrome -- will affect all 35mm
cameras, 
>although here again there should be other brands around for a long
while, 
>basically Fuji. Kodak's end of sheet film will affect Speed Graphic,
Crown 
>Graffic, Linhof and other classic sheet-film cameras. 
>  Like 8mm Bolex cameras, many classic cameras will no longer bring
premium 
>prices anywhere because no film will soon be available without a lot of

>trouble looking for it. 
>  As for Leica, Nikon and a few other special situations, the vast
majority 
>of the users are only the ones already in the market -- the
professionals, 
>the collectors, the wealthy and a few handfuls of guys and gals  that
absolutely 
>love to own and use the best there is.
>  On one hand, many camera dealers in some cities appear to be  willing
to 
>accept far less for older Leica cameras and lenses because they  are
dead [or 
>almost dead] stock. On the other hand, many Leica dealers are  still
very 
>active, suggesting that the market is still there. At the Second
Sunday Camera 
>Show, I saw a suit-case-full of used Leicas and Leica copies for  sale
and when I 
>tried to get a look, a major buyer said that he had already  bought
them all 
>for a big Manhattan store. 
>   What does it all mean? To me it means that except for digital  and
except 
>for a handful of major cities --like New York -- the camera business
is slow, 
>very slow and in lots of places, no longer what it used to be. 
>   As for professional photographers, my daughter  in Minneapolis, who 
>occasionally models for local photographer friends,  told me that one
professional 
>photographer friend there has  lost business with at least one customer
because 
>the customer has been  buying stock photographs from a local company
for far 
>less money rather  than pay heavily for a whole crew to provide special
stuff. 
>  Unfortunately for buyers, except in the bigger cities, where prices
are 
>more reasonable, private sellers are looking for double or triple
current  
>values and it will take at least a year or two for the word to trickle
down --  if 
>then -- that the market has shrunk considerably.  For sellers, I
believe  they 
>will have to study carefully whether to stock up on this or that model.
I  
>hope I haven't offended anyone in what I've said. --bob  cole
>_______________________________________________
>Leica Users Group.
>See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>  
>

_______________________________________________
Leica Users Group.
See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information