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Leica price bubble finally bursting?

glenerrolrd

Workshop Member
My point is that other equipment like the D800,the Fuji x pro 1 etc don t need to compete directly with the Leica gear . If you get excited by new gear and use up your funds ..then you are less likely to switch again for something better:ROTFL: (This is a characteristic that is foreign to much of GETdpi ). The D800 fits a real need for may photographers ..once filled the perceived value of a new better Leica maybe lessened.



I'd agree that the "D800 Effect" is real if you simply want to tool for image-making. Although Leica can't compete directly, they might continue to do very well by stressing the intangibles, similar to Cartier or Chanel.

L'Odyssée de Cartier - YouTube
The new CHANEL N°5 film - YouTube

Although my rational self tells me that this camera will perform no differently from my standard-issue M9 with the worn paint, I am totally a sucker for the way they've presented this thing:

The Making of the Leica M9-P »Edition Hermès« -- Série Limitée Jean-Louis Dumas - YouTube
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
The battle between Apple users an PC users make Leica vs Canon/Leica look trivial.

My wife was in charge of computers at a Research Hospital, MAC II's had been put in before she got there. Used to monitor medical equipment hooked up to patients. The Virus Scanner was spreading viruses on the MACs, and an Animated Einstein running in circles popped up on the MACs, rendering them unstable for monitoring the patients. That was bad. She replaced the MAC's. She used to debug compilers on the Cray.

And people thought the Sandisk SD UHS-1 card problem was bad.
Apple's Macintosh II computers (II, IIc, IIfx, IIcx, and IIcx) were current in the years circa 1987 to 1992ish. Whatever problems were then have long since gone to dust.

I bet y'all still complain about how Canon screwed ya when they dumped the FL/FD lens mount and brought out the EOS lens mount, eh? ;-)

To quote Seymour Cray when he heard that Apple had a Cray and was using it to design circuitry for the new line of computers, "How ironic is that! I am using the Macintosh to design the next Cray."



..."The gods are tricksy, malicious, and swift to thwart."...
 

Brian S

New member
My wife met Seymour Cray, very unassuming man. The world lost a genious to a damned car crash.

I preferred the Apple IIe, it had expansion slots. Apple lost me with the Mac 128, closed box- no expansion slots, could not do anything with it. Had 30KBytes of memory left for use after loading BASIC. My 64KByte CP/m machine had more user-available memory.

What loses me about Apple users today- Basically, Apples are just PC's ever since going to an Intel processor. At least with the PowerPC they had a very interesting processor. But to listen to some of the Mac Fanatics: anyone not using one is a moron. Worse than some of the Leica fanatics that anything compared with a Leica lens is shooting through a coke bottle.

I tinker with lenses for fun. My profession is computer engineering, design custom hardware and do the embedded programming. I know a number of people that use Macs, they treat them like computers and not a religion. But then you run into the zealots. I don't like the zealotry that some attach to any name brand, whether Leica, Nikon, Canon, or Apple.

I'll be using an uncoated CZJ Sonnar 5cm F1.5 that I converted to Leica mount with the M9 Monochrome. I spent the morning writing assembly language code for a custom computer. It's about the same mentality.

And- for SLR's, I shoot primarily Nikon. I have an N->F adapter, and can use my 1952 25cm F4 manual focus lens on the latest Nikon cameras. First long-telephoto ever made by Nikon. Never used a Canon autofocus.
 

Gary Clennan

New member
Pretty darn cool indeed. Just like that nice old Ferrari 250GT SWB I remember from my youth: the one with the "Ferrari" emblem on the back that swung from its remaining retaining pin until it etched a quarter circle scuff in the paint on the trunk lid, and sunburned paint from sitting in the sun all the time. The guy who owned it didn't give a darn that it was a priceless collectible — he bought it to drive, and he drove it nearly every day with the appropriate gusto.
Brilliant!
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
... Apples are just PC's ever since going to an Intel processor. ...
LOL! You won't sucker me into an Apple vs PC debate. I could care less what you or anyone else prefers to use.

To me, a computer is all about the software; the hardware is irrelevant and transitory as long as it provides a useful environment for the software I use. I prefer OS X to Windows—OS X does what I want in an operating system and I understand it well.

Application software, well, Lightroom's pretty much the same on either platform and in the context of doing Photography that's about 98% of what I use nowadays.

The rest is off topic for this forum and not worth talking about here. ;-)

(I use a Nikon F and an Olympus E-1 - two of the nicest SLRs ever made IMNSHO. I don't use them as much as I once did nowadays.)
 

monza

Active member
Technically the Apple hardware platform is the same as a windows PC, chipset-wise, but I would buy an Apple even to run Windows as I much prefer the superior build quality and aesthetics of the hardware.
 

fotografz

Well-known member
Technically the Apple hardware platform is the same as a windows PC, chipset-wise, but I would buy an Apple even to run Windows as I much prefer the superior build quality and aesthetics of the hardware.
Ditto.

For me it is simply a matter of practicality. As an art director, I was initiated into computer work on a Mac ... the overwhelming choice of tool in the graphics business.

Now it is fairly essential because the software I work with is usually Mac exclusive with the PC version coming later, or never. With some exceptions, most photography studios are Mac based. The Phocus software I use for tethered work with the H4D/60 is always released as Mac version first.

While PC based systems are just as good, or even better and less expensive in some cases, Macintosh has been brilliant in integrating their various forms into one mind-meld (you will be assimilated :ROTFL:). iPhone, iPad, Lap-top and towers all integrated into one no-brainer system the user can do without a degree from MIT.

In the end we use what is familiar, and practical ... like cameras, the best computer is the one that doesn't get in the way of the work ... which is not exclusive to Mac or PC.

-Marc
 

fotografz

Well-known member
1. 'Saving money' is not an option for the low income groups. They have none.

2. 'Make sacrifices in other area's ( sic..areas )' !! I make sacrifices only to provide for the most critical necessities of life. Else, for me, it boils own to allocating available resources amongst various non-essentials.

3. Using credit to purchase something non-essential, to me is an alien concept ( my bank hates me for this ). Besides, I do not intend to pay more than the MRSP; which is what one does when using plastic to defer payments over a length of time.

Lower income groups, do not usually have this facility avaiable to them.

Having traveled extensively during the last 30 or more years, lived amongst the most affluent of societies...I know that Leica gear is not made nor marketed for the low income groups.

I do not earn any part of my living through photography. My current Leica gear was bought in cash by the money I made buying and then selling Leica gear. A big thanks to the Leica lovers.

In the markets that operate today, there is no such thing as a high or low price. It is up to the buyer to decide. To me, If I can, I shall buy high only if I can sell higher. And, as in the case of my Leicas, make images that for me shall last for very long..the price paid for the equipment is irrelevant.

Lower income groups do not have that option. My views here relate only to
non-essential items in life.
Isn't all this a matter of debating extremes? Of course the poor are not Leica customers. They probably aren't Canon or Nikon customers either. I don't think anyone said those eating dirt pies are Leica customers anywhere in this thread.

On the other hand, I agree that one need not be wealthy to own or use a Leica product. That is a myth propagated by the cost of the newest items bought new and disparaged by those who either don't have the money, or don't see the value.

One can buy used and not the last thing offered ... but still get the benefit of a traditional rangefinder experience. Or, as suggested, one can make it a priority and forego extensive gear or other uses of discretionary income and focus it on getting the camera they want ... in this case a Leica.

It took me years to save the money to get my first Leica M. I made do with an old beater Canon until I could finally get the camera I really wanted. Did the same to get my first Hasselblad V camera (which I bought on time).

I drive an eight year old Volvo because I wanted a M9P more than a new car ... which means far less to me as long as it keeps running.

I'm no longer even close to wealthy, I'm retired :LOL: ... and the only bubble that burst was my home value and my retirement account :mad:

I still shoot for money just to buy lighting gear :thumbs:

-Marc
 

Gary Clennan

New member
Very well said Marc! I am in a similar situation to you and feel many others would be as well... It is not only the rich or wealthy who own Leica.
 

seakayaker

Active member
The price may not be bursting but availability is certainly getting better.

There are new Leica lens available at the GetDPI.com sponsors web sites. Retail prices and full warranties with the purchases, a much better deal then a lot of the re-selling that has been taking place the last couple of years.
 

algrove

Well-known member
It took me years to save the money to get my first Leica M. I made do with an old beater Canon until I could finally get the camera I really wanted. Did the same to get my first Hasselblad V camera (which I bought on time).

I drive an eight year old Volvo because I wanted a M9P more than a new car ... which means far less to me as long as it keeps running.

I'm no longer even close to wealthy, I'm retired :LOL: ... and the only bubble that burst was my home value and my retirement account :mad:

I still shoot for money just to buy lighting gear :thumbs:

-Marc
And here I imagined I was the only old fart who foregoes a new car in order to enjoy his M9.

@Dan-I truly wonder if supply is getting better or is demand getting worse based on the way of the world right now.
 
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