Mitch Alland Offline Upload & Sell: Off
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Michael,
Actually, Ricoh Camera is a small company owned by a large — or is it mid-sized? — office equipment manufacturer. Ricoh Camera has to "eat what they kill", but perhaps got funding from the large Ricoh parent company for the Pentax acquisition. The production of all their cameras is in China, as far as I know on a batch OEM basis. As Leica could arrange Chinese OEM production on their own, I don't see why they would partner with Ricoh Camera. Although one could argue that Ricoh Camera could benefit from a tie-up involving the Leica brand name, that is much less compelling after the Pentax acquisition. Indeed, in my view such a move would only complicate the digestion process by Ricoh Camera of Pentax.
All this is why I don't think Tariq's argument that "the reason is money" rings true. While it may be true that Leica "needs a partner", it's hard to see that a Japanese camera manufacturer needs Leica — Ricoh Camera doesn't, and neither does Nikon, Canon, Sony, Fujifilm, or even Panasonic at this stage. And I am not sure that Leica needs a partner. Leica needs good management, which it hasn't had for a long time, but may now have — I simply don't know.
On the GRD4, it's a great camera and could be what you need, particularly if you are interested in street photography, for which the huge depth of field and the 28mm and 21mm depths of field are useful. Although I've mainly shot B&W with the GRD cameras, I like the color that one can get from it, of which below are some GRD3 examples, shot in the seaside town of Pak Nam Pran. (By the away, having bought a GRD4, I;m trying to get around to selling my GRD3, but also have a GRD2, with the 21mm and 40mm lenses that I still haven't gotten around to selling.)
http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4116/4819178209_70c70b373f_b.jpg
http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4142/4886828734_3f7001b587_b.jpg
http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4137/4824944883_545ca1e4d8_b.jpg
http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4073/4884144017_c34b918172_b.jpg
http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4120/4891819585_de7d721e4a_b.jpg
—Mitch/Bangkok
Paris ay rytme de Basquait
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