[Leica] Leica donation to students

[jklu at sas.upenn.edu (Jeffrey Lu)]

I agree with Karen here.  As a student who's attended a couple of those 
elite schools and still is stuck in one, I've had many friends who 
could rather easily afford Leica gear.  And most see more logic in a 
set of spinning rims than a body+2 lenses+100 rolls of film.  My status 
on these campuses has always been more defined by my car than my 
photos.

As for the prospects of film, my current photo class was on the verge 
of being cancelled (and it's a sizeable school), and as for the people 
taking these classes: everyone (even my professors) has been stunned to 
hear that I consistently shoot more than 3~4 rolls/week and even more 
so when informed that the trend existed during summer.  My Leica gear 
is interesting for a couple minutes to a few, but I suspect, to others, 
it makes me a bit of an ass.

Jeff

On Sep 26, 2004, at 11:33 AM, Karen Nakamura wrote:

>> I don't know about your students, but I have students who would sell
>> their boyfriend/girlfriend to be able to own a Leica. In fact my most
>> "successful" student thus far - he is now signed up with one of the
>> agencies, shoots major league baseball, and on and on and on - 
>> scrimped
>> and saved and bought himself a used M 6 and a couple Cosina lenses. 
>> And
>> he's not some pie-in-the-sky nutty art student; his main cameras are
>> Canon EOS digitals.
>
> My students are pretty cheap -- they steal TacoBell   "salsa" packets 
> to put on their 99cent Walmart-brand spaghetti noodles and call it 
> spaghetii marinara.  But I think they're typical of 90% of the the 
> general undergraduate population.  The *truly* dedicated will get a 
> Leica, but that population was already sold. How do you reach the 
> not-so-dedicated?
>
> I don't think that price is the main problem. After all, they can 
> always get an M3 for $900 or an M6 TTL for $1500.  The used Leica 
> market is effectively the equivalent of what people are talking about 
> here.  I don't think that Leica can sell an M7 for $1500 and survive. 
> The same with the lenses.  I have to admit I haven't bought any Leica 
> lenses new. Why buy them for $3000 when you can get them near-mint on 
> the LUG for $1000?  Or an equivalent Cosina for $400?  The economics 
> are truly gloomy for Leica but discounting won't help them.
>
> We're assuming that students don't have access to ebay, where Leica 
> prices have plummeted in the past year. This might have flown 5 years 
> ago, but I don't see it flying right now.
>
> The example of your student only proves the point. He bought a used 
> Leica and bought Cosina lenses. Net profit for Leica: $0.  If he had 
> bought a for-cost Leica and for-cost Leica lens, net profit for Leica: 
> -$1000 (or so, whatever we decide overhead is).  If your student  goes 
> out and buys an M7 and Summilux 50mm and 35mm  within the next year, 
> maybe.
>
> But that's just one anecdote (along with Ted's donation of a camera) 
> involving the apocryphal super-dedicated student. These are pretty 
> rare occasions.  Even if I told my students that they could get a 
> Leica + lens for $1500 each, I doubt more than one would sign up. Most 
> would shrug. The rather-dedicated would rather get a EOS Digital Rebel 
> with lens for $1000. The non-dedicated would get a used Canon FD for 
> $100 and spend $900 on an iPod and other toys. That's the reality of 
> this generation.
>
> Sorry to be a downer.
>
> Karen
>
> -- 
> Karen Nakamura
> http://www.photoethnography.com/ClassicCameras/
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