Well reasoned. I like my barnack Leica, but it's a historic novelty rather than an expensive showpiece. Mercedes makes some nice cars, but you pay extra for that star. Audi delivers more for the money, but no red dot, er star.
Paul via phone > On Apr 26, 2014, at 8:59 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. -- 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.
