Why Leica made a mistake

[kelly_flanigan1]

When the downsized flyweight FM FE etc came out, many Nikon purists called them not really Nikons. A friends first flyweight jammed twice, this added to the infant mortality horror stories. Today these early problems are usually forgotten about. The F2 had some early problems too, torn shutters.

[peter]

Camera manufacurers have a difficult road to tread. They must convince the buying public that their product is the best and a year later have to convince them that they have a new and better product that the buying public "just must have." Leica has a doubly difficult problem. It has to market its product on the basis that it is the best of the best and can be kept forever. (A bit like DeBeers marketing diamonds ) Then it must keep doing this year in year out or go bust. Unless the market is growing (a hard ask at the top end) then they have to achieve a very tough balance indeed. I would love it if leica could maintain the cachet of its name but I suspect it may have to change and place more emphasis on its lenses. (The electronic bodies are just not going to go on forever like the hardware ones.)

[geoffrey goldberg]

The irony is that people are blaming for Leica for responding to the market - isn't it the

market that's changed? Why blame Leica for trying to respond?

[amarkin]

I don?t agree with the author. First, you need to account for the cost and convenience of capturing an image on film in today?s world.

 

A roll of Kodak Ultra colour, 36 exposures cost $5. Developing this film and scanning it in Photo Lab adds another $15.

So, that?s 55c for each image. Every week, I shoot at least 250 exposures. Some of the shots are for the colour management, to test exposures etc. Often, I make 2 shots of the same object. Every week I will be spending $137.50. I may get discounts occasionally and pay only $100 for 250 images but it is still expensive. I could buy another $1000 gadget,

CoolScan, scan the images myself and save a little bit in a long run. The quality of the scans won?t be the same for two reasons: Photo Labs are using better equipment, their scanning skills are better.

 

Also, the fact that the big companies are ceasing the production of film and I think Kodak announced they will stop producing film at some time in future; the cost of capturing images on film will be increasing.

 

Where does this leave companies such as Leica with its legendary film cameras? With dinosaurs and enthusiasts. In other words, a toy for some people, a very expensive toy too. Is this the end of the era for Leica? I don?t think so. First, Leica?s optics is still top notch and will be top notch in the future, I guess. Leica can continue manufacturing digital rangefinders, a niche product, and sell it at higher price.

 

The point here is that some people just have to accept film is the thing of the past. Just like the video types, audio tapes, vinyl etc.