Erwin Puts says goodbye to Leica

[Pieter12]

Erwin Puts, author of many Leica books posted this on his site:
https://photo.imx.nl/blog/files/75caecf5a21140ab6c9b46f825ef253c-143.html

 

[ic-racer]

Does he no longer do repairs?

 

[flavio81]

Congrats on Erwin Puts for being honest and pointing out correctly where Leica is going wrong.

He also had the toughness to go out there and claim that there were some lenses from Canon that were better than the equivalente Leitz offerings.

 

[Alan Johnson]

I hope that this does not mean he will stop writing about film, eg:
https://web.archive.org/web/20060825175051/http://www.imx.nl/photosite/technical/indextech.html

 

[Saganich]

Wetzlar PR folks are hard at work inventing a digital soul. Sounds ominous for the M.

 

[BradS]

Jeeez man, pull yerself together. Stop with this whimpering rubbish!
You'd think that after being around for a while, one might have developed a little thicker hide, a little bigger perspective.

I don't care for digital imaging either but that doesn't mean we just throw in the towel, post a grand exit statement, give up and walk away.

Leica is a big company with diverse products. Yet, they're producing and selling the MP and MA.

Photography is today, a (growing) niche market. How is it not good enough that we still have two fine M bodies available to us?

Yeah, so they also offer a selection of other digital imaging products...so what?!

You want a fine camera? Buy an MA and be happy. Quit whining!

 

[baachitraka]

They need to diverge to survive in the future...what refinement can they bring to M-cameras so theirs future is secured?

 

[Rudeofus]

Yeah, so they also offer a selection of other digital imaging products...so what?!

You want a fine camera? Buy an MA and be happy. Quit whining!

The way I interpret Puts's statements is not whining that Leica produces or predominantly markets digital cameras. For decades, Leica cameras were mechanical marvels. Other makers made good cameras and lenses, and Leicas always were a notch better and five notches more expensive. According to Puts Leica now turns into a company writing mediocre software for standard run off the mill camera and lens products, charging extra for the well reputed name.

2019 may not be the right time to focus on marvels of precision mechanical engineering products, but it may also not be the time for Puts to write about whatever came next. Being an electrical engineer with a weakness for mechanical engineering I fully see his point.

 

[removedacct3]

Does he no longer do repairs?

He did do repairs? I always thought of him as a writer and Leica aficionado. You learn something new everyday even if you do not pay attention ....

 

[ph]

E.P. has written detailed assessments of Leitz products for a long time and I can understand his exasperation with Leica being split up , losing its measuring instrument constituents and turning into a fashion acessory provider. Electronic devices are quickly outmoded, and also less longlived technically as older chips become unavailable, so Its future place among serious users willing to pay for quality, will depend on maintaining its reputation as producer of technologically advanced high quality optics and its commitment to continue repairing.their products, if and when needed.... Whether current markets can bring in enough cash to fund staff is another matter.

p.

 

[Arklatexian]

Erwin Puts, author of many Leica books posted this on his site:
https://photo.imx.nl/blog/files/75caecf5a21140ab6c9b46f825ef253c-143.html

I have read what he wrote and he may be right but just "who" is Erwin Puts? While I certainly don't know everything written about Leicas in every language by every author in the world, I have had an interest in and have owned some of their products for more than 50 years, I have never heard of Erwin Puts. Should I have? While I may agree with him, should I really care what he has to say. Much of what he said could have been said when Leica introduced their SLR cameras to meet competition........Regards!

 

[darkosaric]

I have never heard of Erwin Puts.

He is a legend, wrote one of the bests Leica reviews and books that they are, that are also philosophical, not only technical.

 

[Pat Erson]

Puts' disgust about the current trajectory of Leica is understandable. It's comparable to an old Italian dapper shaking his head in disbelief about the turn things took at Gucci over the years.

 

[choiliefan]

Puts must be one of those "boomers" I keep hearing about, grousing about everything progressive.

 

[SilverShutter]

To be fair, this is not really a recent thing. See for example those rebranded P&S Leicas from the 90s. Although I do agree that it seems the brand has turned more gimmicky and likes to license it's brand to all sorts of products. But it surely has been a gradual thing over the last 40 years, you would think he would have realized this a long time ago. I'm personally not a Leica user, although I've had some experience with their microscopes, not sure if that is a part of the same Leica that manufactures the cameras.

 

[choiliefan]

I have a couple Panasonic cameras with Leica lenses.
One even has a Summicron zoom...
Don't get me wrong though, I love my Lumix digitals.

 

[Sean]

I think the convergence of digital imaging and AI will be overlooked for now but not much longer. We are heading to an era where AI can be given any type of image and then reconstruct it at will. For example, let's say you shoot a scene with an old 2 megapixel camera, it looks pretty bad. You then import this file to a re-imaging AI. It 'sees' the image and it knows precisely what this image would look like shot with a Leica M6 w/Noctilux and tri-x. The AI has learned this by looking at millions of Leica images. The AI then re-images the original 2 megapixel cruddy image and out comes a perfect image that the most ardent expert can not distinguish from a Leica M6 shot.

Check out this site: https://thispersondoesnotexist.com
refresh that page for auto-created people

AIs creating people that don't exist. Think about this combined with general photography. Then we have to wonder where things go from there. Do you buy a $50,000 camera setup or let an AI take your old iPhone4 image and make it look like it was taken with a $50,000 setup? Does there become a point where there is no reason to produce high-end gear if AIs can make any image high end? It's a strange future ahead for imaging.

 

[dutchsteammachine]

It doesn't do as well with cats unfortunately.... https://thiscatdoesnotexist.com/

 

[dutchsteammachine]

I think the convergence of digital imaging and AI will be overlooked for now but not much longer. We are heading to an era where AI can be given any type of image and then reconstruct it at will. For example, let's say you shoot a scene with an old 2 megapixel camera, it looks pretty bad. You then import this file to a re-imaging AI. It 'sees' the image and it knows precisely what this image would look like shot with a Leica M6 w/Noctilux and tri-x. The AI has learned this by looking at millions of Leica images. The AI then re-images the original 2 megapixel cruddy image and out comes a perfect image that the most ardent expert can not distinguish from a Leica M6 shot.

Check out this site: https://thispersondoesnotexist.com
refresh that page for auto-created people

AIs creating people that don't exist. Think about this combined with general photography. Then we have to wonder where things go from there. Do you buy a $50,000 camera setup or let an AI take your old iPhone4 image and make it look like it was taken with a $50,000 setup? Does there become a point where there is no reason to produce high-end gear if AIs can make any image high end? It's a strange future ahead for imaging.

You can't AI a completely new composition....

The days that you needed to be a photographer to be able to afford and understand high-resolution camera's are coming to an end. +12mp camera's are becoming the norm on mobile phones and it won't be long till 24mp is. A high end phone can produce even higher megapixel photos.

Eventually AI will make the blurry, noise photos made with a mobile phone at night look almost as good as a Nikon D850.

Instead of pixel-peeping at 100/400mp photos, a striking and emotion-inducing composition will make the difference. (Has it not always been this way?)

(I need to confess I am a huge pixel-peeper)

 

[Sean]

It doesn't do as well with cats unfortunately.... https://thiscatdoesnotexist.com/

View attachment 234325

 

[Ai Print]

Then we have to wonder where things go from there. Do you buy a $50,000 camera setup or let an AI take your old iPhone4 image and make it look like it was taken with a $50,000 setup? Does there become a point where there is no reason to produce high-end gear if AIs can make any image high end? It's a strange future ahead for imaging.

Well, in my case I ride out the commercial end of the biz until the last duck quacks all while building a client base around handmade darkroom prints. If we can keep film and fiber paper flowing through darkrooms for the next few decades...it's my gut instinct the value of that in a world filled with AI will be substantial, that is if the work is inherently good.

I never really read Puts all that much but I do love my M3, M6 and M10-P.

 

[DREW WILEY]

AI .......pzzpfttt ! Let the robots use those kinds of cameras and have their own forums about the pictures that come out.

 

[Toyo]

Go and shoot film and forget about digital everybody - including the overpriced offerings from boutique and clique-supported wannabe's.
So Erwin doesn't follow Leica anymore. Fine - get over it - who really cares.
Get back to making images with whatever you are shooting at the moment, and enjoy the experience.
It is the image that matters - not the tool in the hand of the creator.
Happy snaps to all
T

 

[Tom Kershaw]

I'm willing to speculate that an "everything AI" approach to photography will not take over. Witness the increased interest in film and darkroom, at least according to Henning Serger. Additionally, I've recently got to grips with Capture One and have found that digital camera files can be worked with in a way more attune to the darkroom worker, eg curve controls etc.

 

[Henning Serger]

I strongly recommend to have a look at the bigger picture: The whole camera market and the history of Leica in the last 15 years.
Because:
About 15 years ago Leica was in severe trouble: The digital transformation was in full swing and Leica had to face many challenges. At that time the existence of the company was not guaranteed anymore.
Leica had to react and change things fundamentally. And they did. And even much more successful than most market analysts have thought.
The last 15 years have been an impressive success story for Leica. The company is much bigger and in much better shape now, economically and technologically.
And very important:
The market for digital cameras has collapsed in the last years, by about 85% from its peak. But even in the recent years with the accelerated decline in digital camera demand Leica has been able to increase its business and to withstand the trend.

And what is certainly really remarkable:
Their very pragmatic and customer friendly behaviour concerning demand of different camera types: Despite being a relatively small manufacturer in comparison to the big Japanese camera companies Leica is able to offer almost all different camera types: Rangefinders, SLR, mirrorless, digital and film, electronic and purely mechanic cameras; APS-C, 35mm and 30x45mm sensors, instant film cameras, cameras with built-in lens and with interchangeable lens.
No other camera manufacturer has such big camera-type variety.

And very important for us film shooters: Leica has never stopped producing excellent film cameras. In 2014 they even introduced a new one, the M-A.
The production of the film M rangefinder cameras is significantly increasing for many years, by the way. And Leica has now also started to sell film in some of their Leica shops.
And who would have thought ten years ago that Leica would also offer an instant film camera? This Leica Sofort is by far their best selling camera in their current camera portfolio, by the way.
If we look further into the future, therefore Leica is even one of the candidates for new film camera models in the mid and long term.

Best regards,
Henning