[LRflex] Re: leicareflex Digest V8 #140
- From: W.B. Abbott <captbilly3@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: leicareflex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 14 May 2011 22:52:15 -0700
Hi Greg,
I share your emotions and feel let down too, and I have a strong dose of "they
done me wrong" as well, but it was plain for a more than a couple of years that
Leica was just not willing or able to make the change to digital that their
competitors were making, certainly for financial reasons and maybe for cultural
reasons, i.e., they believed their own advertising.
Someday I will follow you but there is nothing driving that decision now other
than the weight of my R9/DMR, and I have an M9 to use when weight is an issue.
I've become pretty philosophical about it. Leica is not the first to miss a
crucial turn in technology; Ford missed the turn to the manual clutch and
sliding gear transmission that was becoming a standard in the mid-1920s and
stayed with the old epicyclic Model T transmission until it was almost too
late.
Ford then refused to keep up with Chevrolet in other design matters until after
WW II when it was again almost too late.
Surprisingly, Ford did move to a V-8 engine in the early 1930s and it was
Chevrolet's turn to "fail to follow" for over twenty years, so the disease is
neither new nor an isolated phenomenon.
I believe Wright was offered the Whittle jet engine but turned it down,
preferring to keep on with their turbo-supercharged piston engines. You know
where that ended.
I'm sure there are many other stories like these as well. I heard a story the
other from a friend whose dad bought one of the first rubber-tired farm
tractors. All the neighbors came over to gawk and said the rubber tires
wouldn't last, that they would never replace the old reliable steel wheels then
in common use. Yup.
None the less, Leica did what they did and here we are, powerless to change the
past and unable to guarantee the future.
So enjoy learning to use the latest Whiz-bang camera, keep in touch and let us
know how you are doing.
I'm hoping you will have fun and make a lot of pictures that will please you.
All the best,
Bill
On May 14, 2011, at 6:36 AM, Greg Bicket wrote:
>
> Leica R users,
>
> First let me thank you for the learning and the fine images that populate
> this forum. Real talent here.
>
> I take my leave. Leica's decision to turn its back on R users makes me
> angry, sad, and disappointed. Leica's nearly endless touting of their
> legacy of long term support to their customers and their respect for
> backwards compatibility for a long time comforted me that my camera, and
> especially my lenses would be useful and relevant for decades. For the
> years after the DMR, I waited hopefully, and faithfully for Leica's
> commitment to digital R photography. From Photokina to Photokina, I hung
> on positive comments and predictions about the R solution with the faith that
> it must be a tremendous new digital SLR they were building. Then came S and
> my hopes grew for trickle down improvements to make their way into what I
> hoped would be R10.
>
> Purchasing decisions for my are careful and deliberate, as they were when I
> bailed out of my old favorite N-F3HP [I wear glasses] and the collection of
> Nikon glass I had acquired. Obviously, I am willing to pay for the best.
> And the decision was rewarded by a great, ergonomic body [R8] and a wonderful
> collection of lenses. 19/24/50/80/100APO/280/APO/35-70/80-200/400/560.
> And what great photos they made! When comments from Leica became more and
> more vague, I fiddled with various Rube Goldberg concoctions in order to
> enjoy my wonderful Leica glass on one digital platform after another. And
> what a pain in the ass these solution are, at least for me. Even when using
> them wide open, making images was fiddly-gibbert and I find it to completely
> interrupt the creative flow.
>
> Not unlike the LUG days, people here share great images and learning about
> making images. And some of you I remember from my years on the LUG. With
> the last Photokina, and the firm announcements about R having no future at
> Leica, I find that for me, the joy has left making photographs with Leica
> lenses. I replaced them in their plastic wrappers, slid most of them into
> their leather cases, put them back in their white boxes with their red logos,
> and sold the lot of them, along with the various bits and parts and flash
> units, etc, that went with them.
>
> Odd as it sounds I realized the faith I put in Leica, and their business
> decisions about the R line have left me disappointed, and a bit bitter.
> Leitax, my ass. Using my Leica glass on these contrived platforms was
> making me feel duped and foolish. And I came to realize that it was
> reflected in the photography it produced. I look forward to joy returning
> to the digital photographs I will be making with someone else's equipment.
>
> I wish each and all much happiness using the best slr lenses ever made.
>
> Greg Bicket
>
>
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