[LRflex] Re: The DMR as a Collectible.

Colin:
I think you've pretty much nailed it as far as the "HEY!! I Do This For 
Money" commercial and media photographers and photojournalists are 
concerned.

And because of that, I'm not at all confident that Leica has the 
corporate will or the resources to develop such a machine.  If they 
could, and it was robust, reliable (read as, "legendary"), they'd sell 
everything they could build.  And you're right; price wouldn't be the 
issue.

They sure accomplished that with the M, up through version 7.

Part of the problem may be that Leica hasn't figured out their market.  
They're piggy-backing on Matsushita's (Panasonic) broad financial 
shoulders for now with Leica-badged Panny consumer digicams.

That exercise can't go on forever.  Matsushita will become bored and 
move on, leaving Leica management running after them, wiping their 
tear-bloated eyes, proclaiming hotly, ...but you PROMISED!...).

Fact is, Leica builds truly robust, film-based Rs and Ms and a rather 
nice but not market-disruptive digital rangefinder.  And some of (no 
all of) the best lenses in the world.

But what does this all mean in 2007?  I get no sense that Leica knows 
who their customers should be/will be, what their Product Roadmap is, 
and how they are going to establish a niche and own it going forward.  
(sorry...I was a Product Manager in one of my lives...)

Finally (you can cheer, now - almost done...), I nearly bought a 
Digilux 3 to back up my R8/9 with R-Vario 28-90 Asph.  But immediately, 
on picking up the Digilux, I knew instantly that it "wasn't a Leica".  
Even though the R (and Oly Zuiko) lenses will mount on it  (allowing 
for the adaptor and some telephoto consequences), the R lenses seem to 
weigh more than the Digilux.  Balance really sucks.

I'm really sorry about that, because the Digilux 3/Panny has some nice 
features.  But it's not enough of a machine to be what I believe to be 
"Leica".

Probably better to buy the Panny version from a US Big Box Store for 
around US $ 1,850.00, same plasticky DC Vario lens and wonder if the 
Leica Warranty, Firmware and Red Dot make the images better.   It's a 
rather nice camera, but at that price point, so are the Olympus, Sony, 
Canon and Nikon equivalents.  And I won't buy any of those, either.  
None of them is "Leica".

I'll probably just keep using my wimpy little 5Mp Canon G5 Digital M 
Wannabe until it croaks and buy a disposable Toyota PhotoRolla 28 Mp 
15-500 zoom HD DTS sound camera for $ 129.95 from an airport vending 
machine when the day comes.  Toss it back in the bin at the airport on 
returning from holiday, 80 gig card in my wallet for processing my 
holiday movie and stills later.

Having prattled on thus, I shall now retreat back into LeicaDogma and 
declare that I flat-ass love my R8 and 9 and my shockingly expensive 
and superb R Elmarit lenses.  And will keep buying and shooting film, 
and using retail C-41 and E6 processing/printing, shamelessly boring 
anyone within a 10 yard radius about the Merits of Film Over Digital 
until I (you can all count on this) start drooling into the open back 
of my R, trying to remember if I was loading or removing the film.  
Have done recently, just wasn't drooling at the time...

I guess I wouldn't fit the New Leica Buyer profile then, huh?

Cheers to all.


Bob in Seattle



On Feb 10, 2007, at 9:31, Colin Howarth wrote:

This is interesting. I don't know what proportion of pros do what.

Certainly sports photographers need fast autofocus and auto-exposure
and lot's of frames per second. And I suppose news photographers need
it too. Fashion photographers used to use medium format. Maybe they
use MF digital backs, or maybe they just use a 1Ds Mk II. Landscapes
and product photography used to be large format. Maybe they all use a
1Ds Mk II as well now.

Basically, I think if they want a Pro camera which pros will want, it
has to be like a Canon 1Ds Mk II - only better.

Full-frame. Lot's of megapixels, matrix metering, lots of frames per
second, very low noise, fast autofocus lenses, compatibility with old
lenses.

I'm not sure how they can do this. Price wouldn't be too important,
as long as image quality and speed were better.

These are just my speculations - as I'm not a pro.

colin


On 10.02.2007, at 17:49, mehrdad wrote:

> Art, these are "action shooters" and they are the only pro's in the
> photo world.
>
> On 2/10/07, NATSTEK@xxxxxxx <NATSTEK@xxxxxxx> wrote:
>> David,
>> The sad thing about getting pro's to use Leica R's is the
>> convenience factor.
>> If you have to rush to get "grab shots" you WON'T be using a
>> Leica. Canon &
>> Nikon OWN this segment of the photographic world. With the ready
>> corrections
>> available from Photoshop et-al, the chances of Leica ever even
>> coming close to
>> claiming any type of a decent "Pro" market share is doubtful at best.

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