Erwin Puts' blog comment for those that haven't looked...
For more than 35 years I have been intimately involved in the Leica world, encompassing the history of the company, the analysis of the products and the use of the products, all under the umbrella concept of the Leica World.
I have experienced and discussed in detail with relevant persons in Wetzlar (old), Solms and Wetzlar (again, new) the digital turn and how the company evolved and changed while adopting the digitalization of the photographic process and the changing world of the internet based photography. The most recent event is the evolution from a manufacturing company to a software-based company. While a commercial success, this change of heart has accomplished a, perhaps not intended, impact: the soul of Leica products has been eradicated. A renewed interest in classical products is the result. The SL and Q are currently the hopeful products for the future. The ghosts of Huawei and Panasonic can be seen all over the campus and while the M-system is still being promoted as the true heir of the Leica lineage, it is now sidelined. Once upon a time, Leica followed its own path, guided by gifted and pioneering engineers and keen marketeers. Nowadays its products are as mainstream as every other camera manufacture.
The company has sketched a future and follows a path that I am no longer willing to go.
I'm not entirely sure what the blog is about. For example, Leica are still a manufacturing company - not just cameras and their lenses but also binoculars, telescopes, riflescopes, microscopes, etc. The adoption of software development into the business seems a no-brainer for any high tech company. Is he referring to in-camera software that corrects image 'errors'?
What is meant by "the soul of Leica products"? Film? Quality with no compromise? Rangefinders? ????
What does he mean by the "ghosts of Huawei and Panasonic"? I assume he's referring to the new 'co-ops' where Leica produces the optics for these companies products - surely a good thing for Leica financially.
Did Leica ever follow its own path? Yes, it wanted to produce the best products possible and I guess to a degree Leica did follow its own path but only because a good number of people also wanted to follow Leica down that path. It's a two-way thing - always was and always will be. People will always want and/or admire quality. If Leica veer away from that then they will lose custom.
Yes, some products (as third party product producer for other camera/phone camera manufacturers) are mainstream but if a company is to survive nowadays, they have to branch out (as if binoculars, telescopes, riflescopes, microscopes, geosystems etc, wasn't enough branching out way back when), and that doesn't mean dropping the high-end gear such as the Leica S series and the lenses (as an example). In this case, as Puts has written himself a while back, he considers the S lenses to be the best in the world (and having been a bit promiscuous myself with lenses over the years, I cannot disagree with that). These products are hardly mainstream and I have not heard of Leica dropping this side of things any time soon, although Puts is clearly in a better position than me to judge that. Leica is just moving with the times but hopefully they will still produce a section of products that are superior in quality than the rest. To me that quality is still there and has to be for the company survive. I dabble in other areas of Leica products (through other interests) and can attest that their products are regarded as amongst the best, if not the best, in the world, e.g., binoculars, telescopes, microscopes where they compete with the same companies as in the camera world along with a few others such as Swarovski and Kowa.
I think Puts is just having an off-day or maybe Puts is being too much of a traditionalist which I can understand.
If Puts is commenting on the growing lack of native quality in lenses (for example), i.e., no software (in-camera or otherwise) needed to correct distortion, colour aberration, ugly people, or whatever, then I would entirely agree with him. I'm a fan of lenses that are just damn good and don't need post-processing to 'improve' the image. If he's lamenting the increasing electronic and software control of lenses, then I would entirely agree with him. I just had to send a high-end Nikon lens in for a replacement SWM unit at the cost of a very decent Leica lens (secondhand of course), a not uncommon issue with Nikon AF lenses (so, as an aside, Leica are not the only company to have AF problems with their lenses, but unlike Nikon and others, Leica have actually solved them!!). This is an issue I will not have with my Zeiss ZF lenses or an older Leica 560mm Apo-Telyt-R. More technology in lenses and cameras means potentially more stuff to go wrong and a consequent increase in cost of ownership and use. Very relevant these days where finances are becoming increasingly tight - yes, I know high-end Leica products are expensive but once owned and looked after they
should not cost in terms of repair and/or servicing (at least in principle) and will often be less expensive than Nikon, Canon, Sony etc. in the long term (issues with the first versions of the Leica S and M aside) - a bit like buying a pair of £200 hiking boots that will last 10 years compared to a £50 pair that will last 1 year, sort of. Maybe I'm over-egging this side of things but I do speak from bitter experience
...and yes, I am a fan of getting up out of the chair and switching the off button on the tv set, my tv having just failed because the 'stand-by' wotsit thingy failed (there is no off-on button on the set) :facesmack: :loco:
Obviously I'm not familiar with Leica long term business plan but I would hazard a guess that while they are entering the 'mainstream' they will still be producing a small section of products that are a level above the rest or a level occupied by very few. With reference to the latter I don't think they will do a Hasselblad, at least I hope not.
With apologies for the overly-long waffle,
Duff.