Re: [Leica] Ted Grant's Ravings

[Alexey Merz <alexey@webcom.com>]

"Robert Bedwell" <rlb@triad.rr.com> wrote:
> Damn, I would consider dumping my G2 for an M with auto-
> focus(single, constant, multi) or manual and a choice of
> auto-exposure options; matrix, spot, 5 spot averaging and
> being able to use it with a Noctilux, 75mm F1.4,
> 35mm F1.4, 24mm.  I salivate at the thought.

First of all, I think that the subject line for this 
thread is awful. Shame on whoever started it. 

Second, it sounds as though Mr. Bedwell wants a 
Canon Eos1n or A2E (almost as quiet as an M6!). 
And the truth is that for the lenses he wants to
use, the Canon equivalents are among the very 
best lenses available, certainly competitive with 
the M equivalents (except for the Noctilux).
If he wishes for viewfinder rather than screen, 
all he need do is put an auxiliary finder into 
the EOS hot shoe. Or he could just stay with
the G2. It's not as though the G2 is a bad
system!

Let's face it. An AF M6 is not in the cards. It
would require the complete reengineering of the 
system, as in the G2, into something no longer 
recognizable as the M. And the truth is that the 
Contax G is not designed to appeal to the young set
but to middle aged, well-to-do boomers with failing
eyesight. That's a great market, and the G is a nice
camera but *don't* kid yourselves that it's aimed at
a young market.

More facts: the technophile kids who are, as Bedwell
and others have suggested, weaned on a Playstation 
(I have one, by the way), will not be attracted by a 
whizbang Leica M, or indeed by a 35 mm film camera at 
all. If these kids even *get* a still camera it will be
digital. More likely if they have a Leica-sized budget
they'll go for the new Sony digicam with the Zeiss zoom 
and the ability to grab megapixel frames. 35 mm cameras
are *not* a growth market and they do *not* have the sex
appeal that they did to you boomers who grew up on _Life_ 
and _Look_ and _Blow Up_. To today's kids, 35 mm itself 
will soon be - perhaps already is - anachronistic.
Is anyone actually dumb enough to think that a Leica 
clone of the Contax G will change this?

Indeed, the growth segment for 35 mm - especially for a
plush item like the M - is there exactly BECAUSE it is
anachronistic. It is no coincidence that the M6 is one
of the simplest cameras on the market, and that M sales
have been steadily growing. Those of us in GenX who are
sufficiently into 35 mm to dump the bucks on a Leica 
system are doing it in part because of the "retro" 
appeal of manual cameras, B&W, and still photography.
It is telling that I know *several* people in their 
20s and 30s who have bought new or used Ms. I know a 
couple who have Hexars (fixed lens) I know lots who 
have bought Nikons or Canons. I know exactly 
NONE who have bought Leica SLRs, or Contax SLRs *or* Gs. 

Leica Ms will sell well for the same reasons that Harley
Davidsons, high-end woodworking tools (planes, chisels),
"classic" Martin D-18 and Fender Stratocaster & Telecaster
guitars, the Nikon F3 and FM2, and other seemingly
anachronistic products continue to sell well. There 
will always be people who prefer simple, classic, 
exceptionally well made tools. This market is, in 
my opinion, the only reliable market for the M.

This does not preclude the possibility of an AE, 
motor-wound M, sold emphatically as a *supplement*
to the M6. But it does suggest that if Leica fails
to sell something very like the current M6 that 
they will go down in flames, at least in the 
interchangeable lens 35 mm market.

As for the R, If I could buy a 19 Elmarit, 100 AME and
180 Apo Elmarit to fit an F100 or Eos or Maxxum9, I
would do so in a second. I hope that Leica is not too
proud to do this because they *could* sell SLR lenses
to me, but they are having a *very* hard time convincing
me that I want their SLR bodies.

Alexey Merz