Regarding the watches, I have about 20 50's-70's vintage American watches ( Swiss automatic movt.s ) that once adjusted, keep time well enough for me. Sure quartz is more accurate, but its no fun. I hate those one tick per second second hands on the quartz's. I hate batteries on the quartz's too. Mechanical timepieces are so much more enjoyable even though they are not as accurate as a quartz. give me a sweep second hand anyday. I have two rules with watches now, if it takes a battery or needs an instruction sheet to work it, I dont want it!
JC O'Connell [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Bob W Sent: Friday, November 21, 2008 3:06 PM To: 'Pentax-Discuss Mail List' Subject: RE: ANY M42 DSLR rumors (yet)? > > I've an opinion on this too. (Full of 'em tonight! :-D > > Does anyone believe Leica's bodies and lenses justify their > obscene prices, from > a manufacturing and assembly cost standpoint? Is there THAT > much labor in either > one? > You're paying 80% of the money for the 20% quality increase you get over the competition. Once a certain level of quality is reached, the cost of making it even better rises out of proportion to the cost of the baseline, so to speak. Professionals who buy them must think the price is justified. Magnum photographers, for example, are not fools. It's unlikely that the prestige of them cuts a lot of ice. Amateurs don't have to justify them. Professionals and amateurs alike are also entitled to enjoy the history & romance attached to owning a Leica, and the pleasure of using (or even just admiring) a beautiful object. I think it was Ruskin, or perhaps William Morris, who said 'You should have nothing in your house that is not useful or beautiful'. Leicas are both useful and beautiful. Part of their beauty is their prestige, I suppose. My watch is a very nice Tag Heuer, and I know other people who have Rolexes, Breitlingers and Omegas. These watches are all beautifully made. None of them tells the time any better than the £25- plastic Timex I also own. Few people can justify owning these watches on utilitarian grounds - even scuba divers can get perfectly good diving watches for a lower price - but they're beautiful, well-made objects which work extremely well. The appeal of Leicas is the same sort of thing. > Are they essentially hand made, like some outrageously > expensive cars are? Some > of the well-known marques are essentially hand made and hand > fit, with > incredible number of man-hours in them. Is it like that way > with Leica? At least > their renown M series rangefinders and lenses? > I think (but don't know) that they are hand assembled and finished. In the days of the M3 and M2 I believe they were hand made even unto the parts, but in an effort to reduce costs they started making parts to a degree of tolerance, from cheaper materials (presumably obtainable in this solar system), beginning with the M4-2. I have an M3 and an M4-2, and the M3 does feel better quality. That's not to say that the M4-2 is not also very high quality. Both of these cameras are likely to outlive me. The M3 is 50 years old in August next year and still works beautifully. My lenses are from 1970 (50/2 Summicron) to 1994 (35/1.4 Summilux), and they all work perfectly well on my 2007 M8 digital body as well as on the film bodies. The optical quality of the lenses is outstanding. If you assume the M3's cost when new was roughly equivalent to the cost new of an M8.2 today - £3,990 - then it has cost about £80 per year, £1.60 per week or 23p per day. That's not much for such a nice object. It's a lot less than I pay for my lunch, which lasts about 5 hours. Bob > It seems to me they're on the perpetual brink of bankruptcy > because they're too > bloody expensive except for those professionals (well off or > otherwise) who > simply must have a Leica, not because they're honestly that good... > Capable and durable? So it seems, but worth the tab? That's > the question. > It seems you're primarily paying for the name, as with many > products, but the > purchase price of a Leica seems untoward, for what you're getting... > > Just my opinion...not necessarily the truth. <g> -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
