[Leica] MANIFESTO TIME

[Mike Johnston <michaeljohnston@ameritech.net>]

I think the current argument is ludicrous. We're arguing around in
circles--the R8 isn't selling; do you have hard facts that it isn't?
Financial reports show that R sales are down precipitously. But it's a
true LEICA and I wouldn't want it any other way. Still, it would be nice
if they could stay in business. It should have been AF. It should NOT
have been AF. Can you prove AF sells any better? (This is the most
ridiculous suggestion of the whole argument.) Leica can't do AF. Oh yes
they can, they did it first and somebody once read somewhere that they
own some of the patents. The whole market is saturated anyway, so the R8
can't do any better. The R8 is behind the times. No it isn't. Leica
isn't innovative. There is no such thing as innovation in photography
anyway.

Blah, blah.

Did not, did too, did not, did too.

I've got just a couple of questions: do you people WANT Leica to go down
in flames? Do you want all forward motion (presuming "innovation" is too
strong a word) to cease? Will you be happiest if the M6 ends up as the
camera equivalent of the wooden-bodied Morgan Roadster, i.e., a
vestigial throwback using ancient technology, replicated in tiny numbers
at relatively very high cost?

And, do you think these head-in-the-sand "everything is copacetic"
attitudes HELP Leica?

Do any of you think Leica would mind selling MORE R8s?

Do any of you think R sales would be declining so rapidly if the R8 had
been a resounding SUCCESS?

In my own opinion, it is NOT certain that an AF camera from Leica would
a.) sell or b.) help save their ass. But to suggest that the
camera-buying public doesn't accept AF is just absurd--it's damn near a
mandatory feature for the overwhelming majority of camera buyers. It's a
moot point here, though, because there's a hell of a lot more to
bringing an AF system SLR camera to market than "knowing how to do it."
Retooling the entire lens line, for one. Zeiss won't do this for Kyocera
for anything like acceptable cost (and Kyocera is so frustrated by this
impediment that they built an AF BODY that Rube Goldberg would be proud
of). Olympus won't do it for the OM line, and they're one of the three
most profitable camera companies on earth, with a turnover that dwarfs
Leica's. Let's please stop this absolutely ABSURD talk about Leica not
going to an AF SLR because it "doesn't meet their standards" or it's
"not precise enough." That's just absolute, complete, utter BS. They
don't do it for the same reason that I don't buy myself a PRIVATE JET:
because it's so incredibly far above the reach of my resources that the
very idea is in the realm of fantasy.

Again, I'd like to suggest that there may be a way the LUG can actually
help Leica. Why not draft a resolution in support of Herr Cohn and
articulating your love and support of classic Leica photography? A LUG
Manifesto. You could start a program whereby Luggers offer to help
younger photographers by showing them your Ms and showing them how to
use them, letting them shoot a roll or two, whether in your presence or
not. You could visit photography schools and show kids some Leica
equipment and talk about the lore, the legend, and the ethos of the
camera. Pledge yourselves to helping spread the word. Put out a press
release. Send it to all the newspapers. Heck, you've got the ear of at
least one magazine editor right now.

Why NOT do something like this? Think of all the accumulated expertise
that is gathered on this forum, in a hundred different fields.

Do something positive. This silly nattering about how everything's just
hunky-dory as it is and nothing should ever change and anybody who uses
any other camera is a benighted moron, none of that is constructive in
the least; it just doesn't help your cause.

- --Mike