What if Zeiss bought Leica?

[chip j]

Leica Forum reports that 36% of Leica stock is up for sale. Zeiss is interested in buying, but wants a controlling interest, which isn't likely. But WHAT IF?

 

[RalphLambrecht]

Leica Forum reports that 36% of Leica stock is up for sale. Zeiss is interested in buying, but wants a controlling interest, which isn't likely. But WHAT IF?

where do I sign ? lol

 

[blockend]

Cosina or Sigma should buy them. Then they could sell M9's and Monochroms at their true price.

 

[AgX]

If Zeiss should buy these 36%, so what?
I do not get your point. Of interest only could be a case where Zeiss would control Leica.

 

[mhanc]

zeiss and leica need to remain competitors, otherwise diversity in their combined market segment would probably decrease as product lines are rationalized -- something i don't think is good for anyone, particularly those two companies. also, not sure i see any increases in operational efficiency... unless zeiss would have cosina manufacture leica lenses. in any event, the photography equipment gene pool would just get smaller.

otoh, i would buy a few shares. how cool to own a piece of leica camera ag !?

 

[Chan Tran]

If Leica is sold I would no longer have GAS for Leica stuff.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

First, they will kill remaining film camera production and support, just like they did. Then they will outsource manufacturing, just like they did.

 

[E. von Hoegh]

What if... what if... what if...
Leica has been a boutique item for several decades, and when was the last time Zeiss actually made a lens for a 35mm, mf, or lf camera?
So what.
What if I wake tomorrow a cockroach due in court?

 

[RattyMouse]

Leica Forum reports that 36% of Leica stock is up for sale. Zeiss is interested in buying, but wants a controlling interest, which isn't likely. But WHAT IF?

It's 45% that is up for sale. Still not a controlling interest.

 

[phrons]

Maybe their would be a new Cosina Voigtlander film camera?

But, this time a direct copy of the MP.

At $799 this would be great for the film community IMO

 

[RattyMouse]

Maybe their would be a new Cosina Voigtlander film camera?

But, this time a direct copy of the MP.

At $799 this would be great for the film community IMO

Considering that Zeiss' last film camera (IKON), built by Cosina, was $1800 or so, I dont see how a $799 price is even remotely possible.

 

[MartinCrabtree]

Meh........wouldn't change much in my world. RF cameras are not for me.

 

[ced]

Leica lenses will have to use the crummy lens caps that shoot out of your fingers into the muck in the street...

 

[railwayman3]

It really doesn't mean anything, certainly to analog users. Despite what we might like to think (romantically?), neither Zeiss nor Leica (or for that matter, Nikon, Pentax and all the rest) are not, remotely, anything like the businesses which existed in the 1930's through to about the 1960's.

I have a one-year old MG car....I could, in my fantasies, pretend I'm still living in the great days of the marque. It is, of course, made in China. (and is a first class motor, but no resemblance, other than the badge, to the classic sports cars.).

 

[AgX]

If Leica is sold I would no longer have GAS for Leica stuff.

Leica has been sold already in the past.

 

[blockend]

It really doesn't mean anything, certainly to analog users. Despite what we might like to think (romantically?), neither Zeiss nor Leica (or for that matter, Nikon, Pentax and all the rest) are not, remotely, anything like the businesses which existed in the 1930's through to about the 1960's.

I have a one-year old MG car....I could, in my fantasies, pretend I'm still living in the great days of the marque. It is, of course, made in China. (and is a first class motor, but no resemblance, other than the badge, to the classic sports cars.).

True. By contrast, and unlike most FSU rangefinders, the Kiev is a Contax in everything but name. In fact a few early ones carried the Contax brand. Tolerances differed slightly (and substantially in the last models!) but they were the same camera.

Digital Leicas are a platform for people invested in M-mount lenses. If anyone else brought out a manual focus digital rangefinder, the game would be up for Leica.

 

[Huss]

Maybe their would be a new Cosina Voigtlander film camera?

But, this time a direct copy of the MP.

At $799 this would be great for the film community IMO

Cosina stopped production of the R2/3/4 series because there was no interest from the film community.
Same for the Ikon Zm they made.

If people still wanted them, Cosina would still be building them. Instead the market realized they could get a used Leica for the same money.

 

[NortheastPhotographic]

I think the reactionary speculation of this news is hilarious.

First, if Zeiss were to buy Leica it would be because Leica is doing some things right. Why would they change what's working? Newsflash people, Zeiss still makes lenses in Germany, you just don't own them because they're made for the incredibly high end cinema market. Zeiss needed to keep the prices of their lenses down so they went with a world class manufacturer in Japan, you know, the 3rd largest economy & a tech leader for decades... Leica would have a much more appropriate company backing them (vs. private equity), with the ability to share resources. I imagine Leica would remain Leica with their design philosophies, and Zeiss would remain Zeiss with their design philosophies and price points. Leica is an incredibly valuable brand, Zeiss wouldn't buy a minority stake in it just to dissolve it or parts of it. A net positive I see might be that Leica would stop piddling around with phones possibly? Unless they're truly making a bunch of money doing that.

RE the discontinuation of film products... Yeesh people. First, Leica barely supports film in any real sense. Oh they make a few $4+k rangefinders? How nice. My M4 worked just as well if not better than an MA, and I didn't even need Leica to service it. I believe it's Nikon making the last and greatest 35mm camera, in the form of the F6. At least the Nikon isn't a trophy-camera for fetishists. You want to support film? Buy a new one, I did! One of the best camera decisions I've made and it's paid for itself already. But why would a Zeiss branch of Leica ownership go so far as to demand that Leica cease production of a product that defines the brand and sells in reasonable quantities? They stopped making the ZI probably because hardly anyone was buying one over a Bessa or a used Leica. Frankly if anything got discontinued I would bet on the ZM line. They're already at steep discount and somewhat dated designs aside from the 35/1.4. That would be a real shame because I think they're top notch. I've taken some of my best 35mm images with Biogons.

And as far as Cosina not supporting film... They make a lot of products that work very well on film cameras. Their line of Nikon lenses are incredible pairings with cameras like the FM series. It wouldn't not surprise me if they brought out an all new M mount film camera some day. Something that actually competes with the M6. The only thing that doesn't make sense about that is the dearth of used Bessas, Leicas, Hexars and ZIs. Pretty much anyone who wants an M film camera can get one at nearly every price point.

 

[blockend]

First, if Zeiss were to buy Leica it would be because Leica is doing some things right.

If the company were really doing things right they wouldn't require outside investment, they'd be jealously hogging the shares themselves. Leica have run out of ideas, and are reduced to selling the photographic equivalent of Prada handbags to people with more money than sense. If Leica want a partner they should go to Sony, a brand that can produce sensors more innovatively and speedily than anyone else, but who lack any prestige and whose cameras are little more than a technology platform.

The trick Leica seem unable to pull off is to keep the heavy metal and glass side of the business going, while coming out with ground breaking tech that warrants the asking price. Until they can square that circle the business is condemned to selling to the few who would buy a pre-scratched lens so long as Leica do the scratching. I don't see Nikon producing film cameras as more than anniversary specials for hoarders, and their rangefinder is more likely to carry a Contax mount than M.

 

[removed account4]

i thought zeiss was a irish terrier ?
gonna pay for the stock with kibble ?

i think it would do a world of good !

 

[Sirius Glass]

Maybe Zeiss will buy Hasselblad from the scanning digisnappers and continue to develop it as a real film camera.

 

[Theo Sulphate]

... What if I wake tomorrow a cockroach due in court?

I'd say you were reading too much Kafka (die Verwandlung - The Metamorphosis) and Erle Stanley Gardner before bedtime.

So, the net effect on film users of this hypothetical buyout is zero. I already have my old M and R Leitz lenses and my old Zeiss lenses for Hasselblad and Exakta. They wouldn't be offering new lenses for my stuff anyway. At least not for under $5000.

 

[E. von Hoegh]

I'd say you were reading too much Kafka (die Verwandlung - The Metamorphosis) and Erle Stanley Gardner before bedtime.

So, the net effect on film users of this hypothetical buyout is zero. I already have my old M and R Leitz lenses and my old Zeiss lenses for Hasselblad and Exakta. They wouldn't be offering new lenses for my stuff anyway. At least not for under $5000.

All Kafka - you forgot about "The Trial".

 

[Gerald C Koch]

Who cares. Zeiss wouldn't be selling the cameras any cheaper. I read some time ago that Leitz loses money on each camera they sell. A company spokesperson said that they only continue to sell them because of dedication to the Leica name and its position in photographic history. So for those that complain about the prices should they charge less and lose more?

 

[NortheastPhotographic]

Who cares. Zeiss wouldn't be selling the cameras any cheaper. I read some time ago that Leitz loses money on each camera they sell. A company spokesperson said that they only continue to sell them because of dedication to the Leica name and its position in photographic history. So for those that complain about the prices should they charge less and lose more?

That's ridiculous, they are certainly not losing money on anything that they sell.