Dear All, Looks like I provoked some interesting responses with my Leica posts :-).
I am the type of person who from time to time likes to, ahem, "stir the pot". It is always fascinating to see what happens when people rush to the defense of their camera equipment! --- Digital Image Studio" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: << If you've owned both you'd know that they aren't the same league of camera in build or use >> I've owned neither. I could afford a Bessa if I wanted one but I am not terribly fond of rangefinders anyhow. I cannot afford a Leica, period. Maybe if I had a lot of money I would like one as a curiosity but that is about it. I do not doubt that the Leica is much better but really, six or seven times better? It just seems a bit excessive to me. --- "Shel Belinkoff" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: << Leica still builds - and always has built - their basic camera >> Yes but it is a $3,500 "basic" camera! This is like saying that Rolls-Royce build their basic car; and indeed they do. It is "only" $350,000. I guess it is basic for a Rolls-Royce but it still costs as much as 14 fully loaded Honda Accords! << Yes, you can buy a dressed up Leica, and there's not a damned thing wrong with that. >> No, nothing exactly WRONG with it; if you have a lot of money and want to spend it on a Leica that is most likely going to sit in a display case that is fine. It just seems to me that the whole "collectable" thing has gotten rather out of hand. It seems that there is such a profusion of special editions that it would be a full-time job just to keep track of all of them! At least some of the things they have come up with are quite pretty... Note I said SOME ;-)... << Leica has always been expensive. >> This has been true, but then, once upon a time it was really not possible to produce high-quality cameras without carrying a high price tag! While they have always been expensive, my perception (and maybe it is wrong) is that the price gap has widened over the years. << The Bessa is a piece of mass-produced crap based on a cheap body that Cosina has been using for a variety of cameras and brands for years. >> I am sure it is not up to the standards of a Leica but then it does not cost Leica money and does not claim to be as good as a Leica. But from a functional standpoint, it does basically the same thing, and costs an awful lot less. Anyway I would say that most modern cameras are "mass-produced crap" just like the Bessa, indeed most Cosina bodies I've seen (under various names) seem pretty sturdily constructed for cheap cameras. << What makes some Canon and Nikons worth five and six times more than their entry level cameras? I find the price difference extremely hard to believe. >> So do I! I cannot imagine buying an EOS-1Ds Mk II or some such camera, not unless someone else was paying for it ;-)! Now, I do not have the money to buy a $7,000 camera, but even if I could, I would probably feel I was being ripped off! New Doug __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
