I think that another example of this sort of phenomena is the Mont Blanc pen. I found an apparently new Mont Blanc Meisterstück, in the case and original box at a consignment store locally and purchased it for $15. I knew that they were prestigious, and although $15 was probably too much to spend for a Rollerball, I couldn't resist considering the pen sells for over $350 normally.
Now not everyone even knows how to recognize a Mont Blanc pen, but it has a feature not unlike the Leica "red dot" to distinguish itself among those that know what to look for. I know myself well enough to know that I'm quite willing to desire to impress others who know enough to recognize the brand in my pocket or in my hand, particularly when (I know) that I only had to pay $15 to do it. But I also know myself well enough to know that it isn't important enough to me to pay $350 for. Mont Blanc is (still) in business, however, because there are plenty enough people who will. That's their prerogative. For my part, I found the writing experience to be average, at best. The writing experience with that pen isn't worth the $15, frankly, let alone $350. I was fortunate enough to have learned (and got the point) of the story of the Emperor's New Clothes when I was a child. As we all know, in that story the tailors took a bunch of money from the King (in exchange for giving the King the false feeling that he was intelligent and had something beautiful). It took a child to awaken everyone from going along with the ruse by declaring "he's naked". Well, some products are like that. They may have had their day when they were the best tools for the job. That's why people like HCB and other professionals used them. They were small, rugged, dependable, and had perhaps the greatest optics for their form factor of the time. But today, you don't have to spend Leica money to take great photos. If it were such a great camera and one owned one (along with, say eleven, lenses), why would one shoot with anything ELSE? But the point is, that it really isn't and that really isn't the point these days. The main point is to impress other people. I don't know if I'll ever own a Leica of any kind. (I DID buy a collapsible 50mm f/2 Summicron once, but that was only to resell and make a fairly substantial profit). But if and when I do own a Leica it will probably be because I found one at a bargain price. I won't be buying it and trying to say (with a straight face) that it is the best tool for the job out there today. In a way, those who respected Leica (and Hasselblad, who is another company I would put into that category) find the direction they are going a little sad. One would think that they could have had the resources to stay on the leading edge, but I think that they really felt no financial need to do so. People would continue paying enormous sums for incremental improvements over what came before. Or in the particular sad case of Hasselblad, simply slapping some wood on another manufacturer's cameras and calling it "special". In any event, I hope that if I ever have a Leica I will resist the temptation of telling my friends how much I paid for it and if I ever own eleven Leica lenses I hope I will not feel the need to broadcast it. I hope I will simply be happy to impress the knowledgable others who see me walking around and using the equipment. But that's just me. For others, that's their prerogative. -- 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.
