Leica Fortress beleaguered? (2004)
Photography is clearly enjoying a new revival thanks to its absorption by the consumer electronics firms and the new life-style of casual, real-time distributed imaging . The phenomenon in itself is not new. The first predator action occurred in the sixties when 8- and 16mm movie cameras were wiped out overnight by the video camera, that in its turn was pushed aside by the digital camcorder. The currently employed capture technology in all digital imaging products has its origins in television engineering and theory that was developed from 1940 and later. The video camera and its successor, the digicam, became far more popular and widespread than the original movie camera, mainly because of its ease of use and the fact that it fitted in the lifestyle of the consumers. Photography has always been an isolated market, dominated by a few big players and there was only internal competition within the same technology. The photographic industry lost this luxury in1996, the year that digital imagery became the focus of the big electronics companies. The photographic industry had two comparative advantages that made it impossible to assault form outsiders: the complexity of film manufacture and the large scale of the film business and the mechanical complexity of the cameras, that made manufacture in low cost countries impossible: workers in the countries in the developing world have no problem with assembling a chip on a printed circuit board, but has problems when assembling a shutter, as you need intimate knowledge of the mechanics behind the product to properly assemble this.
Digital cameras are amazingly simple devices that can be manufactured everywhere and in large volume. The logistic chain of film development and printing is no longer a hurdle and increasingly users print their own pictures at the home printer.
The low cost digital camera with its 3 or 4 million pixel sensor is in danger of losing the battle with the newest generations of mobile phones that offer the same quality and even greater ease of use. Mobile imaging will replace digital imaging in a few years.
No wonder that the current big players are increasingly looking for new strongholds in the market arena. The digital SLR is the obvious answer. Such a product with good performance and moderate pricing could tempt the amateur with a film based SLR to go to the digital route. The culture and style of picture taking hardly changes and one can even use the lenses bought for the film based camera. To make additional money on lens sales, it is now the rule of the day to announce that only new 'digital' designs are suitable for digital SLRs.
The fight for market share goes on relentlessly as can be seen from the amount of new products with additional features, (image stabilizing is almost standard) and more pixels and lower prices.
Several large manufacturers have complained recently that prices will fall by at least 25% in the near future and that it is hardly impossible to generate a profit. A shakeout seems a fact as happened in the fifties of the previous century when the 100 camera manufacturers were reduced to less than 15 in a few years.
The lure of the rangefinder
Where to go for a niche market that will generate a profit over a longer period and that seems immune to the whims of the market and where competition is very low? More and more companies look at the rangefinder camera for this niche. Leica has been successful here for 50 years as is Cosina in recent years with its Voigtlander brand.
The state of the art at Leica
Current Leica M product development seems to be fully dominated by the wishes of a handful of collectors who are more interested in fulfilling boy dreams than in photographic instruments. As long as this stranglehold continues, Leica will continue to lose market share to more innovative outsiders. The Leica brand image has been changed during the last 50 years from an influential to a respectful name. It is in danger of becoming marginalised as long as the collector community seems to dominate product development, at least in the M area. What has Leica to offer at the Photokina 2004 in the face of the Cosina phalanx: a choice of colour and feature options for the M body, a very expensive commemorative M7 set to celebrate 50 years of M and a replica of the age-old Barnack camera. And the promise of a digital version of the M camera in a few years time.
The Leica M camera and the Harley Davidson motorcycle have much in common. Both have a loyal following, a great historical heritage and a product that has hardly changed in its history. The changes that have been made, have been carefully monitored to the taste of a conservative clientele. The big difference between both marques is the sales record. The sales of the M have been steadily declined since 1956 and have stabilized in the last years. The sales of the HD have climbed exponentially. This is remarkable as both marques have a traditional product that has hardly changed over the last half century. Why HD can seduce a large amount of new customers and Leica cannot, is partly the result of the marketing approach of Leica,
The lens line consists of
# 2.8/21 ASPH
# 2.8/24 ASPH
# 2/28 ASPH
# 2/35 ASPH
# 1.4/35 ASPH
# 2/50
# 2.8/50
# 1.4/50 ASPH
# 1/50
# 4/28-35-50 ASPH
# 1.4/75
# 2/90 ASPH
# 4/90 Macro
# 3.4/135 APO
Earlier attempts.
One of the first products to try to rejuvenate the rangefinder model has been the Contax G and G2. Zeiss and Kyocera/Contax threw in a sprinkle of electronics, AF and excellent optics in a very elegant styling. The camera was no success overall, despite raving reviews.
The second serious attempt was made by Konica with the Hexar RF. It was closely modelled on the M, one could even speak of a faithful copy, added an electronic shutter, motordrive and AE and very good optics. It could have been a strong contender, but the famous back focal length issues and a lacklustre support from the company killed this model.
The Voigtlander Bessa range from Cosina used a smart strategy. The first models were based on the cheap and tried Cosina SLR body, emulated the style of the famous model 3 of Leitz and offered a large range of excellent and very cheap lenses. The lens range filled all kinds of holes in the Leica range and could appeal to old Leica users and newcomers. With expanding tastes, Cosina offered more and more models, classic and modern and could cover all tastes and fantasies.
In 2002 Rollei introduced their branded version of the Cosina model R2 with a suite of three lenses. It was horribly expensive given its hardly disguised copy of the Cosina model. There is no news here and it may already be dead.
What is new in 2004.
Cosina introduced the Bessa R2A, the long awaited semi-automatic R2 to scratch at the M7 status and a new R3A with a 1:1 finder to cash on the famed M3 finder that is now celebrating its 50th anniversary.
The Bessa lens line consists of
# 5.6/12mm aspherical
# 4.5/15mm aspherical
# 4/21
# 4/25 snapshot
# 1.9/28mm aspherical
# 3.5/28
# 1.2/35 aspherical
# 1.7/35 aspherical
# 2.5/35 compact
# 2.5/35
# 1.5/50 aspherical
# 2.5/50
# 2.5/75
# 3.5/90
The Epson RD-1 is also based on the Cosina model and offers a 6 Megapixel sensor. The camera tries to be modern and classical at the same time. The Epson management may be insecure about its success, as only 10.000 units seem to be in the making. It is very expensive with Euro 3000.00, but cash rich Leica users will buy them to see how the famous Leica lenses can perform with a digital sensor.
The introduction of the Zeiss Ikon (ZM) is a rehearsal of the famous battle between Zeiss and Leitz in the thirties of the previous century when Contax and Leica dominated the world market for rangefinder cameras. This body again is made by Cosina and under the shell is yet another version of the Bessa model. The Cosina phalanx seems to be unstoppable! On pictutes the Zeiis Ikon looks very good and certainly has more style than the basic Bessa. It is a fine blend of Contax G and Leica M styling elements. Its new lens line is partly new and partly copied from the G2 series. Most of these lenses are made at Cosina. Now the bayonet is the M-version.
The Zeiss lens line consists of
# 2.8/15
# 4/18
# 2,8/21
#4.5/21
# 2.8/25
# 2.8/28
# 2/35
#2.8/35
# 2/50
# 2/85
More lenses are promised and Zeiss is keen to stress the fact that the lenses can be used on future digital versions. Zeiss can simply wait and see how the Epson RD-1 fares and decide accordingly! Zeiss claims that all lenses have superior resolution, high contrast and no distortion and they state that focus shift is minimal. The topic of focus shift has been introduced by me, when discussing the Noctlilux behaviour and with other Leica lenses. It seems that Zeiss is a good listener! It is remarkable that Zeiss does not use aspherical surfaces or do not find it useful to mention it.
Normally Zeiss is realistic and even modest when making claims about optical performance of their lenses. Lately however, they seem to go for hyperbolic claims. The statement that all the new ZM lenses will resolve easily 400 lp/mm in normal photographic practice seems to be a bridge to far. I will return to this topic shortly. When a company like Zeiss issues and supports these statements, we are walking a thin rope.