Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/09/21
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Stephen Gandy wrote: >>It's going to be very interesting what happens over the next five years or so with Leica. << Stephen, You could say that about photography in general. I happen to think that Leica is in a very good position. My predictions are that photography will experience a huge revival in the next decade. Bandwidth will increase dramatically. More people will have access to the Internet. Sending photographs will be more practical. Home publishing (desktop publishing and having your own website) will become more popular. Digital cameras will become more commonplace. Conventional cameras will also become more commonplace. People will communicate more graphically as e-mail changes from text to pictures. Not everyone will want to mess around with digital cameras. Conventional film is more practical in certain respects. You can hold a huge amount of information on one roll of 35mm film. Conventional film is more archival. You're less reliant on batteries. In some respects conventional film is easier to use. I don't see it being completely replaced by digital. Film scanners will improve in quality and affordability. Films will continue to improve. Might we see an APS Leica body that uses existing lenses, or how about a half frame body? (I'm not trying to start rumors here. I'm just stating some possibilities). Kodak is pushing Picture CD. Other's will jump on the bandwagon, and the whole thing could explode in popularity. I think DVD will play a role. Instead of sending pictures, people will send DVD compatible CDs with audio and photographs. I say that Leica is in a good position because there will always be a market for top quality products. If other manufacturers are brining out products that compete with Leica (M), that's good news. If the popularity of interchangable lens rangefinder cameras increases -- via marketing by competitors -- increases Leica could end up selling more. Since they are at the top of the market they have unique demand elasticities. They can demand higher margins (they probably do already). As I said, there will always be a market for the best. Of course, I could be wrong in all this. But I'm certainly not ready to count 35mm conventional photography out. And as long as conventional photography is around, Leica will be around. Dave