[Leica] decline in LUG membership

[bdcolen at earthlink.net (B. D. Colen)]

Speaking of upheavals - You can now find 'new in box' Nikon F5s for
about $1200. What does THAT tell you about the present and future of
film?

-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
Thinkofcole@aol.com
Sent: Thursday, August 12, 2004 2:57 PM
To: lug@leica-users.org
Subject: [Leica] decline in LUG membership



After a week-long business trip to New Jersey, a visit to  several
camera 
stores and camera repair shops plus a visit to the  Second Sunday Camera
Show in 
Wayne, N.J., I am convinced that not only LUG  membership is affected
but 
almost every aspect of the camera business except  digital. Kodak's
forthcoming 
departure from several key film businesses should  make this assessment
even 
more certain. 
  I found a Korean-owned camera store in Ft. Lee, NJ, and an
American-owned 
camera store in Palisades Park, NJ  both closed. A  big,
long-established 
American-owned camera store in Hackensack, NJ, is  moving to Englewood,
NJ. Two 
Korean-owned camera repair shops are no longer  buying cameras for parts
because 
of big inventory and no demand. A big, long  established American-owned 
camera stores in my new home of Asheville, North  Carolina, is cutting
the size of 
its store in half. All of this suggests to me a  big upheaval in sales. 
  A local Walmart in Asheville no longer even offers one-hour
developing, 
probably because demand is too low. The main one-hour places in
Asheville now 
-- which often takes two hours --are the drug-store chains  and K-Mart.
{Of 
course, Walmart stores in other cities still offer one-hour  service.]
  Kodak's end of 120 format will affect Rolleiflex and other 2x2 TTL
reflex 
cameras,  although there should be enough other brands around for a  few

years. Its end of 135 -- other than Kodachrome -- will affect all 35mm
cameras, 
although here again there should be other brands around for a long
while, 
basically Fuji. Kodak's end of sheet film will affect Speed Graphic,
Crown 
Graffic, Linhof and other classic sheet-film cameras. 
  Like 8mm Bolex cameras, many classic cameras will no longer bring
premium 
prices anywhere because no film will soon be available without a lot of

trouble looking for it. 
  As for Leica, Nikon and a few other special situations, the vast
majority 
of the users are only the ones already in the market -- the
professionals, 
the collectors, the wealthy and a few handfuls of guys and gals  that
absolutely 
love to own and use the best there is.
  On one hand, many camera dealers in some cities appear to be  willing
to 
accept far less for older Leica cameras and lenses because they  are
dead [or 
almost dead] stock. On the other hand, many Leica dealers are  still
very 
active, suggesting that the market is still there. At the Second  Sunday
Camera 
Show, I saw a suit-case-full of used Leicas and Leica copies for  sale
and when I 
tried to get a look, a major buyer said that he had already  bought them
all 
for a big Manhattan store. 
   What does it all mean? To me it means that except for digital  and
except 
for a handful of major cities --like New York -- the camera business  is
slow, 
very slow and in lots of places, no longer what it used to be. 
   As for professional photographers, my daughter  in Minneapolis, who 
occasionally models for local photographer friends,  told me that one
professional 
photographer friend there has  lost business with at least one customer
because 
the customer has been  buying stock photographs from a local company for
far 
less money rather  than pay heavily for a whole crew to provide special
stuff. 
  Unfortunately for buyers, except in the bigger cities, where prices
are 
more reasonable, private sellers are looking for double or triple
current  
values and it will take at least a year or two for the word to trickle
down --  if 
then -- that the market has shrunk considerably.  For sellers, I believe
they 
will have to study carefully whether to stock up on this or that model.
I  
hope I haven't offended anyone in what I've said. --bob  cole
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