whitewash said:
go ask someone outside photography who makes the best cameras and the response will more than likely be some of the better known brands such as canon, oly, pani, fuji etc i doubt many would know who leica are, let alone think they were cool, the list id guess was made by asking the opinions of style concious celebrities such as posh and becks who have been told what to buy by their stylist/PR person to appear cool and actually has zip all to do with whether its the best product or not.
infact im going to conduct a bit of a survey...
Have you ever held a Leica? If you had you'd know why they're so expensive - instead of being stamped out of sheet metal as most cameras were, they're milled out of a solid billet of aluminium. That makes them solid - really solid. These cameras were designed to be used by photojournalists in the toughest conditions imaginable without ever going wrong,
ever.
The lenses are still regarded as the best available and are the benchmark by which all others are judged to this day - the 50mm f/2 Summicron is the sharpest lens ever made - by
anyone.
It's less a matter of presige than tools for the job - when Angus McBean began doing theatre photography, his employers bought him a Leica as it was at that time, the quietest camera available due to the rubberised silk shutter.
It's also less obtrusive than an SLR - since it appears more like a compact 'cheapo' camera, you can get away with using it in situations where a full-on Pro Kit might get you in trouble - Nepal, Indonesia, Baghdad etc. Claiming you're a tourist might keep you alive in some trouble spots.
Agreed the demise of film means that an M6 just isn't worth £1200 to
most people, but there are still guys out there using film to record stuff that isn't for immediate use. Take a look at 8 Magazine (
www.foto8.com ) and see for yourselves. If I was going to spend six months in a rainforest photographing indigenous tribesmen, I'd take my Nikon F5 and the Leica M6 instead of all my digi cameas, laptops and sat-comms kit. I know I can carry enough batteries for the both of them, whereas the other kit? Maybe if I knew I'd be based in a village with a generator, but otherwise?
I know I can rely on these cameras to deliver the goods time and time again - whereas with digital? I've already had dramas with one of my D2x bodies, who's to say that extended damp conditions over a six month period wouldn't kill them both? And with electronics, if they go down, that's it. I can repair the Leica at a pinch (I met a guy in southern Afghanistan who can build you a replica of a Leica M6 in 48 hours - no duff. They also make any weapon known to man there...for a small fee) wherever I may be, but a digi camera?
Finally, in response to the above point you make: why would you ask people
outside photography who makes the best camera? How the Hell would
they know?
I don't know who makes the best Tennis Racket, but I'm sure that a Pro Tennis Player does...