As someone once said, "The heights of your moral superiority are matched only by the depths of your prejudices."
G On Apr 26, 2014, at 5:59 AM, Darren Addy <[email protected]> wrote: > 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 [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
