Confusion about Contax...

We all saw the message on dPreview, but some sources believe
that this is not decided yet...

For example, http://luminous-landscape.com/new/index.shtml
became now more careful with news (after their "D2X noise
incident") and checks if the rumors have merits before
publishing them. They write that the news about Contax are
"not based on any official news release by Kyocera in Japan."

I agree with his opinion about lack of any timely response by
Kyocera to such rumors, albeit isn't this so typical to all
Japanese companies? They process such events slower in their
organizations.

If Contax would be really departing, we would be losing a
truly legendary brand. It appears to me that the digital
transition will really shake the world of photography...
Only who makes or manages to acquire sensors will survive.
The camera companies will die and their glass production
will be bought at a bargain price by the consumer electronics
giants. How does it sound: Casio Pro F1 ??? :-) with
DO Casionar 50mm Lux f/2!

Considering that Leica's debt is meanwhile over 50% of
the total value of their shares, they might be also forced
to shut down or sell their noble camera and lens boutique.
Maybe Panasonic will take over as a base for their Lumix
cameras?

Thomas

ThomasH wrote:

We all saw the message on dPreview, but some sources believe
that this is not decided yet...

For example, http://luminous-landscape.com/new/index.shtml
became now more careful with news (after their "D2X noise
incident") and checks if the rumors have merits before
publishing them. They write that the news about Contax are
"not based on any official news release by Kyocera in Japan."

I agree with his opinion about lack of any timely response by
Kyocera to such rumors, albeit isn't this so typical to all
Japanese companies? They process such events slower in their
organizations.


Maybe slightly typical, though I think when Zeiss showed the Zeiss Ikon
line at Photokina, people started to wonder why Kyocera were not
involved. It still would not surprise me if they shut down production,
and it would also not surprise me if no other company picked up where
they stop.


If Contax would be really departing, we would be losing a
truly legendary brand. It appears to me that the digital
transition will really shake the world of photography...

We are coming off of several years of poor economy, and the Contax line
was a premium line of expensive gear. There are also far fewer dealers
of such gear, so a great lack of public exposure to these cameras.
However, I do think your statement is partially true, in that
manufacturers have dumped lots of money into getting a stake in direct
digital imaging. Many company have years of financial losses on digital
products, and only a few have managed to finally grab some market share,
and generate a bit of profit.



Only who makes or manages to acquire sensors will survive.
The camera companies will die and their glass production
will be bought at a bargain price by the consumer electronics
giants. How does it sound: Casio Pro F1 ??? :-) with
DO Casionar 50mm Lux f/2!

Smaller companies, like Contax, are niche player that cannot compete in
a larger consumer market. I don't think they should try to do so either,
and I think their efforts are better in a niche market. The bad part is
that disposable income, educated customers, and good economy are part of
surviving a niche market. It is important for the company to educate
their potential customers about their products, and do so in the right
markets. Fail to define those markets, or try to overstretch your
bounds, and failure is just on the horizon.



Considering that Leica's debt is meanwhile over 50% of
the total value of their shares, they might be also forced
to shut down or sell their noble camera and lens boutique.
Maybe Panasonic will take over as a base for their Lumix
cameras?

Thomas

My guess is that Leica will end up halving their workforce. They simply
have too many workers for too low a volume. Prices would remain the
same, though profits would increase, and hopefully balance things out.
The new CEO was chosen to reorganize Leica.

If the stock price deflates enough, then they become an easier take over
target. My bet is on Shriro of Hong Kong, who already control the
Hasselblad and Imacon companies. It would not surprise me to see that
happen prior to the end of this year.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio
http://www.allgstudio.com

"Gordon Moat" wrote in message
...
ThomasH wrote:

[SNIP]

Considering that Leica's debt is meanwhile over 50% of
the total value of their shares, they might be also forced
to shut down or sell their noble camera and lens boutique.
Maybe Panasonic will take over as a base for their Lumix
cameras?

Thomas

My guess is that Leica will end up halving their workforce. They
simply have too many workers for too low a volume. Prices would
remain the same, though profits would increase, and hopefully
balance things out. The new CEO was chosen to reorganize Leica.

If the stock price deflates enough, then they become an easier take
over target. My bet is on Shriro of Hong Kong, who already control
the Hasselblad and Imacon companies. It would not surprise me to
see that happen prior to the end of this year.


I can see the logic for Shriro, but their 'Blad investment gives them ties
to Zeiss and Fuji for optics. Buying Leica would suddenly make them a
lensmaker.

Now, that might be attractive, but it would strain, and maybe necessitate
re-negotiating, those third party supplier relationships. That makes it a
more complex deal than might at first appear.

Of course, that also offers an outside possibility: Shriro buys Leica from
Hermes and sells the lens making division to Zeiss. Now, that would be a
real shake-up.


Peter

Bandicoot wrote:

"Gordon Moat" wrote in message
...
ThomasH wrote:

[SNIP]

Considering that Leica's debt is meanwhile over 50% of
the total value of their shares, they might be also forced
to shut down or sell their noble camera and lens boutique.
Maybe Panasonic will take over as a base for their Lumix
cameras?

Thomas

My guess is that Leica will end up halving their workforce. They
simply have too many workers for too low a volume. Prices would
remain the same, though profits would increase, and hopefully
balance things out. The new CEO was chosen to reorganize Leica.

If the stock price deflates enough, then they become an easier take
over target. My bet is on Shriro of Hong Kong, who already control
the Hasselblad and Imacon companies. It would not surprise me to
see that happen prior to the end of this year.


I can see the logic for Shriro, but their 'Blad investment gives them ties
to Zeiss and Fuji for optics. Buying Leica would suddenly make them a
lensmaker.

Now, that might be attractive, but it would strain, and maybe necessitate
re-negotiating, those third party supplier relationships. That makes it a
more complex deal than might at first appear.

Of course, that also offers an outside possibility: Shriro buys Leica from
Hermes and sells the lens making division to Zeiss. Now, that would be a
real shake-up.

Peter

Luxury brands movement might be another realm. The Richemont (spelling?)
group already own several prominent watch brands, and might be interested in
Leica. The ultimate in luxury products might be a la carte Leicas through a
local jewellery and watch store . . . or not ;-)

I can see that Shriro might have a conflict with the Zeiss lens lines, and
distribution of the Zeiss Ikon. Consider that places that might sell
Hasselblad probably would sell Leica, and Zeiss Ikon, then it seems less
crazy. Of course, we have no idea if Zeiss have any restrictions on Shriro,
Hasselblad, nor any other deals.

Zeiss already have lens production and optics, so there is no advantage for
them to acquire Leica. It might be in their interest to see that Leica
continues, if only so a prominent competitor exists, or so that their Ikon
line of lenses has another source of bodies, and potential sales. All this is
low volume, so finances could make more difference, and Zeiss might be
happier seeing a competitor fail completely.

Cosina are another possibility, but there again, that Zeiss manufacturing
deal might block any such effort. All major camera companies are out, since
they will likely not want another niche product, even with a name like Leica.
Perhaps non-industry companies are the only direction?

I recall that Texas Pacific Group acquired Ducati when the company was
struggling a bit. While their running of Ducati has been slightly
questionable at times, the brand is still a going concern. Maybe this
company, or a company like TPG, would find Leica of interest. Hermes
obviously saw something in Leica prior to their large investment, so maybe it
is more natural for luxury brand companies to control Leica in the future. I
don't think any possibilities are that great for Leica users, since if the
brand continues, it will remain exclusive, or it will find the name on
cheaper products in too many markets.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio
http://www.allgstudio.com

Contax does have one thing in common with many other corporations: the
inability to communicate with their customers. This is another example of
totally horrible communications, and we still aren't sure of where they
stand! The 645 system may live or die, but Contax/Kyocera is too damned
stupid to simply state the facts. It's pretty embarassing.

There's a famous corporate memo that was created at GE a few years ago. The
punchline of the memo is something like this:

"We are aware of the communications problems with our employees, but we're
not about to discuss that with them."

Yes, it was real. I see examples of this type of corporate speak every day,
and one day I uncovered the source of such trash. One of the managers, one
who was responsible for creating and distributing quite a few, was seen
reading a book titled "How to Write Impressively."

Right. One more nail in the coffin that contains plain English.

"ThomasH" wrote in message
...
stuff snipped...

"Gordon Moat" wrote in message
...

Luxury brands movement might be another realm. The Richemont (spelling?)
group already own several prominent watch brands, and might be interested
in
Leica. The ultimate in luxury products might be a la carte Leicas through
a
local jewellery and watch store . . . or not ;-)


Leica might as well be dead if that happens, because the cameras and lenses
will become the equivalent of jewelry, not optical instruments meant to be
used. Like those $5,000.00 fountain pens--no one actually puts any ink in
them.

Things seem to be headed in the same direction as the high-end stereo market
25 years ago. Marantz (before Sony bought them) and MacIntosh made lines of
expensive gear, there was a Japanese brand called Luxman (I have no idea
when they withered and died), and there were several makers of exotic
turntables, some of which cost thousands of dollars. Then digital audio
came along and raised the average performance of audio gear up to the point
that few were willing to spend many thousands of dollars on high end analog
gear, in the hope of getting slightly better overall performance.

Even Erwin Puts admits that most photographers will opt not to buy expensive
Leica film gear, if all they are going to get is another 5% in performance
from it.

I have more control over my digital images, using editing software, than I
ever had over film images. Just having the ability to set the low and high
end points, and to adjust the gamma and color saturation levels, results in
images that are more striking. One can now get the desired results without
having to rely upon optical components. Digital's margin of difference over
analog is fast dwindling. Unless one has the need for large prints, it is a
dilemma choosing a camera system--it certainly is not easy to forego the
control one gets with digital to buy more film gear.

I find myself reaching for my digital camera much more than my film
equipment. Especially when I am taking only a few frames, and want to
produce results quickly, film is at a disadvantage.

So, even if Leica could solve its financial problems, the question remains,
just WHO is going to be spending big bucks to buy a system that is limited
in terms of convenience and technology? I remember a quote attributed to
Yogi Berra, the baseball great, that has a parallel in the camera world.
"If the people don't want to come out to the ballpark, ain't nobody gonna'
stop 'em!"

"TAFKAB" wrote in message
. com...

Contax does have one thing in common with many other corporations: the
inability to communicate with their customers.

Judging from the wording of the press release, it appeared that Kyocera
elected to exit the photographic market in order to marshal their resources
toward their other lines of business, where their expertise really was.

I'm not so sure that communication had much to do with it--they looked at
the prospects of future sales versus money spent on R&D and concluded that
they could put their resources to better use. Unlike Leica, they were not
about to wait until their sales figures (and profits) fell--they just walked
away from the business.

It is not much different from all those photography shops that have been in
business for decades, and are now closing their doors. Killer technology
has a way of doing away with old stuff. I'm not gloating, just trying to
read the handwriting on the wall.

There was a time that every village had a blacksmith. Then Henry Ford
developed the assembly line, and people stopped using horses for routing
transportation. This sort of thing has happened before.

It is not always bad overall. I remember reading of the "Enclosure
Movement" in England a couple of centuries ago. Landowners found that they
could make more by kicking their tenant farmers off their farmland, and by
putting up fences and raising sheep for their wool. The roads were packed
with homeless people who could not farm and had nothing with to do with
their lives. Many of them signed up to become colonists in the New World,
and came to North America.

These things happen. Nowadays, with technology developing at a rapid rate,
we see it more often than before.

In article . net,
Jeremy wrote:
Marantz (before Sony bought them) and MacIntosh made lines of
expensive gear, there was a Japanese brand called Luxman (I have no idea
when they withered and died), and there were several makers of exotic
turntables, some of which cost thousands of dollars. Then digital audio
came along and raised the average performance of audio gear up to the point
that few were willing to spend many thousands of dollars on high end analog
gear, in the hope of getting slightly better overall performance.

If people spend thousands of dollars of dollars on high-end amplifiers to
play records and digital is better, why would they suddenly buy cheap
junk? Lots of people used to spend thousands of dollars to play CDs.

High-end audio has a problem in common with good glass: it lasts too long.


--
That was it. Done. The faulty Monk was turned out into the desert where it
could believe what it liked, including the idea that it bad been done by.
It was allowed to keep its horse, since horses where so cheap to make.
-- Douglas Adams in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

In article . net,
Jeremy wrote:

...there was a Japanese brand called Luxman (I have no idea
when they withered and died)...

Not quite dead yet!

"We're in the process of reorganizing our distribution structure in the
United States and revamping our web site too. Please continue to check
back at this web site "www.luxman.com" as we will shortly publish a
list of Luxman distributors for assistance in your country.
Unfortunately, until this process is complete, we are not able to
respond to each and every individual inquiry. Please pardon the delay
and thank you for your patience."

Lux Corporation
2-7, Sugasawa-Cho, Tsurumi-Ku
Yokahama-City
230-0027 Kanagawa, JAPAN

"Scott Schuckert" wrote in message
...
In article . net,
Jeremy wrote:

...there was a Japanese brand called Luxman (I have no idea
when they withered and died)...

Not quite dead yet!

"We're in the process of reorganizing our distribution structure in the
United States and revamping our web site too. Please continue to check
back at this web site "www.luxman.com" as we will shortly publish a
list of Luxman distributors for assistance in your country.
Unfortunately, until this process is complete, we are not able to
respond to each and every individual inquiry. Please pardon the delay
and thank you for your patience."

Lux Corporation
2-7, Sugasawa-Cho, Tsurumi-Ku
Yokahama-City
230-0027 Kanagawa, JAPAN


I have not seen anything from Luxman in well over a decade.