Interview with Dr. Andreas Kaufman

To the video producer of this “thing”: be careful on how your subject is “on camera”, how his hands are for example ( Doctor was “holding” that lens between his legs like…) Ah, you get the point!

Because Leica is only concerned with page views they allow faux-news-style interviews with people like Overgaard. Outside of Leica and the Church of Scientology no one knows Overgaard. More importantly, no one cares.

Does Leica marketing understand how bad it looks to be interviewed by Scientologists?

It’s a camera for artists or those who want to be artists and pros…. Well, for the prices of them now, I’m guessing they only artists/wannabe’s will be buying used.
As to the interview, ‘fluff-piece’ comes to mind – basically useless – at least from a marketing standpoint. Well, it’s nice to know he didn’t have a Leica camera until 2003. I wonder if that fact has hampered his understanding of the brand from a user standpoint? Oh well.

She reminds me of Effie Trinket from The Hunger Games (the over-made up woman who escorts the tributes). Useless fluff.

Forget her… he’s holding a “prototype” monochrom. Is it in the new M?

Leica should have this video clip pulled immediately. First, Dr. Kaufman’s hand placement and continual fondling the camera lens and pointing the lens at the video camera only leads one to think he might suffer from Leica lens envy. Second, the interviewer was laughable and she clearly never set foot in front of a camera in her life. Nor should she be allowed again. Last, Mr. Overgaard is obviously an amateur videographer and producer. Leica needs to give him the heave ho. If Leica PR department had anything to do with approving this clip or if the good Dr Kaufman saw the product, he should have them all shot at sunrise or if that is not PC, fire them.

I commented the other day that if Leica wants to REALLY market their products to pro’s and such, they should look at Sony’s Nex-6 ‘Into Alaska’ video with still captures; I try and be nice about Leica now-a-days, even though it’s obvious they can’t market their way out of a paper bag. The Sony video is well done, and the guys using the equipment are actually USING the camera in the piece.
Enough of Kaufmann already – he is what is – a very wealthy man who never even had a Leica in his hands until 2003. Even if well intended, he doesn’t seem to know how to go about marketing the product of the company he controls. That’s pretty amazing when you get down to it. They really want to gain a ‘bigger’ share of the market? Well, anything’s possible, but to what end, and to what purpose? All the best – but I have to admit it’s hard to see where they’re going.

Just another actress/singer/model who hasn’t gotten her “big break” (and probably never will) and has turned to the Internet to try and scare up some faux fame using every technique she can think of.

Look at those awful photos Leica’s been using to promote the new ‘M’. They clearly have no clue how to market themselves properly, but then they really haven’t since the late 1960s, when the Japanese camera companies began to spank them badly in sales.

By the 1970s, they fell badly behind as the Japanese embraced electronic control systems (the future). Leica, meanwhile, sucked at electronic innovation and finally turned to Minolta (now Panasonic) to help them.

Then, by the last decade of the 20th century they turned up their noses at digital, a move that almost led them to bankruptcy in 2004.

This is a company philosophically stuck in the 1950s. If they want a bigger share of the market, then they better get into the 21st century. Otherwise, they will remain a boutique manufacturer of photographic ‘jewelry’. Nothing wrong with that, per se ― it’s working for them at the moment ― but it won’t gain them a bigger share of the market.

This is the worst thing I have ever seen. I’d rather watch one of those ten hour annoying videos on youtube. Quite honestly Thorsten and crew are glorified beginners. Their only claim to fame is great marketing targeted in the right place (for them)

Everyone should read this: http://aphotocontributor.typepad.com/aphotocontributor/2012/07/the-dilettante-and-the-red-dot.html

. . . . and I thought it was all rather good fun. Thank You Thorsten and Joy.

For whatever Dr Kaufman’s wealth and background, you need to give him and Leica credit for bringing the company back from the brink of bankruptcy. He and its leadership turned the company around, started bringing new products to market, made Leica profitable and even took the company private. I suspect Dr Kaufman will continue to move to his and his private investors own drum while making great cameras and lenses for the world to make great images. Leica has it own niche and we should be happy the company is still in business and moving forward. As for the useless and absurd interview, now that is a disaster that can and should be addressed quickly to minimize its negative PR.

1) Terrible bad: Sound, Camera/iphone operator and Interviewer.

2) Leica was not saved from bankruptcy by Dr. Kaufmann but by Monsieur Jean-Louis Dumas from Hermes (France).

3) If Gero was still at Leica as the head of PR this photog would never had the chance to produce this crap, or at least, to release it.

4) This video is trully BAD, but if you really want to get BAD Feedback to almost anything just post at Leica Rumors… What an audience! (including me!)

I stopped following Leica with interest & awe a while back, when they released that M Monochrome camera – to me it was a massively corporate company laughing in the face of it’s “admirers” and customers, by releasing an average camera that jokingly would only capture a B&W image. seriously guys, use the B&W setting on your M8, M9 etc, to ask for £5K+ for this is a joke and taking the p*ss out of it’s customers, why? because they can get away with it and people will wet themselves because “it’s just like an old M6 camera with Tri-x”……….NO it’s not, you can put COLOUR film in an M6.

To me Leica’s legacy died when they started bringing out digital iterations of their M series cameras. Never has a camera company had so many people drooling & for wanting a product than Leica, but why ask yourself? Their sensor technology is vastly inferior to the majority of camera manufacturers out there, their lenses are hideously over priced, especially when you can get match results from Zeiss etc, but people don’t see that as all they see is “Must Have Leica” because it’s supposed to be the best camera ever. Sorry but What Fuji have done in the last 2 years is leaps & bounds above Leica’s digital development, why you ask? because Fuji listen to their customers, constantly release firmware updates addressing users comments & issues with their products, they are priced for all to afford, they are not snobs nor have they ever pretended to be so, they are innovative and forward pushing. How many professional photographer’s use a Leica M on commercial assignments? hardly any…why? because they are not up to it, all the pics you see are bad street photography from amateur rich OAPs thinking that by buying a Leica they will be able to produce photos like Henri Cartier Bresson. Yea I used to want a Leica, but I finally realised that a camera that costs more than your average second hand car is not going to make you a good photographer, yes they look nice, but so does £5,000 in my bank account. Wake up people!!!!

Rant over.