Re: [Leica] R8 marketplace performance and the LUG

[Jeffcoat Photography <jeffcoatphoto@sumter.net>]

Thank you Greg for telling it like it is. Long live the
R8!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cheers Wilber

GBicket wrote:

> Morning all,
>
> Back from Ding Darling Wildlife Sanctuary, and awaiting processing of my
> transparencies, and reading through the digests, I come across yet another
> in the regular pissing-upon-the-R8 parades.  I'll not debate those who
> impugn the wisdom of offering a non-AF SLR in today's marketplace.  Sales
> activity of non-AF SLR's had slowed relative to the sales of AF cameras of
> all flavors, prior to the release of the R8.
>
> I have spent a most satisfying week plus, behind Leica glass and an R8,
> peering out at waterfowl and large reptiles wintering in one of southwest
> Florida's safe places.  The camera performed flawlessly, and if it has laid
> light on film as it has for so many exposures on so many rolls, the egrets,
> and the herons, and the spoonbills, and the kingfishers, and the pileated
> woodpeckers, and the ospreys, and the alligators that I spent so many
> relaxing hours watching through the viewfinder will be accurately rendered.
>
> The R8 is not a camera which was represented as having autofocus and then
> failed to deliver.  Not once.  The R8 is a manual focus camera which
> delivers extraordinarily well exactly what it represents it will.  Indict
> Leica's market analysts, all those LUGgers whose disappointment is so bitter
> that the R8 is not an AF camera.
>
> The R8 is a great manual camera.  Deal with it.
>
> It is an exceptional SLR, with a distinctive design target, ergonomics,
> precise meter, and set of features.  It's ideal for some, off the mark for
> others, but refreshingly without compromise.  If the R8's are not the set of
> features you seek in an SLR, there are ample alternatives.
>
> Buy one of them.  Please.  And soon.
>
> The R8 suits many perfectly in terms of design philosophy, and for me, and
> many who have actually used it, a joy with which to make beautiful
> photographs.  R8 is what it is, and I'm grateful for that.  Whining about it
> will no more imbue it with autofocus than change its ergonomics.  Neither
> are changes I seek.  If there were an R8 AF available, I would own that
> body, ALSO.
>
> I for one, am convinced that Leica will make changes in design, and in
> design philosophy not a moment before it is damned good and ready, and not a
> moment [or a camera model] sooner.  While it does that at its own peril in a
> competitive marketplace, isn't Leica's following its own path part of what
> makes its products great?  Does market acceptance of plastic cameras mean
> that Leica should make its M6 body out of polycarbonate?  Do you really
> think all the violin playing will bring us a Leica SLR with AF any sooner?
> Or is this better placed on www.justwannakeepbitchingaboutanything.com  ?
>
> Let me close with thanks to R8-hating LUGgers for suppression of R8 sales,
> as this will make extra bodies more affordable in the short term future.
> But you're missing out on a good one.
>
> Enjoy the light.
>
> Greg