[LRflex] Re: Leica back in the black
- From: "William B. Abbott III" <captbilly3@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: leicareflex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 27 Nov 2010 18:06:33 -0800
Frank, Aram, David,
Thanks for your insightful comments, which I enjoyed and which illuminate my
situation.
Frank:
> Remember the cost is nothing.
I recall reading in the early digital watch days in the 1960s that in one line
of watches, $20 got you 6 features, $30 got you 8 features, etc. but all
watches were made with the same chip, a chip which was capable of all features,
but only the features intended for each price point were activated. This scaled
up the chip production quantity and brought down the unit cost.
I've always wondered if some camera makers do the same thing but I don't think
anyone would admit to it. I think of the myriad of point and shoot cameras of
many brands and cannot help but wonder.
Aram:
> I don't know how many times I cursed my camera when I found I was shooting at
> IOS 1600 rather than ISO 100.
I regret that has happened to you but thanks for the-button-may-be-the-problem
warning. I have never encountered it but I can see how frustrating it could be.
I like your fix too; forewarned is forearmed.
Maybe some one will market the Whiz Bang 100 DSLR for some price and then offer
a stripped down Whiz Bang 100 Mark II with almost no buttons for more money.
Attention marketeers: You could make history with this idea. "And now, ladies
and gentlemen, the new and exciting, reduced button count, streamlined,
aerodynamically sleek, faster Whiz Bang 100 Mark II!"
David:
> Who, or what, is leading the charge? The geeks who are ten or twenty
> steps ahead of the marketing people or the marketing people?
I once read that the major difference we can see and maybe experience between C
and N is that C is run by marketeers and N is run by engineers, though I have
to beware of all generalities, even this one. Whoever maybe leading the charge,
the winners are not us.
Thanks again. It's been instructive and fun.
All the best,
Bill
P.S. I hear by certify that this has much to do with Leica reflex cameras and
is definitely not OT, definitely.
On Nov 27, 2010, at 4:07 PM, Frank Filippone wrote:
> Here is the problem...
>
> The nonvolatile memories ( the program called Firmware) resides on chip or
> in a chip on the main cpu board. These memories get bigger and bigger as
> feature sizes of chips get smaller. Older, smaller technologies and
> memories get discontinued because the technologies are not used by the
> majority of users ( because they want to add more features requiring bigger
> memories ), are abandoned or the manufacturer decides to negate them and
> force users to go to bigger chips. So the engineers in conjunction with
> marketing use the bigger memories space to add features ( remember, the FW
> is written once, and costs NOTHING to reproduce on a unit level). Remember
> the cost is nothing.
>
> Then, with more features, the price can be raised..... or rather the raise
> is justifiable or the buyer gets more bang for his buck. Does anyone NEED
> the enhancements? Probably only a few... but the cost was nothing and the
> marketing guys can claim that they have more features......
>
> Thus the very thick operating handbooks for new digital cameras, compared to
> the few pages for a M3.
>
> You will not see less features, as it is counterproductive and
> counter-intuitive to the companies that make electronics.....
>
> Frank Filippone
> Red735i@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> .... the camera manufacturers run up the number of doo-dads, features and
> buttons to impress unwary buyers (But wait! Mine has more buttons than yours
> has!),............
>
>
>
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