[Leica] Leica M9P or M9.2 or M10... S2

[mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner)]

Leica having kept their toe in at the head of the very competitive
rangefinder market  when it went digital decided to attack the mainstream.
The SLR market.  Which had gone DSLR.
To me its kind a like "Gee I'm the best in Globe, Arizona I think I'll just
go to New York and do the exact same thing". Its not going to be  the same.
You're going to have to redefine yourself. I
Rangefinder shooting defines "niche Market"  in photography well back into
the film era .
The non niche very mainstream  DSLR market is dominated by a fierce
competition between Canon and Nikon.  Both companies leap frogging ahead of
each other every couple of years making a DSLR much more than an SLR with a
D in front of it . But a formable new way to do photography with nothing to
be compared to it. Photographers are able to shoot and get results like they
never could before. And those cameras keep getting better.
How could a company like Leica get involved with a thing like that?
It should do it the way it always did.
>From the top.
Leica needs most of all to maintain it's marque and not come out with a
second best product. It had to have what it always usually had a CLEAR
SUPERIORITY. It's going to cost well more than its competition and its going
to also have to be well worth that cost.
It decided that with its R base it could not pull that off.
And it decided that there was no reason to maintain the 24x36mm format.
But have a camera system the same size as the current Canon's and Nikons but
in that size of a camera it can have a much larger sensor. A sensor which
could be considered "medium format" as it turned out.
As with an enlarged format on top of what they knew they could produce glass
wise they'd come out with a product which could produce results that no one
could mistake for full frame Canon Nikon.
I've held one in my hands. I've looked through it. I made it go "click"
numerous times. On two different occasions. It was like another thing which
happened to me once which I never forgot. Twelve cylinders. I sat in a
passenger seat of a Jaguar once in 1970. Never got over that.
With an S2 if you were shooting something in a crowd of people you'd know
that whatever they were all getting; you'd be getting something better.
It combines the super quality of medium format with the handy handling of
35mm. Its a brilliant idea.
Its a brilliant idea that its not all about the glass.
Format is very much at the bottom line. Even below glass.
And unfortunately in this day and age in a DSLR its also all about
instantaneously and silently focusing  autofocus.

30X45mm format
6 micron pixel pitch
1.5 frames per second
Dual shutter system
True 16 bit files
 SO 100 ? 1600
Weather sealed construction



Mark



> From: Frank Filippone <red735i at earthlink.net>
> Reply-To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
> Date: Wed, 18 May 2011 06:36:03 -0700
> To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
> Subject: Re: [Leica] Leica M9P or M9.2 or M10
> 
> To me, the niche they picked is untested waters for them, in a field 
> already
> established with large brands, existing solutions at half ( third?) the
> price that are getting more pixels, more low noise, more features at a 6
> month rate.... 
> 
> Leica was never good at turning R+D quickly.  Their S2 competitors are.
> Their customers expect it.  Terrible solution to be in.
> 
> Are they sold out?  Sure/maybe as we have no idea if the things were
> available, if there would be demand to get them, LONG TERM.  You are still
> seeing pent up demand.
> 
> Comparisons to the M5 are missing the point that the M5 used ALL the Leica
> lenses that users had already.  It was an alternative body, not an
> alternative system.  It was a 1 trick pony.  The M5 is generally considered
> a marketing failure.
> 
> Will it outsell ( in dollars) an M5 or the R line?  Maybe at up to 100 
> times
> the unit price it should.  It may have already.  Is the criteria for 
> success
> the relative sales compared to a failure?
> 
> It is not technical quality that will win or even make the product viable.
> It is users spending on it that will.  What influences those customers is
> technical quality, features, cost, service, rental ability ( pros only),
> competitive product, existing product in their closets, and the ability to
> say... I bought this REALLY expensive piece of jewelry.
> 
> Time will tell, and my crystal ball says the S2 won't be around long.
> 
> I will say it again... they should have bought someone else's body, thrown
> on a Leica Mount and made glass for it.  Or just go make AF glass for the N
> or C of the world.
> 
> They didn't, they won't.
> 
> Frank Filippone
> Red735i at earthlink.net
> 
> 
> 
> 
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