Conversation recently overheard in Leica factory cafeteria:
Dettleff: (Chief of R & D)
"All the S2 bodies and lenses are ready to ship. They are thoroughly tested and are perfect. By the way, how much are we charging for them?"
Dieter: (Chief of Marketing)
"...15,000 euros for the body and 5000 for the 70mm kit lens. We're giving a discount of 1,000 euro..so, the total is 19,000 euro or about 26,000 dollars.
Dettleff: "..Emmh...Why don't we flood the market with cheap S2 bodies, say 5000 euro and adapters for old Hassy V, Pentax, and Mamiya lenses? Most pros won't replace their old Phase, Hassy, Leaf, Sinar systems overnight. If the S2 with 70mm only cost 9k or 10k euros, they'll be able to "slide" into our system and then add our really-expensive-money-making-lenses later on when they find out how easy it is to manually focus with the S2 and what a great picture it turns out. I mean, who wants to hand hold a front heavy Hassy H or a Phamiya all day when you have a beautiful S2 snuggled up against your eye. Remember, we have a new proprietary lens mount...no bodies...no lens sale. They'll buy our lenses eventually because everyone agrees they are the best. If we keep the cost of the bodies low, pros can have back-up bodies which really defines who a pro is anyway. Fed Ex doesn't save you...Another body in the your camera case will. Or at least the rental company can have several extra bodies ready to go. We can charge more for the S3 later. The test for the S3 are going well...full HD video and in-body image stabilization look great so far. Video from this camera with our lenses is just spectacular. It look so good that I'm worried Red or Sony might try and buy us.
Dieter: "...Dettleff, you might have something here. I can't do your job, but your sure can do mine. I'm going to run this by Dr. K. If this works I owe you a really good Kirschwasser.
Dettleff: (Chief of R & D)
"All the S2 bodies and lenses are ready to ship. They are thoroughly tested and are perfect. By the way, how much are we charging for them?"
Dieter: (Chief of Marketing)
"...15,000 euros for the body and 5000 for the 70mm kit lens. We're giving a discount of 1,000 euro..so, the total is 19,000 euro or about 26,000 dollars.
Dettleff: "..Emmh...Why don't we flood the market with cheap S2 bodies, say 5000 euro and adapters for old Hassy V, Pentax, and Mamiya lenses? Most pros won't replace their old Phase, Hassy, Leaf, Sinar systems overnight. If the S2 with 70mm only cost 9k or 10k euros, they'll be able to "slide" into our system and then add our really-expensive-money-making-lenses later on when they find out how easy it is to manually focus with the S2 and what a great picture it turns out. I mean, who wants to hand hold a front heavy Hassy H or a Phamiya all day when you have a beautiful S2 snuggled up against your eye. Remember, we have a new proprietary lens mount...no bodies...no lens sale. They'll buy our lenses eventually because everyone agrees they are the best. If we keep the cost of the bodies low, pros can have back-up bodies which really defines who a pro is anyway. Fed Ex doesn't save you...Another body in the your camera case will. Or at least the rental company can have several extra bodies ready to go. We can charge more for the S3 later. The test for the S3 are going well...full HD video and in-body image stabilization look great so far. Video from this camera with our lenses is just spectacular. It look so good that I'm worried Red or Sony might try and buy us.
Dieter: "...Dettleff, you might have something here. I can't do your job, but your sure can do mine. I'm going to run this by Dr. K. If this works I owe you a really good Kirschwasser.