Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2008/12/20
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Frank, They will have to change, I think. Tell me one thing. If the lesser body and a 50mm Summarit should be bundled as a kit, does it make sense? Surely at some point the buyer will buy an additional lens or two. Cant the basic tooling already in place for the M8 be used for a more inexpensive body, by using different materials,etc? The Panasonic tie up is really, IMHO, totally in favour of Panasonic, with Leica charging much more for what essentially is a red dot on a camera. They have to have in house brand extensions going forward. Otherwise they are going to find it very difficult in the present economic climate, where value, as a proposition, will come into play in all buying decisions. That is why I think the Summarit-M line is a step in the right direction. The real pity is that they were not able to get themselves into a position of strength in the last 15 years of conspicious consumption, as quite a few luxury brands have done. I think the company that will come out with a digital rangefinder camera is possibly Nikon, who also have a heritage here to hark back to, and the D3/D700 sensor, which with its low light capabilities would be perfect for a rangefinder. Wont be cheap, though. Cheers Jayanand On Sun, Dec 21, 2008 at 12:18 AM, Frank Dernie <Frank.Dernie@btinternet.com>wrote: > But Jayanand, it has been like this for for 30 years and they are still > here and making the sort of camera enough people want to buy to keep going. > I am sure the market for a simple rangefinder camera is tiny and, as such, > the cost for tooling a "low cost" type camera of this type could never be > recovered. By making a camera with tooling appropriate for low volume the > unit cost will always be high. > If there was a big enough market for rangefinders to make less expensive > ones there would have been an Epson (or Cosina-Voigtander) RD2, the fact > that there wasn't tells us all we need to know. IMHO. > Frank > > > On 20 Dec, 2008, at 01:23, Jayanand Govindaraj wrote: > > Harrison, >> I agree with you - you need an annuity line. Alternatively, you need to >> dominate a professional niche requirement. Leica does neither. >> Cheers >> Jayanand >> >> On Sat, Dec 20, 2008 at 3:02 AM, Harrison McClary <lists@mcclary.net> >> wrote: >> >> I wonder how big of a market there is for the "Best of" cameras. The >>> EOS1DsIII while a great camera has a great price tag also. As does the >>> new >>> D3x or whatever Nikon calls theirs. If Canon and Nikon did not make >>> D40's >>> and Digital Rebels I do not think they'd be the profitable companies they >>> are. Leica really needs to consider making some entry level cameras >>> also. >>> The number of people who will pay 1200- 2000 for a new body are far >>> greater >>> than those who will pay 5grand for one. >>> Lottermoser George wrote: >>> >>> >>>> Whether a new R10 competes >>>> in quality and price >>>> with the best of Nikon and Canon >>>> remains to be seen. >>>> I choose to believe that it will; >>>> even though I cannot afford >>>> anymore best of. >>>> >>>> >>> -- >>> Harrison McClary >>> Harrison McClary Photography >>> harrison@mcclary.net >>> http://www.mcclary.net >>> ImageStockSouth - Stock Photography >>> http://www.imagestocksouth.com >>> Tobacco Road: Personal Blog: >>> http://www.mcclary.net/blog >>> >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> 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 >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >