Also I think that they may shoot their feet with a bargain Leica. Leica has a certain status and making it cheaper could probably disrupt their business model.
The affordable Leica is never going to happen..
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The fact that the rangefinder mirrorless design is future proof shows Leica's visionary thinking and design!
;P
"Remember when mfgs used to make SLRs?" will be said with the same amusement as 'Remember when people bought a camera that couldn't make phone calls and surf the web?"...
At the edge of two centuries it was rangefinders renaissance. Not only Cosina made RF lenses and cameras. They even came with first digital RF camera during this period. At least two forums with rangefinder in the name were created and active.
Once RF renaissance was over it was not enough sales to support camera made on very cheap Cosina chassis. Also new film cameras sales went of steady decline. Nobody wanted same cheap chassis in its original SLR form under different brand names including Nikon. Due to massive quit from film, it was easy to find used camera of same model for much less.
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The affordable Leica
Just like "remember when people used something called film!" and "what's an optical viewfinder?" "How do you focus this thing?" "What do you mean by exposure?"
Film is still being made, and new offerings have started to appear. Film sales have been increasing year on year, for years now.
Leica has been making cameras with OVFs for over a century now, and still going strong!
Same for manual focus.
Same for exposure.
SLRs on the other hand....
Another way to look at it is will you ever get an affordable Rolex Wristwatch? Costing many, many thousands of pounds. But my £75 battery powered Pulsar is probably as good a time keeper and doesn't look that dissimilar to a Rolex but without the name and price tag.
A Leica M2/3/4/6/7 will give good results and being mechanical will be repairable for a good time yet. There again, so will my F2a
A Leica M2/3/4/6/7 will give good results and being mechanical will be repairable for a good time yet. There again, so will my F2a
Is the meter on your F2a accurate? Mine isn't, and I haven't found one that is. My F2AS is spot on (Sover Wong replaced the resistor thingy in it).
If Leica sells their current cameras right now for the low prices similar to that of Canon, Nikon, Sony people will point out how bad they are compared to the Sony, Canon or Nikon. But at the high prices they get only praises. So Leica wouldn't dare to make affordable cameras. But they would dare others to make cameras without the LCD, manual focus only, and monochrome only.
People tend to want to justify extravagant purchases, like "it's so much better," or "I deserve this" "it's a good investment." I can't remember the photographer (Weston, maybe?), but I read a story that he did not want to spend so much time taking studio portraits and doubled his price. Business increased--folks thought his portraits must be better than others if he could charge so much.
If not broken, why fixed? Current Leica business model (expensive equipment) works for them so why change it with affordable (cheap) equipment?
The only bargain Leicas' I know of are the ones I bought, had serviced and sold at a loss. There are about a half dozen people who got a really good deal.
Leicas and Rolleiflex cameras have risen in value significantly lately, The video does dsay if you want an budget Leice buy second hand and older and to be fair Leitz (and their authorised dealers)do offer superb repair and service. On top of that they are honest, I broke (cracked) the glass of the viewfinder on my M3 a few years ago.. It went to Leitz in London and their estimate included a madotary full CLA, but after the repair they stated it had been serviced not long before so didn't need a CLA so the charges were way below their estimate.
If you want a budget Leica you go to a Leica shop tell them you want a good user camera, mechanically perfect but maybe some cosmetic marks etc, that way I bought an M3 body from one dealer then a 50mm Summicron from another, a meter from a third and a case from a fourth. Shop around but Leitx dealers sell for fair prices and you do have full Leitz support.
For the best LTM get a Reid III and TTH lens even Leitz agree that their quailty is superb and had TTH Cooke make some lenses for them. But Leitz had hidden the Leica IV prototypes from the Nazis and revived them in the 50's as the M series.
Ian
It is a bit of a myth that mechanical cameras will be repairable for a good time. Technicians are retiring and few are taking up the trade, training is not widely accessible and the possibilities for future sustainable income in the business are shrinking.Sure, there will most probably be a handful of technicians who can custom manufacture no longer available parts and work on difficult or rare cameras, but it will cost a relatively small fortune. Even the manufacturers no longer support some of their older, mechanical and electronic cameras. Leica will have nothing to do with my M5, I don't even know if they'd take it in trade for a different model. Add to that, there is a generation of users that doesn't even consider repairing items, preferring to rid themselves of them and getting something newer.
And the last time you had your shoes resoled was?
My Redwings are holding up fine, but when the time comes I’ll send them in. Same with my Bean boots.
How quaint.
I don't think many Mainers in Bean boots would think of themselves as 'hipsters.' I also think the term 'hipster' stopped meaning anything in about 2007, unless it simply means...people who dress in a fashion different from my own. And anyway this is a forum for people who choose film...so...
"Hipster" is one of those words that came and went and then came back again. Not necessarily its first appearance in print but it is in Allen Ginsburg's 1947 poem, "Howl":
"I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,
dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix,
angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night,..."
It goes on quite a ways from there.
David
"I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,
dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix,
angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night,..."
It goes on quite a ways from there.
David
The word "hipster" has really evolved over the years. While the first references were probably from jazz musicians to other jazz musicians, it's gone through many different incarnations. I associate it now w/ a poser, or wanna be. Back in Ginsburg's days at City Lights Books, the moment of that era was as important as the words, because it was those events which created the words, through Ginsburg, and gave voice to the rage and anger and shock.
My Leica works just fine, thank you very much. So does my Zeiss Ikon and my Bessa and my....
Too many cameras and not enough time.
Too many cameras and not enough time.
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