Since moving to the Leica camera system I have learned that the brand is super polarizing in the photography community and the odd part is there is no one other competing brand, except maybe Fujifilm and Ricoh in some genres.
You see there is the Nikon vs. Canon rivalry which everyone knows about. People either love Leica or hate them and there seems to be no middle ground. What I hear the most has to do with the extreme price of Leica cameras and what I usually hear second is how (insert their favorite brand here) had a list of features that Leica lacks. By far these are the two main complaints I hear with there being a few odd things otherwise.
Let’s take a look at some speculation on this topic and see if we can get a better understanding. Now, this next part is pure speculation on my part with only a little actual research behind it. But I did make a simple questionnaire for a few people to see what they thought.
Here is my question list:
Why dont/do you currently own any Leica gear? (Cameras and lenses)
What is your opinion of Leica in general?
Why do you have that opinion?
Armed with these questions let’s see what we get. I got the following answers…
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Why don't you own any Leica gear?
1. Between the price point and lack of a body geared towards sports there wasn't a setup that fit into my shooting needs.
What is your opinion of Leica Gear?
2. From my limited experience the camera I used felt well built and the quality I have seen produced by Leica cameras and glass is as good as other brands but seem more geared towards fine art, street or portriat style photography.
Why do you have that opinion?
3. Most photos produced where Leica has been identifed as the camera in my opinion have fit into the fine art, street or portrait categories.
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Why don't you own any Leica gear?
1. I have thought about buying a Leica as a street camera or personal camera, but the cost, even used, is a bit prohibitive for me.
What is your opinion of Leica Gear?
2. In general, I have a very favorable opinion about Leica. They are well-built, feel good when holding them, and take most excellent images. I am especially enamored with the M10 that only shoots monochrome. That is my dream, money is no object camera. And I love the look of those square frames lenses. They are quite aesthetically pleasing.
Why do you have that opinion?
3. I have this opinion partly from trying one out previously, but mostly from watching them used on YouTube. They are/were the camera of choice for some of the most famous photographers in the world.
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1.Why don't you own any Leica gear?
I would love to own some Leica gear. It’s a little on the expensive side, but I think they truly are pieces of quality kit. Lenses I think are pretty top notch. Also quality of lens construction seems to be pretty great.
2.What is your opinion of Leica Gear?
I think that Leica is focused towards a certain type of photographer. One that wants no compromises, while being methodical and authentic at the same time. They produce a different shooting experience for a more niche audience. But for those who enjoy Leica, they know exactly what they want from a camera. And Leica seems to know what their shooters want as well.
3. Why do you have that opinion?
I met a friend through a friend who was obscenely wealthy and he only shot on Leica. That, and general impressions based off of YouTube and other avenues where stereotypes are routinely expressed. I’m certainly open to change if and when I shoot on one!
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1.Why don't you own any Leica gear?
Leica doesn't make a single camera that interests me.
2. What is your opinion of Leica Gear?
I respect the brand and the company. I think they make really great lenses. Their bodies, while well made don't have the features that I look for in a camera body. I like their simplistic beauty. That's just not what I'm looking for. I think they are probably great street photography cameras but not too good for sports and wildlife. On the other hand, there are other brands that make great sports and wildlife cameras. The difference is, these great sports and wildlife cameras can also handle street, portraits and basically any kind of photography with no worries. So I need a camera that can do everything as opposed to a camera that can only do a few things.
3. Why do you have that opinion?
You don't see a lot of Leica shooters on the sidelines of a sporting event or at the wildlife refuge. There is a reason for that.
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1.Why do you currently own Leica gear?
What drew me to Leica is it’s history and mystique. Leica is the originator of the 35mm camera, and a great deal of great photographers have used Leica. I wanted a piece of that mystique, not that it would make me a better photographer but it was very enticing. I started with the Leica Q, probably the most affordable full-sensor Leica and I was hooked the color science of that camera is godly, better than any other Leica camera I have owned. Then the Q2 Monochrome, I have always wanted a monochrome camera, so why not. Followed by the Q2 because I wanted more megapixels for cropping, The color science on the Q2 is not in my opinion as good as the Q but it improves on the Q in many other ways. Then finally the M10p, I don’t any Leica glass except for the lenses mounted on the Qs which are all 28mm. I have always said I can afford the camera but not the lenses.
PS. The real reason is David Saylors, I had beaten the bug to get a Leica, then I met David and ended up with a Leica Q
2. What is your opinion of Leica in general?
My first thought is a prestige brand for the affluent. In reality, it is much more than that. I see them as an extremely high-quality brand manufactured in Germany for the most part, you have to pay for that labor and Leica is not a high-volume brand. They need to charge that kind of money to stay in business.
I am lucky enough to have a Leica store near me and I have learned how much they do to promote up-and-coming photographers, free gallery openings, and photo walks and that is at the local level. World wide they have awards to promote photographers no matter what brand they use. They look at photography as an art form and help to cultivate new photographers.
3. Why do you have that opinion?
On the built quality of Leica, all you have to do is pick one up. They are solid and rugged. I could use my M10P to protect myself and still use it to take a photo of the attacker. You can still buy old M2 and earlier that still work perfectly well and they will service them.
Regarding fostering photographs look at the Leica Oskar Barnack Award or the countless events available on Eventbrite for free.
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As you can see, the price is what gets most people right away. To be fair to both the consumer and the manufacturer let’s take an honest look at what makes these cameras cost so much. I have been given a unique perspective to see both sides of the transaction event so to speak. For Leica I understand what they have done over the century of their operation as a camera manufacturer.
They were “first movers” in that they invented using 35mm movie projector film in a still frame camera. This gives them a market advantage of sorts… or it did… that is until Nikon released the SLR in 1959. The SLR changed the game, no longer did you worry about your camera getting out of calibration and the photos being out of focus as you are actually looking straight through the taking lens directly for your composition. A large portion of the world that was using Leicas at this point wanted this new technology and went over to Nikon and Canon (who saw the light and jumped into the SLR game as well as many others). Leica stuck to their roots though and this almost proved fatal by the 1970s.
They tried making an SLR in conjunction with Minolta but it was too little too late and the R series never did really take off even though they made them for over 20 years. Leica on the other hand, always stayed focused on the M system. They also spent a lot of time cultivating their target audience as well. But since their company could not employ large scale manufacturing and the mechanical complexity of the M system makes them costly with skilled labor to manufacture, they could never compete in the world of high volume, mass production like the big players. How do you sell something that by its very nature has to have a high retail price due to high fixed costs in manufacturing? Market to the wealthy is how… The mantra of “exclusivity has its price” is true and if you make low volume but yet high quality products you can market to a niche group like the wealthy. There is a reason people joking say Leica is the brand of dentists and lawyers. Because Leica realized they could not compete with Nikon and Canon on low price/features, they had to figure out where they fit in the photography space. This turned out to be in reportage and street photography mainly. This and the aforementioned exclusivity adds up to a potent mixture for a brand that is for the affluent.
The reasons for the cameras price is multifaceted and I am straight speculating here too. I am pretty sure that I am right though as I have worked in the field of manufacturing and selling of products. You see, first the cameras they make are basically like fine mechanical watches, in that they are hand assembled and tuned individually. All this meticulous labor runs the score WAY up. Especially when you consider that it takes a skilled craftsman to build one of these and not just someone off the street trailed to do an assembly line job. Henry Ford figured out that low skill labor can complete complex tasks if there is enough people to break down the job into small enough tasks. Problem with Leica is that they don’t have the business model or the sales volume to be able to setup this sort of operation, so they instead lean into the individual craftsman concept even harder.
Today though, you are starting to see a lot more people shooting on Leica cameras and it is because the world has improved (whether we like it or not, the industrialized “1st world countries” are, over all, wealthier than they have ever been). People have learned that they have enough disposable income to be able to get that M6 with the 35mm Summicrion now, and the do! I am starting to see more and more youtubers using Leica cameras…shoot, even good ole Pete has a Q2 now!
Now does this mean that people need to add one to their arsenal to be cool? No. Absoloutly not, they should use whatever makes them happy and gives them the results that they want. If this means shooting a Leica M11 with a 12,000$ Summilux lens, then you do you. If it means shooting on a Sony RX100, then that is the camera for you.
In the end Leica will never be a cheap camera system, nor will it ever have the bleeding edge features like Sony or Canon, but it will continue to serve a dedicated niche market that they have carefully cultivated over decades. For me, that fact alone makes them an awesome company. They are out there doing there own thing and really dont care about the rest of the market.