Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2012/11/30

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Subject: [Leica] Cameras Real Pros Use
From: photo.forrest at earthlink.net (Phil Forrest)
Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2012 01:34:31 -0500
References: <28884167474845ABA32C95319D0C4B07@jimnichols> <CCDF0B75.2708E%mark@rabinergroup.com>

Check the sale prices of Contax v. Leica.
Leica outlasted Contax because Contax was broken up after WWII, half of
it being shipped east to the USSR, the rest remaining in Germany (ok,
so not quite that simple but it was broken up.) Then it was mismanaged
and sold a few times. All the while Leica survived, a lot of it due to
the ubiquity of their 39mm mount and the availability of Nikon, Canon
and a host of other countries to produce lower cost lenses which would
fit the Leica.

The Contax was far more complicated to produce in both shutter and lens
mount/helicoid. Everything about the Contax was more expensive except
maybe the chrome.

Phil Forrest



On Sat, 01 Dec 2012 01:18:45 -0500
Mark Rabiner <mark at rabinergroup.com> wrote:

> Pretty much the exact opposite was true.
> Leica established the market Zeiss  saw there was money in cameras and
> followed. Contax cameras were boxy looking with sharp edges Leica
> cameras were smooth and rounded and much more friendly in the hand.
> A Zeiss 50mm 1.5 that for instance HCB got made for a more affordable
> package than with the Leica lens. The combination was more common in
> the camera stores then.
> The legacy of Leica 35mm rangefinder photography the work left behind
> and the people who used them exceeds that of Contax by a hundred
> times. Nowadays the person next to you on the bus has head of Leica
> and has not heard of Contax. They think you're talking about Contacts
> for your eyes.
> 
> Mark William Rabiner
> Photography
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/lugalrabs/
> 
> 
> > From: Jim Nichols <jhnichols at lighttube.net>
> > Reply-To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
> > Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2012 23:48:56 -0600
> > To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
> > Subject: Re: [Leica] Cameras Real Pros Use
> > 
> > 
> >> No.  When the market was early, and Zeiss was all over cameras,
> >> there was the Contax 1 and 2 and 3 and then there was the Leica
> >> ( whatever ) model. Zeiss was king.  Leica the upstart.  As the
> >> Good Book says, in the beginning, it was Contax and Leica.  Contax
> >> was more elegant, more lenses, more you name it.  Leica was
> >> cheaper by a lot.  People who could not afford
> >> the Contax, bought Leicas.  So why did Leica become supreme over
> >> the Contax?
> >> 
> >> Because the Contax shutters required constant tweaking, constant
> >> replacement
> >> of the shutter cords, and basically were not reliable.
> >> 
> >> Deja vue?
> >> 
> >> Frank Filippone
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information



-- 
http://philipforrestphoto.wordpress.com/
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/philforrest


Replies: Reply from mak at teleport.com (Mark Kronquist) ([Leica] Contax)
In reply to: Message from jhnichols at lighttube.net (Jim Nichols) ([Leica] Cameras Real Pros Use)
Message from mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner) ([Leica] Cameras Real Pros Use)