"If I were Leica's CEO..." - just for fun

I would concentrate on designing and/or building lenses for other manufacturers'cameras. Lenses have always been Leica's strength, and they should try to build on it. The digital camera market is far too complex and fast moving for them ever to be able to compete in it. Leica has long been a niche brand. In the future, perhaps it can survive as a niche of a niche.

If I were Leica's new CEO,

 

1. I'd have to find sources of new capital, enough to last for at least two years. This usually means offering equity, which in turn can only sell if combined with a convincing turnaround story...

 

2. So I'd have to come up with one such story, which may go like this... I'll work with Epson to delevop the digital M. Epson will have to decide if it wants to be a camera-maker or a chip-maker, but I think it likely Epson will prefer to be the latter. Epson's the logical choice because time is of the essence -- we need a digital M out NOW to rake in some revenue -- and Epson already has developed a digital rangefinder.

 

3. While the digital M is under development, I'd need to boost cash flow by whatever means I can from the existing products. It matters not that these measures are only for the short term -- it we don't survive the short term, there isn't a long term to worry about. One way to boost cash flow NOW is to offer products which aren't. I'd introduce a rather creative leasing plan for Leica products. For a certain amount to be paid each month, one gets to use a certain number of Leica products from a certified Leica dealer. So if you pay $100 a month, you get to use any Leica M body including and preceding the Leica M6 and two lenses of your choice (except the Noctilux and Tri-Elmar). Pay $130 and you get to use the M7 (and any preceding M's) with the two lenses (again except the Noctilux and Tri-Elmar). You may exchange the body any time during the lease at the dealer's. If you intend to use either the Noctilux or the Tri-Elmar, you pay a surcharge of $80 each month. You may exchange the Tri-Elmar for the Noctilux and vice versa whenever you wish. If you need more than two lenses, you pay a surcharge of $40 for each extra lens, etc.

 

The benefit of this plan is that it brings cash immediately into Leica's coffers without the wait for a new product to be developed. It also helps break down Leica's very high cost of entry while allowing people to try out a Leica for little money. If they find out that a Leica isn't for them after all, they've paid but a small sum for finding out. But for many, I believe the experience of shooting with a Leica will be quite unforgettable and they may wish to buy a Leica later.

 

It utilizes the large inventory of used Leica gear on dealer's shelves.

 

Lots of details have to be worked out in the plan -- this is just an initial idea.

 

4. Part of a convincing turnaround story includes a rosy plan for the long term. And Leica's goal for the long term will be very similar to DaimlerChrysler's -- to offer THE premium product in every market segment. So in the digital SLR market, Leica will have a very premium product. One obvious point of differentiation to achieve premium-ness is in design and materials -- Canon DSLR's all look like bloated whales. Leica will produce several premium P&S digicams which are also very obviously premium in look and feel. And so on in all photographic segments.

 

To achieve premium-ness in a product segment like digicams, I will take a close look at how Steve Jobs tries to sell his cheaper version of the iPod ($99) which uses flash memory -- which is what bazillions of other MP3 players use (at half the price).

"I would concentrate on designing and/or building lenses for other manufacturers'cameras."

 

I'm as much a Leica lover as anyone, but I keep reading this and wonder whether we're on the same planet, if you all really believe Nikon, Canon and other owners actually think their OEM lenses are so far substandard to Leica's that they'd pony up thousands of dollars for a 50mm lens or a variable-aperture zoom?

Ben, no one said that Leica will be able to charge Leica prices for these lenses. They won't, and therefore, they will have to find less costly means of manufacturing them. It can be done. Look at the Zeiss lenses for the Contax G cameras. Absolutely superb quality for a fraction of the price of comparable Leica lenses. If I were a Canon/Nikon user (which I am not), I would be very interested.

1) End all current production for R, M, and compacts, except digicams and DMR. Move

all future production somewhere else to lower cost.

 

2) Refurbish classic models with stations in US, Germany, and Japan.

 

3) Sell R lenses in Nikon, Canon, and Pentax mounts.

 

4) Make a range of compact film and digital P&S with Panasonic, and a high end 8MP

digicam to compete with things like the Sony F828 and Olympus C-8080. Give special

attention to advancing EVF technology.

 

5) Revamp the M system to compete with ZI, film and full frame digital. Body design

like a grown-up CL.

 

6) Join FourThirds.

Move manufacturing line to China. Due to the lack of skillful workers there, the quality will be lower, but the price can be dropped much lower! Millions of Chinese photography fans will move to Leica because they treat Leica as a brand more than an instrument.

 

Train the workers and improve quality gradually then...

There is a demand for Leica quality lenses, especially in the wide primes, from

professionals using cameras like the Canon 1Ds2 (visit Robb Galbraith's forum). Many of

these folks are jerry-rigging adapters to use Contax and Leica primes on their Canons. If

Leica made Canon mount SLR lenses, they would find a ready market of a few thousand

pros willing to spend $2500 on a good lens. It's probably at least as large or larger than

the current market for R lenses.

 

However, lenses are a profit center for the SLR makers. I doubt Canon would readily accept

a competitor on the high end, against its expensive L lenses. They can handle competition

from Tamron, Sigma, etc on the low end, but allowing Leica glass into their market would

erode their sales.

"If I were a Canon/Nikon user (which I am not), I would be very interested."

 

Go ahead and try telling someone who is a Canon/Nikon user (and not also a Leica user) that their Canon/Nikkor lenses are inferior to Leicas, and see how interested they are.

I'd bask in the Leica "glow" until it fades away.

Design a 'modern' compact film rangefinder with a fixed dual focal length lens, 35/50mm f2. Motorized shutter (1/2000) and film wind. Manual focus, aperture & shutter settings.

Small and light weight, quiet. Optics akin in design to 4th ver 35mm summicron, and current 50mm summicron, No asph. Keep the price below 1600.00 bucks new. This will be the camera that everyone who has long since gone digital, and sold off all their antiquated film gear, will own as their only film camera. Nostalgic for the old days of film, whether you're a pro/student/amateur, without the costs and hassle of too much gear and expense.

Rebadge a digital whatever digicam with Leica name and fixed lens designed for the low end. Work with the same manufacturer to produce a high end digicam that can use existing Leica glass. Do not spend resources on the design of a digital M, do not release an R back.

Continue to release collector series of M's. Finance the whole shebang with the proceeds from Leica's new core business - porn.

I searched the Galbraith forum and what I came up with is the only Leica lenses mentioned were the 19 Elmarit (which won't clear the mirror on the 1Ds), the 35 P/A Curtagon (hasn't been in the Leica catalog for 20 years and never was that highly thought of), and the 15mm Super-Elmarit, which is close to twice that $2500 price. However, even if lets say there are that many "pros" who would ante up for a lens of its specifics, how much would it cost Leica to develop it in a Canon mount with the understanding it must sell for $2500? And how easy would it be for Canon to program their lens designing software for the same results, knowing _they_ could sell it for $2500? Still sounds like a recipe for Leica's bankruptcy to me.

I'd start selling Passport-type warranties to older products after a Leica-performed CLA.

 

Would you like a CLA for $x or a CLA+ and 5-year warranty for $500?

 

Get some money in the accounts now, and hope that your CLA+ will last for five years.

Rolleiflexes are still coveted by collectors and users and people pay big money to have them repaired, although the company went under in I think 1984 and the name was sold. So much interest that the GX and now FX were crafted using the remaining tooling, which was for the T. The same could and perhaps will happen to Leica.

OOOOH! A twin lens reflex Leica with matched 80mm f/2.8 Elmarit lenses and a full sized 6x6cm digital sensor!

1. What Will Woodford said. Keep supporting existing Leica bodies and optics for a few decades. Protect your good name, but recover your expenses.

 

2. Get out of the camera business. The 35mm rangefinder, like the TLR and the press camera, is commercially extinct. Note that I said 'commercially'. Graflex and Rollei bit the dust first, Linhof will be gone within a decade or so, and Leica, at least in its present form, will follow. Sorry.

 

These are great camera designs, and I've used 'em all, but there never again will be sufficient market to support an industry. Like enlargers and view cameras, all the 35mm rangefinders the world will ever need have already been manufactured.

 

And while I'm on the topic, forget digital photography. That boat's sailed, and you weren't on it.

 

3. Downsize, diversify and focus (sorry) on what you do best, which is making very high quality optics. The techies will have to help me here, but maybe there are a few doors that are still open-- machine vision, laser optics and photonics, maybe fiber optical stuff. The catch is you need a company that's forward thinking, and aiming for markets that will exist five years down the road. I'm not sure Leica's that company.

It's generally agreed that the future is in digicams, not dslrs. Leica probably couldn't

do it, but a spectacular electronic viewfinder would be in the rangefinder spirit. At

least Leicaphiles have something awesome to look forward to in digital.

Well, the funny thing is that with all these APS - sized sensors, no-one is making superfast primes, at least in the wide-normal range.

 

We are used to 35mm F1.4 for the 135 frame - someone ought to be making a 24mm F1.4, or even F1.0 (which should be easier to do since it caters to a smaller sensor). Sigma is launching a 30F1.4, but face it, their brand lacks prestige/ build quality / image quality.

 

Finally, I think Leica should build a NEW APS-sized senor rangefinder cam that with a smaller flange-sensor distance, and throat,, but more importantly, AF contacts. OK, it can utiize M-lenses, but only if you buy a cheap US$200 adapter (this will be easier to make since there are no contacts or auto-diaphragm. This will permit the intorduction of newer, even faster wide-angles, ie a 14mm F2.0 etc. After all, just selling the camera will not generate sufficient business flow, you need people to buy new lenses too.

 

There will be a kit lens that is a 18-24-35 F2.0 Tri-elmar, which will be small and light due to the APS-sensor.

 

Finally, unlike the RD-1, which is positioned as a retro-camera, I would make sure that the back LCD can be switch on for framing to ensure the new digicam crowds would support it.

 

I think this machine, even if it sells for US$3,000 with the kit lens, would generate a lot of business. Of course I'll keep on innovating, with a new model in 1 year time that will incorporate a movie mode, a cleaner high-ISO sensor etc.

 

The third iteration would be a system that beats dSLR on their own grounds. I will get one with optical LCD VF (technology should progress so that small LCDs have 1 million plus pixels by that time), and by buying from Konica, an image-stabilization sensor system. That way, hook up with the right adapter, I can use my old Telyt or even a beat up 300mm F4 Nikon AIS lens.

 

Simultaneously, I will introduce some AF zooms, or wide AF primes. Then I'll have a complete system that will do everything.

 

No, there are no plans to introduce a MP3 version.

"If I were Leica's CEO..." - just for fun

 

Find a way to disappear into the melting bokeh of the Noctilux.

<i>It's generally agreed that the future is in digicams, not dslrs.</i><p>

 

I'm not sure what you've been reading, cellphones are eating into digicam sales. In five years, it will be camera phones and dSLRs.

But aaaaafter electronic viewfinders are really good, it'll be phone cams and digicams.

<i><blockquote> I'm not sure what you've been reading, cellphones are eating into

digicam sales. In five years, it will be camera phones and dSLRs.

</blockquote> </i><p>

 

3G phones in Japan today have cameraphones with video, voice annotation, games,

streamed TV and music, albeit in a relatively primitive state, and by the end of the year

Samsung (?) says it will sell a 5MP cameraphone in S. Korea. Five years from now should

yield a pretty smooth combo that works on upgraded US cellular networks.