Yep, years and years of insufficient capital injection, dogged retention of the
obsolete R cameras and lenses, and the lack of vision that digital would
swallow the film world whole have put them here.
They should have discontinued the R line 5-10 years ago when they made the
decision not to invest in modern AF equipment in the 90's. The R8 was a white
elephant from it's introduction. I used one for a while, it's definitely one
of the nicest, best handling MF bodies that I've ever used; absolutely superb,
IMO. However, I can't speak for reliability, which is very spotty if you read
the reports of people who tried to use them to make a living. The lenses were
also way, way too expensive for reality.
Now they're stuck developing the Digital-Modul-R and convincing suckers to pay
$4,500 for it! I'm sure that there are a few people that have disposable
income, see the R lenses as the cat's meow, and will spring for it. But come
on, it doesn't seem to be a viable cornerstone strategy.
And the Digital-M will cost a bizillion dollars when it hits the market (if
ever) in 2006 and probably be 2-3 years behind the SOTA. The a-la-carte
program for the M also seems like a waste of money and time. I guess that the
margins are so high on that part of the business that they can streamline the
existing M line to reduce costs and offer fondlers what they want for a high
price. In the end, the a-la-carte program probably makes money by reducing M
production line costs and only employing a few people to do the custom cameras
for the 40 worldwide dealers for the a-la-carte program.
Where do they go from here?
- Lenses?
- Optical engineering?
- Into the grave?
Only time will tell.
Skip
----- Original Message ---------------
Subject: [OM] Leica
From: Winsor Crosby <wincros@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2005 10:32:33 -0800
To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxx
>On dpreview.com this morning. Leica is in a severe financial crisis.
>
>
>
>Winsor
>Long Beach, California, USA
>
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