Photography - Leica output reminds me of car production, circa pre-1950's

"Bruce" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 7 Oct 2009 20:19:22 -0700 (PDT), RichA
wrote:

Lacking the technology to form metals at sharp angles, car makers used
round, flowing lines for their cars. Leica is the same. They can't
form cameras like the Japanese, so their bodies are limited to a basic
ovoid-cylindrical shape with sheet metal smoothly bent around it.

There speaks someone who has never seen a Leica M5. It had
squared-off ends and was instantly disliked by Leica users.

The M5 was a poor seller. It was discontinued after only 30,000 had
been made and the Leica M Series was killed off in 1975.

Geez, I thought it was the M8 that nearly killed the M series.

However, demand from Leica users meant that, after a two year delay,
the M4 was updated to the M4-2 and put back into production in 1977.