[Leica] Cohn comments and Kodachome Blues

["Sal DiMarco,Jr." <sdmp007@pressroom.com>]

Friends,
        In the past few days, there have been a number of  comments about
how Hanns-Peter Cohn is handling things at Leica. Well, I feel they are all
off base.
        I have met the man and have had several lenthly conversations with
him. I feel he is the right man for Leica and he is leading the company in
the right direction.
        He is smart, perceptive and understands the needs of his customers.
Leica is a small company with limited resources, they can not respond as
quickly as we would like. He must prioritize (sp?). Give the guy a chance.
He has the support of all the employees.
        To the R8 detractors out there. Did you know the R8 has out sold
every other Leica reflex camera? If you don't like the size and feel of the
R8, well there is the R6.2. FYI, Leica has looked very hard at Auto-Focus.
They found an AF Leica R would sell for about $4,000.--. Too expenvise. Not
to mention the lenses. A large part of the cost is in royalities for using
the auto focus patents. They are aware of our desire for an AF reflex. At
this point in time, it is not practical.

        The Kodachrome Blues... As someone who had a small part in
convincing The Great Yellow Father (Kodak) to build a new Kodachrome
Processor (K-Lab) and been on the edges of its construction, I think I can
make a couple of useful comments about my favorite film, Kodachrome.
        The biggest drawbacks to Kodachrome are the processing turn around
time and the very high quality of the E6 films available today.
        Most people do not want to wait several days for their pictures. In
most big cities, you can get E6 done with a normal turn around time of four
hours. In NYC make that two hours.
        People have lost confidence in Kodachrome, especially in the
professional area. There are many horror stories of  bad or poor Kodachrome
processing. By the time Kodak solved the problems it was to late in the eyes
of many. Lab owners are reluctant to invest in Kodachrome machines. Almost
everyone who did went toes-up. The early machines were one million dollars
each.
        The quality of the E6 films doesn't help either. They are getting
better and better and they are approaching Kodachrome in the previously
untouchable Kodachrome area, permanence.
        The new K-Lab solves all the problems of the past. It can work with
low volume or high. It does NOT  require a full time chemist. Dry to dry
time is 45 minutes. There is an eight stop variability  in processing. I can
go on and on.
        Right now, it is a marketing problem for Kodak. Over dinner last
week, a couple of  Kodachome Kodakers and I talked about the problem. We
concluded it would cost Kodak between 50 and 100 Million dollars to
re-launch Kodachrome with no guarantee of success. This included R&D for a
new family of Kodachrome films. The last Kodachrome alteration in Kodachrome
was an improved K-200 to match the color balance of KPR-64 and tighten the
grain structure around 1988.  How would you like to make a 100 million
dollar roll of the dice? That is exactly what Dan Carp, the new CEO has to
decide.
        If you want to save Koachrome, I suggest going to their web site and
show them, there is a real interest in Kodachrome. There are people in
Rochester ready will and able to help.

Regards,
Sal DiMarco, Jr.