Interview with Dr. Andreas Kaufmann
Another article from Reddotforum worth mentioning – an interview with Dr. Andreas Kaufmann (Chairman of the Board of Leica). Here are the most interesting points/quotes:
- The first Leitz Café outside of Wetzlar opened just a few weeks ago in Bangkok, and there is interest in opening up a few more Leitz Hotels in Japan.
- Leitzpark 4 is coming and will focus more on education and community building.
- “Have you seen the new Panasonic S1? I counted 21 buttons. Leica design philosophy is quite different. We are focused on just the essential elements of photography. Aperture, shutter, ISO. Additional options can be addressed in the menu, but we prefer the clean approach. You can see this in all of our camera designs.”
- Leica L-Mount lenses will work better on a Leica SL body rather than, say a Panasonic S1 body (performance might still be best with a Leica camera body).
- Leica Q was a huge success. Leica planned to sell only 7500. They sold ten times that.
- “We will have a mirrored, DSLR-style S camera for at least the next 3-5 years. After that, we’ll see. The optical viewfinder has a 3D quality that an EVF lacks.”
- The SL lenses could probably go to 60 or 80 MP.
- The challenge with M and people my age is not one of focusing, but one of seeing a small rectangle. This is why so many use M lenses on the SL, so they can focus on the large, bright EVF. Maybe this gives an idea of what might be done in a future M (a new Leica M camera with EVF has been rumored for a while)
- Dr. Andreas Kaufmann’s final words: “Can’t complain with business. We are making money and continue to make the products which we believe in. Things are good at Leica.”
Read the full interview at Reddotforum (on the wrist of Dr. Kaufmann you can see the new Leica watch).
