Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/07/13
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On Jul 13, 2006, at 6:48 PM, Richard wrote: > Leica's rivals are not Canon, Nikon etc. They lost it in the 60s. Their > "rival" is to convince photographers that there is a place for > rangefinder > photography, and in that niche market, other digital rangefinder > makers, > which currently consist of one company that in 2 years, have sold less > than > 10,000 cameras (R-D1). It is a small market folks. Surely you jest. Compared to Canon and Nikon, Leica is no more than a flea on an elephant. As for losing it in the 60s, it was Leica that was the loser. In 1963 Leica dominated the expensive 35 mm camera market, selling nearly four times as many cameras as Nikon. By 1966 the SLR emerged as the preferred camera form and Nikon's sales were half again greater than Leica's and Canon's sales were growing fast. Both companies read the tea leaves (financial reports), abandoned the RF camera and never looked back. I agree that the RF market was so small that only one niche player could survive, and that on a marginal basis. If there is a place for RF film cameras it is disappearing as fast as the ice in my gin and tonic in today's 90 degree weather. Except for a few of us nostalgia loving old farts, the Leica film camera's day is over. The digital M means that even Leica agrees. Larry Z