Re: [Leica] Ted Grant's Ravings

[Jeffcoat Photography <jeffcoatphoto@sumter.net>]

If you will learn to use the R8 you would be very pleased with an
excellent camera.
Cheers Wilber

Alexey Merz wrote:

> "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