New head of Product Development nominated by Board today

[bas1]

Yep, you guessed it .... it's YOU

 

Me and the board of directors have just voted you head of product

development at Leica AG. Would you please honor us with a brief

synopsis of your 5 year plan? If your plan ain't good enough the job

defaults to Jay!

 

Let it roll, we've got some serious money to spent but ..... ROI

rules still stand.

[peter_white2]

MP-2

 

Same as the MP but with the old (M2 M4 M5) frame lines, so you don't have to guess how much larger than the frame lines the image actually is. Shouldn't cost much. No need for extensive testing. ;-)

 

PJW

[watts]

Some kind of M-like digital system. Simple rangefinder digital

body with minimalist interface (I personally would be happy

without an LCD screen) with interchangeable manual focus

lenses. Probably require new 'digital' lenses but would be great

if it had some backwards compatibility with existing M line (even

if wide-angles become normal lenses and the 50 ends up as a

short telephoto).

[kevin m.]

A new direction in Leica photography is coming: The Camera Oscura. A 3x3x3m room mounted on wheels with a small hole in one of the side walls. You simply point the hole at the image you wish to record, then enter the room and trace the image on the wall opposite the hole. Photography at its most elemental. Basic. Timeless. Perfect.

[gerald_widen]

Is that a black or a chrome room?

[diego_k.]

Anastigmat 50/3.5 in LTM?

[charles barcellona www.bl]

The obvious need for a 75mm Summicron

[bas1]

Peter,

 

Your plan has been rejected. New framelines will spark no new interest from fondlers or collectors and for the photographers amongst our customers its a bit of a non-issue anyway since we have to crop our neg 24x36mm negs to 5x7 or 8x10 formats anyway. Unless this forum and the LUG take the framelines up as their new pet-issue we will ignore it. IF they do take it up, since they have nothing else to wine about after the cheap flare fix, we will first deny it for the next two decades.

 

Ian,

The board has forwarded you plan for a barebone basic digital to finance for a feasibility study and to our focus group for acceptance testing. The model will look like an M7 with a winder. The winder piece will be the battery. It will have no LCD and store in RAW format only but the desktop software will be the coolest you've ever seen. This will allow travellers to use an M digital for weeks on a single battery charge.

 

Kevin,

 

You are moving way too fast in your retro planning and thus are overlooking large potential revenue opportunities in a retro IIIf etc. After analysis of our Null series failure we've come to the conclusion that that suffered from the same phenomena.

[bas1]

75 summicron, approved and off to finance for ROI analysis.

[Allen Herbert]

Special super chrome models, in various colours, which can be polished to a mirror like finish. Special polishing clothes, with added secret ingredients, to give that extra special secret shine. Super shine competition every year, the winner gets a special bokem badge!

[doug herr]

Leicaflex SL3. Tens of thousands of SL and SL2 users who were turned off by the R bodies but want to use any of the latest lenses will snap this up and retire their old Leicaflexes. Will also solve the repair parts problem 'cuz nobody will need to keep the old 'flexes working any more. All we need to do is remove the cobwebs from SL2's production tooling, replace the CdS meter cell with a modern cell, replace the mercury battery with a 76 silver cell, drop an SL shutter into it, change to the R metering cam and flange, and offer them in every color in the Pantone charts.

[patricks]

From the top of my head:

 

Lenses:

75/2 Summicron. 50/1.4 ASPH w/o any increase in size.

 

Body:

1.0 vf magnification. Faster shutter, up to 1/2000 at least. Back-door loading? Data back for printing between the frames? Some type of film reminder/window.

 

All this within a year! Digital M within 2 years. Who needs a 5 years plan?

 

Cheers,

[jay_.]

1. Interest Agfa in a merger which would include a buyout of Hermes' stock holdings. This would rid Leica of the influence of the gaudy haberdashery that has putrified Leica's product line within the last year and end the mocking self-parody that Leica has become. It would also provide an avenue through which to guarantee the future availability of film--E6, C41 and b&w--along with darkroom chemistry and paper.

 

2. Plan to equip each region's Leica distributor (such as Leica NJ)with a full-service processing lab; this plan only to be executed when no other commercial film processing is available.

 

3. Discontinue all pending projects for new lenses, bodies, paint finishes, commemoratives, etc. and channel all the funds into commissioning the development of a workable full-frame digital solution for the M system. This could be either a removable component such as a combined back/baseplate, or a permanent factory conversion of existing M bodies.

 

4. Explore a deal with Kodak or Canon to purchase a modification of their 11-14MP full-frame DSLR, with manual-focus, utilizing the R mount. (Since both the Kodak and Canon 1Ds will certainly be discontinued and replaced with 20MP versions before the 10MP R back sees the light of day, Canon and Kodak would be able to recapture even more R&D than their price-rape of customers has already afforded them). Explore a deal with Cosina to produce an R mount version of their ubiquitous all-mechanical SLR chassis, beefed-up and decked out in full Leica regalia, to sell for $499. Purchase the production rights to the Nikon F4s, take out the useless AF, paste on a Leica logo, and discontinue the disgusting R9.

[film rules]

NEW MINILUX WITH MANUAL RANGEFINDER FOCUS AND FASTER LENS (PERHAPS DIGITAL)

[albert knapp md]

A series of new M7 bodies: 1) M7-T: a titanium camera that can

be yours for about the GDP of Somalia, 2) M7-Au: Aurick

Goldfinger inspired, sorry the Astin Martin is not included in the

purchase price, 3) M7-U: The uranium model is very "hot",

several orders from the Middle East, Chechnya, and from the

Bronx will make this "a mega-hit", 4) M7-Fe: designed for all you

excercise fanatics who want to "pump iron" with your camera and

5) M7-Al: an aluminum baby for all those who complain about the

weight of the standard. This should represent a fondlers delight!

[watts]

35mm film scanner. Re-badge something like Minolta 5400 dpi

scanner (perhaps put it into an even more minimalist case

designed something like high quality European hi-fi

components). Claim that the internal optics are designed by

Leica. Get PhaseOne to do the software and sell the whole

package at a 100% premium over the Minolta badged product.

 

Perhaps even better, get Imacon involved in a 35mm only film

scanner. Market it as the finest 35mm scanner ever and sell

under the Leica/Imacon brands for 5000 USD or so.

[bas1]

yeah cool and then we can optimize it for scanning Tri-x!!!

[henk]

First of all i would buy the Kiev plants, let them make a Leica MF7 (6x6 medium format) based on the pentacon six concept and using R lenses, tossing those into the market for $500, sounds fair?

 

Then i'd perform a nice little hostile takover of Kodak. Their CCD's are great and Well be able to dominate the film market too.

 

Then ill buy the Foma factories back to make LOADS of Tri-x and offer them for $1.50 a pop so more people will buy our Leica's.

 

After that ill dig into Minolta to get a hand in those eastern markets, make a budget 's' serie M and R (under $1000 is fair?) but formost assimilate alot of Canon's digital technology and offer it under competitors market prices with a Leica logo....

 

Probably will take 4 years, dominating the photographic industry isnt all together easy ;)P

 

Greetings,

[peter_white2]

"Your plan has been rejected. New framelines will spark no new interest from fondlers or collectors and for the photographers amongst our customers its a bit of a non-issue anyway since we have to crop our neg 24x36mm negs to 5x7 or 8x10 formats anyway."

 

This from a company that also makes slide projectors!

 

Hah!

 

You're all a bunch of communists! Or something...

 

PJW (Taking his toys and going home.)

[dennis_couvillion]

I would insist that my friend, Harvey, and I be given samples of every new product, in each finish available.

 

(See, Harvey, I'm looking out for you.) ;>)

 

Dennis

[james_.1]

Leica M digital, since the film sky is falling and the Leica M shooter demands it. Work with suppliers for zee electronics (like Contax did). Our future sales of Leica M lenses and accessories (M is our bread and butter) depend on zis move!

[bruno_menilli]

15mm Elmar or Elmarit, so that when they bring out a 1.37x digi- back, as on the beautiful R9,it would convert to a 21mm lens.

A small 75mm summicron.

Digi-back would have power in base, the size of rapidwinder, and have LCD but this could be left off. If 10mp will give enough quality why insist on 20mp or more, unless you like sitting around all day waiting for the thing to download etc.

 

Then leave well alone.

Regards

Bruno

[gerry_szarek]

Ahem Bruno, actually we only need 6 Mega pixels to get high quality 8X10's and with skill 13X19's. I like the digital M with the removable base that contains the LCD, a minimalist approach. However I think we will see from Konica/Minolta before we see from Leica.

 

Just think, Minolta came to Konica with the rangefinder mechanism (ala CL whatever) the CCD technology (Dimage 7HI and there full frame camera they never released) along with the associated electronics. Konica obviously can make the glass, the body, and with Minolta's help build a Digital M.

 

GS

[carey_russ]

I'll vote with Diego - recoup the losses from the Null-Series by making the Anastigmat in LTM, rangefinder-coupled. For a new retro camera, a replica IIIf rdst or IIIg makes more sense, they'd actually sell if kept reasonable. Or maybe a II or III in black paint.

 

New stuff - digital M doesn't have to necessarily be an exact M2-7 copy, but that would help a lot given Leica's market. Look what happened with the M5. The Digilux is too much of an Argus replica. But what's the market for a simple digital camera, without more ``features'' than a VCR? I looked at a Canon G3 or 4 or whatever once and ran the other way. KISS....

[mark-j]

One novel consideration would be a 24x31mm image size. This would allow full frame 11x14 without cropping. The "new" cameras would take 42 frames per roll instead of 36. Less wasted film, and fewer decisions on what to crop when you get the results in. Look at how successful H has been with their square format. A full frame digital would be a tad less work as the image size has changed.

 

Cheers. ;)

 

Mark J.