The most innovative thing Leica Camera can do

IPA Craft & Tools 18 Comments

The most innovative thing Leica Camera can do is not the Leica M Monochrom. Believe us, it’s certainly an intriguing product with a very interesting proposition to photographers. But while the Monochrom idea is fascinating, the Monochrom reality is a fantasy with its price tag. Most photographers with talent to offer do see the world in ‘black and white’ – in dollars and sense. They barely earn all that much from photography, their craft and passion, as it is.

Leica M Monochrom

The most innovative thing Leica Camera can do is not the new Leica M9-P Hermes Edition camera. We can’t remember ever seeing a real photographer take pictures with white clinical gloves, and carry their gear in a bag worthy of a mortgage deposit (well, in some places). Believe us, photographers do love their bags and scarves though, especially PJs.

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The most innovative thing Leica Camera can do is certainly not the new, very expensive Leica APO-Summicron-M 50 mm f/2 ASPH. Superb, wonderful, beautiful lens, no doubt. With its leading optical excellence, we’d be the first to use it as a tool to examine the opportunity costs and numbers in micro detail if we could afford to buy one.

Leica APO-Summicron-M 50 mm f/2 ASPH

Don’t get us wrong here, we love the Leica brand, philosophy, heritage and deep history with photography. Hell, we love and use their cameras and lens too. But it’s getting tougher with each product release.

Our two cents if we may – the most innovative thing Leica Camera can do is put more research into products and technology that truly enable, rather than disable Photography, like it once did. Technical perfection is nothing but a numbers game, a dry one at that.

We’ll end this with 2 questions – What is the point of Perfection? What is the price of Photography?

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Comments 18

  1. Hmmm…never thought of it this way, but agree on the question- What is the point of innovation?

    I don’t see anything wrong with these products (and previous incarnations of them for that matter) as a photographer and I would and do enjoy them more than anything else out there as part of picture taking process. However, leica may not be the company to ask this question, if I may say so. They are doing best at what they are suppose to do…excel every time they make something new. Making it affordable is not part of their vision as a company. Perhaps there are others who could pick that battle and should pick that. Apple e.g. makes best (arguable but generally accepted) tools in the market but I know a company in Canada who makes the most affordable tablet (Aakash) for something like $60 for the impoverished and needy in India…..just my $.02!

    Nilesh

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  2. Pingback: Previewing the new Leica M Monochrom & APO-Summicron-M 50 mm | Invisible Ph t grapher Asia

  5. I think People are missing the whole point of the article, it isn’t asking Leica to focus on the masses with affordable cameras or to stop making “great” cameras. We know Leica is a niche market holder, but what are these new cameras bringing to us shooters in that niche that the previous have not? Really ask yourself that – and for an added cost as well? How is having an ever more expensive camera improve your photography? by putting it out of it’s users grasp? Don’t forget the old leica’s and cameras that the early photography pioneers utilised to create the iconic images we study today. The best thing I have read in response to this new leica is “buy an M3 and spend the rest on shooting photos”, I feel my photography would improve that way. I think Leica is forgetting the fundamentals that made it such a key player in photographies history. But who are we to complain, they will sell these. If it keeps them alive, go for it. It could mean better things in future. 

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  6. The most innovative thing that Leica can do?

    Ensure their survival.

    If one wants to shoot with a Leica, you would find a way if you really want to.  The 2nd hand market has gladly catered to aspiring Leica owners with that mindset.

    So yes, let the those who can afford it early on have it.
    Give it more time until interest wanes and prices go down. 

    People still shoot the M3 and M2 despite the modern features of the M7/MP. Who knows if it will be the same for digital?

    One could only hope but as long as Leica makes the M camera, fans of the camera will always have something to look forward to.

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  7. I don’t agree with any of your points here. Leica makes THE BEST products, and anyone who owns a Leica will attest to how it changes the way they see the world. Yea they’re expensive, but it’s something that we all hope to be able to afford and use one day. If Leica stopped making the best and started making affordable, I would be a very very sad photographer.

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  9. See, you are assuming that Leica wants to be a brand everyone can afford. If everyone could, it wouldn’t be “cool”. There are an abundant number of quality products out for what most people do with a camera. But owning something “sought after” makes doing all that average-user stuff cooler. 

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  11. I just wasted a minute of my life, frankly speaking. 

    The title says “The most innovating thing Leica can do” but the whole article is about how Leica is not innovating and offers no solid suggestion or thought on how Leica can be innovative. 

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