Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/10/16
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]a lot of Nikon shooters use M too. it's not an either or world. if Leica can't justify keeping trained staff and has to lay them off in these slack times, I have a difficult time believing Leica can find the funds to develop a new modern AF SLR. even if they did, every new Leica SLR design since day one in 1964 has only been 10 to 20 years behind the best current designs from Nikon or Canon. Leica needs to admit its own failures and move on to survive. I believe from a profit standpoint, it is smarter and far more cost effective for Leica to just license the R mount for already in production digital cameras, and possibly a new generation of AF Leica glass in a new mount with those partners. So a Sigma or Fujica or Kodak does not have the build quality of a R9. so what? in three years a digital SLR is a doorstop anyway. Leica has to keep making cameras and lenses at a profit, not investing precious capital into dead ends which won't generate a profitable return. So 100 shooters pop for the $6,000 digital R9 back. big deal. with the ever changing world of digital imaging, just by the time it catches on, it will be outdated, and a lost investment. granted, these are all guesses. but the fact is, that what Leica has been doing with its SLR lineup and precious investment capital just has not worked out financially over its entire 40 year R history. it's time to wake up and think differently, or there will not be a Leica as we know it. Stephen Gandy Emanuel Lowi wrote: You are entirely correct that Leica makes more money > on lenses than on cameras. > > But I'm not sure how many dedicated high-end Nikon, > Canon etc. shooters today would sacrifice autofocus in > exchange for the merits of Leica's optics. > > So let's say Leica would need to offer their optics in > other brands' mounts but WITH autofocus . > > Wouldn't they in fact be better off (competition-wise) > going all the way: bite the bullet, make their own AF > body, thereby competing toe-to-toe with the Japanese > cameras while keeping their optical advantage to > themselves? > > Emanuel Lowi > Montreal