Jeez, Mike they built the LX for 20 years, isn't that enough?
At 05:30 AM 1/30/2003 -0600, you wrote:
> LX has never been the no.1 choice
> for me considered it's relability track record, and ongoing expensive
> service bills. It is a lovely camera when it works. Both Super
A/Program and
> MX are a lot more reliable imho, and I certainly would not recommend to
> trade both for a LX.
All this talk about the LX and the MX...the other day, somebody mentioned
the "coming flagship" rumor and spoke of a camera "we can all take to our
graves."
Of course this is not what any company wants...to sell a camera that will
last forever and never need updating. Manufacturers want to sell cameras,
not get into the business of servicing 25-year-old warhorses.
I've referred to the LX/MX type cameras as "MMM" cameras (which I said was
"an idiosyncratic term sure not to catch on" <g>). It meant Manual,
Mechanical, and Metal.
Odd, but no one really makes a top-quality classic MMM SLR camera these
days, unless you count the "Hunchback of Solms," the strange and bulky (and
singularly unpopular) Leica R9.
It's true, the Nikon FM3a exists and can be purchased new, but it's based on
the FM/FE series, which was not top of the line. It was a popular design in
its day, but not a premium or a deluxe camera.
If you want a premium, deluxe MMM, you're a throwback. The market seems to
want AF cameras with built-in motors and lithium
batteries..."Wunderplastik." (a term coined by Bill Pierce, and one that
_has_ caught on.)
And _now_ who will make such a thing...with digital here to stay? We have
"atelier" manufacturers of classic wooden and metal view cameras (Ebony,
Wisner, Canham, Gandolfi, etc.)...so in the future will someone step up and
make a carriage-trade MMM SLR? I don't see that happening.
Still, my dream camera is a "Spotmatic SPIII." It would be the size, shape
and weight of an ESII, with a K-mount, a 100% viewfinder, and
aperture-priority AE and metered manual. Metering would be centerweighted
averaging. If I really got to go hog-wild, I would include, OM-4T style, a
button on the top plate that combined the function of a spot-meter and an AE
lock (an incredibly useful feature on the old Olympus. And a feature that
would finally justify the name "Spotmatic"!!) Styling would be
retro-Pentax...finish would be the incredibly durable Spottie chrome finish
(matching the Limited lenses nicely <g>), or black paint over brass that
would wear down nicely.
I suppose no one would buy it but me. But I would be happy.
<s>
--Mike
Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.
Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. --Groucho Marx
