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#1
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Confusion about Contax...
We all saw the message on dPreview, but some sources believe
that this is not decided yet... For example, http://luminous-landscape.com/new/index.shtml became now more careful with news (after their "D2X noise incident") and checks if the rumors have merits before publishing them. They write that the news about Contax are "not based on any official news release by Kyocera in Japan." I agree with his opinion about lack of any timely response by Kyocera to such rumors, albeit isn't this so typical to all Japanese companies? They process such events slower in their organizations. If Contax would be really departing, we would be losing a truly legendary brand. It appears to me that the digital transition will really shake the world of photography... Only who makes or manages to acquire sensors will survive. The camera companies will die and their glass production will be bought at a bargain price by the consumer electronics giants. How does it sound: Casio Pro F1 ??? :-) with DO Casionar 50mm Lux f/2! Considering that Leica's debt is meanwhile over 50% of the total value of their shares, they might be also forced to shut down or sell their noble camera and lens boutique. Maybe Panasonic will take over as a base for their Lumix cameras? Thomas |
#2
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ThomasH wrote:
We all saw the message on dPreview, but some sources believe that this is not decided yet... For example, http://luminous-landscape.com/new/index.shtml became now more careful with news (after their "D2X noise incident") and checks if the rumors have merits before publishing them. They write that the news about Contax are "not based on any official news release by Kyocera in Japan." I agree with his opinion about lack of any timely response by Kyocera to such rumors, albeit isn't this so typical to all Japanese companies? They process such events slower in their organizations. Maybe slightly typical, though I think when Zeiss showed the Zeiss Ikon line at Photokina, people started to wonder why Kyocera were not involved. It still would not surprise me if they shut down production, and it would also not surprise me if no other company picked up where they stop. If Contax would be really departing, we would be losing a truly legendary brand. It appears to me that the digital transition will really shake the world of photography... We are coming off of several years of poor economy, and the Contax line was a premium line of expensive gear. There are also far fewer dealers of such gear, so a great lack of public exposure to these cameras. However, I do think your statement is partially true, in that manufacturers have dumped lots of money into getting a stake in direct digital imaging. Many company have years of financial losses on digital products, and only a few have managed to finally grab some market share, and generate a bit of profit. Only who makes or manages to acquire sensors will survive. The camera companies will die and their glass production will be bought at a bargain price by the consumer electronics giants. How does it sound: Casio Pro F1 ??? :-) with DO Casionar 50mm Lux f/2! Smaller companies, like Contax, are niche player that cannot compete in a larger consumer market. I don't think they should try to do so either, and I think their efforts are better in a niche market. The bad part is that disposable income, educated customers, and good economy are part of surviving a niche market. It is important for the company to educate their potential customers about their products, and do so in the right markets. Fail to define those markets, or try to overstretch your bounds, and failure is just on the horizon. Considering that Leica's debt is meanwhile over 50% of the total value of their shares, they might be also forced to shut down or sell their noble camera and lens boutique. Maybe Panasonic will take over as a base for their Lumix cameras? Thomas My guess is that Leica will end up halving their workforce. They simply have too many workers for too low a volume. Prices would remain the same, though profits would increase, and hopefully balance things out. The new CEO was chosen to reorganize Leica. If the stock price deflates enough, then they become an easier take over target. My bet is on Shriro of Hong Kong, who already control the Hasselblad and Imacon companies. It would not surprise me to see that happen prior to the end of this year. Ciao! Gordon Moat A G Studio http://www.allgstudio.com |
#3
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"Gordon Moat" wrote in message
... ThomasH wrote: [SNIP] Considering that Leica's debt is meanwhile over 50% of the total value of their shares, they might be also forced to shut down or sell their noble camera and lens boutique. Maybe Panasonic will take over as a base for their Lumix cameras? Thomas My guess is that Leica will end up halving their workforce. They simply have too many workers for too low a volume. Prices would remain the same, though profits would increase, and hopefully balance things out. The new CEO was chosen to reorganize Leica. If the stock price deflates enough, then they become an easier take over target. My bet is on Shriro of Hong Kong, who already control the Hasselblad and Imacon companies. It would not surprise me to see that happen prior to the end of this year. I can see the logic for Shriro, but their 'Blad investment gives them ties to Zeiss and Fuji for optics. Buying Leica would suddenly make them a lensmaker. Now, that might be attractive, but it would strain, and maybe necessitate re-negotiating, those third party supplier relationships. That makes it a more complex deal than might at first appear. Of course, that also offers an outside possibility: Shriro buys Leica from Hermes and sells the lens making division to Zeiss. Now, that would be a real shake-up. Peter |
#4
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Bandicoot wrote:
"Gordon Moat" wrote in message ... ThomasH wrote: [SNIP] Considering that Leica's debt is meanwhile over 50% of the total value of their shares, they might be also forced to shut down or sell their noble camera and lens boutique. Maybe Panasonic will take over as a base for their Lumix cameras? Thomas My guess is that Leica will end up halving their workforce. They simply have too many workers for too low a volume. Prices would remain the same, though profits would increase, and hopefully balance things out. The new CEO was chosen to reorganize Leica. If the stock price deflates enough, then they become an easier take over target. My bet is on Shriro of Hong Kong, who already control the Hasselblad and Imacon companies. It would not surprise me to see that happen prior to the end of this year. I can see the logic for Shriro, but their 'Blad investment gives them ties to Zeiss and Fuji for optics. Buying Leica would suddenly make them a lensmaker. Now, that might be attractive, but it would strain, and maybe necessitate re-negotiating, those third party supplier relationships. That makes it a more complex deal than might at first appear. Of course, that also offers an outside possibility: Shriro buys Leica from Hermes and sells the lens making division to Zeiss. Now, that would be a real shake-up. Peter Luxury brands movement might be another realm. The Richemont (spelling?) group already own several prominent watch brands, and might be interested in Leica. The ultimate in luxury products might be a la carte Leicas through a local jewellery and watch store . . . or not ;-) I can see that Shriro might have a conflict with the Zeiss lens lines, and distribution of the Zeiss Ikon. Consider that places that might sell Hasselblad probably would sell Leica, and Zeiss Ikon, then it seems less crazy. Of course, we have no idea if Zeiss have any restrictions on Shriro, Hasselblad, nor any other deals. Zeiss already have lens production and optics, so there is no advantage for them to acquire Leica. It might be in their interest to see that Leica continues, if only so a prominent competitor exists, or so that their Ikon line of lenses has another source of bodies, and potential sales. All this is low volume, so finances could make more difference, and Zeiss might be happier seeing a competitor fail completely. Cosina are another possibility, but there again, that Zeiss manufacturing deal might block any such effort. All major camera companies are out, since they will likely not want another niche product, even with a name like Leica. Perhaps non-industry companies are the only direction? I recall that Texas Pacific Group acquired Ducati when the company was struggling a bit. While their running of Ducati has been slightly questionable at times, the brand is still a going concern. Maybe this company, or a company like TPG, would find Leica of interest. Hermes obviously saw something in Leica prior to their large investment, so maybe it is more natural for luxury brand companies to control Leica in the future. I don't think any possibilities are that great for Leica users, since if the brand continues, it will remain exclusive, or it will find the name on cheaper products in too many markets. Ciao! Gordon Moat A G Studio http://www.allgstudio.com |
#5
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Contax does have one thing in common with many other corporations: the
inability to communicate with their customers. This is another example of totally horrible communications, and we still aren't sure of where they stand! The 645 system may live or die, but Contax/Kyocera is too damned stupid to simply state the facts. It's pretty embarassing. There's a famous corporate memo that was created at GE a few years ago. The punchline of the memo is something like this: "We are aware of the communications problems with our employees, but we're not about to discuss that with them." Yes, it was real. I see examples of this type of corporate speak every day, and one day I uncovered the source of such trash. One of the managers, one who was responsible for creating and distributing quite a few, was seen reading a book titled "How to Write Impressively." Right. One more nail in the coffin that contains plain English. "ThomasH" wrote in message ... stuff snipped... |
#6
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"Gordon Moat" wrote in message ... Luxury brands movement might be another realm. The Richemont (spelling?) group already own several prominent watch brands, and might be interested in Leica. The ultimate in luxury products might be a la carte Leicas through a local jewellery and watch store . . . or not ;-) Leica might as well be dead if that happens, because the cameras and lenses will become the equivalent of jewelry, not optical instruments meant to be used. Like those $5,000.00 fountain pens--no one actually puts any ink in them. Things seem to be headed in the same direction as the high-end stereo market 25 years ago. Marantz (before Sony bought them) and MacIntosh made lines of expensive gear, there was a Japanese brand called Luxman (I have no idea when they withered and died), and there were several makers of exotic turntables, some of which cost thousands of dollars. Then digital audio came along and raised the average performance of audio gear up to the point that few were willing to spend many thousands of dollars on high end analog gear, in the hope of getting slightly better overall performance. Even Erwin Puts admits that most photographers will opt not to buy expensive Leica film gear, if all they are going to get is another 5% in performance from it. I have more control over my digital images, using editing software, than I ever had over film images. Just having the ability to set the low and high end points, and to adjust the gamma and color saturation levels, results in images that are more striking. One can now get the desired results without having to rely upon optical components. Digital's margin of difference over analog is fast dwindling. Unless one has the need for large prints, it is a dilemma choosing a camera system--it certainly is not easy to forego the control one gets with digital to buy more film gear. I find myself reaching for my digital camera much more than my film equipment. Especially when I am taking only a few frames, and want to produce results quickly, film is at a disadvantage. So, even if Leica could solve its financial problems, the question remains, just WHO is going to be spending big bucks to buy a system that is limited in terms of convenience and technology? I remember a quote attributed to Yogi Berra, the baseball great, that has a parallel in the camera world. "If the people don't want to come out to the ballpark, ain't nobody gonna' stop 'em!" |
#7
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"TAFKAB" wrote in message . com... Contax does have one thing in common with many other corporations: the inability to communicate with their customers. Judging from the wording of the press release, it appeared that Kyocera elected to exit the photographic market in order to marshal their resources toward their other lines of business, where their expertise really was. I'm not so sure that communication had much to do with it--they looked at the prospects of future sales versus money spent on R&D and concluded that they could put their resources to better use. Unlike Leica, they were not about to wait until their sales figures (and profits) fell--they just walked away from the business. It is not much different from all those photography shops that have been in business for decades, and are now closing their doors. Killer technology has a way of doing away with old stuff. I'm not gloating, just trying to read the handwriting on the wall. There was a time that every village had a blacksmith. Then Henry Ford developed the assembly line, and people stopped using horses for routing transportation. This sort of thing has happened before. It is not always bad overall. I remember reading of the "Enclosure Movement" in England a couple of centuries ago. Landowners found that they could make more by kicking their tenant farmers off their farmland, and by putting up fences and raising sheep for their wool. The roads were packed with homeless people who could not farm and had nothing with to do with their lives. Many of them signed up to become colonists in the New World, and came to North America. These things happen. Nowadays, with technology developing at a rapid rate, we see it more often than before. |
#8
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In article . net,
Jeremy wrote: Marantz (before Sony bought them) and MacIntosh made lines of expensive gear, there was a Japanese brand called Luxman (I have no idea when they withered and died), and there were several makers of exotic turntables, some of which cost thousands of dollars. Then digital audio came along and raised the average performance of audio gear up to the point that few were willing to spend many thousands of dollars on high end analog gear, in the hope of getting slightly better overall performance. If people spend thousands of dollars of dollars on high-end amplifiers to play records and digital is better, why would they suddenly buy cheap junk? Lots of people used to spend thousands of dollars to play CDs. High-end audio has a problem in common with good glass: it lasts too long. -- That was it. Done. The faulty Monk was turned out into the desert where it could believe what it liked, including the idea that it bad been done by. It was allowed to keep its horse, since horses where so cheap to make. -- Douglas Adams in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency |
#9
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In article . net,
Jeremy wrote: ...there was a Japanese brand called Luxman (I have no idea when they withered and died)... Not quite dead yet! "We're in the process of reorganizing our distribution structure in the United States and revamping our web site too. Please continue to check back at this web site "www.luxman.com" as we will shortly publish a list of Luxman distributors for assistance in your country. Unfortunately, until this process is complete, we are not able to respond to each and every individual inquiry. Please pardon the delay and thank you for your patience." Lux Corporation 2-7, Sugasawa-Cho, Tsurumi-Ku Yokahama-City 230-0027 Kanagawa, JAPAN |
#10
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"Scott Schuckert" wrote in message ... In article . net, Jeremy wrote: ...there was a Japanese brand called Luxman (I have no idea when they withered and died)... Not quite dead yet! "We're in the process of reorganizing our distribution structure in the United States and revamping our web site too. Please continue to check back at this web site "www.luxman.com" as we will shortly publish a list of Luxman distributors for assistance in your country. Unfortunately, until this process is complete, we are not able to respond to each and every individual inquiry. Please pardon the delay and thank you for your patience." Lux Corporation 2-7, Sugasawa-Cho, Tsurumi-Ku Yokahama-City 230-0027 Kanagawa, JAPAN I have not seen anything from Luxman in well over a decade. |
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