Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/06/28
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]As all of us were already aware of, Leica made most of its revenues up to now from the sales of its M equipment. The R reflex series have always been considered a bit as something that just had to be done because everybody else (i.e. Japanese manufacturers) was doing so. The previous R models up and including the R7 are good cameras on their own, but always came late compared with the competition. New technical developments have always been available for years in Japanese cameras before they became mainstream Leica R. All this appears to be finally changing with the advent of the R8. For the first time Leica has a camera that equals the best Japanese ones, and actually surpasses them in some ways (e.g. built-in flashmeter). This had had an impact on Leica's sales. Demand for the R8 is so strong (well, at least to Leica-standards!), that the factory in Solms can not follow the orders. According to well-informed sources, it appears that for the first time in history, the Leica reflex sales will equal and maybe exceed the rangefinder sales both in volume as in profit. This could mean that in future more attention will be given to the R series (including lenses) than previously was the case. Pascal Belgium - ------------------------------------------ This message was created and sent on a Macintosh PowerBook - ------------------------------------------