Re: Leica M11-V to be announced (Now called Leica M EV1)
johnvanr wrote: retrofocus wrote: dalegaspi wrote: retrofocus wrote: wolfloid wrote:
Let’s hope another company sees an opportunity and steals a march on this moribund, and complacent company.
As I said here a few weeks ago: my hope is on another Chinese company to see an opportunity here. With this high price margin given by Leica, it offers now a nice niche to offer something similar for 1/4th or even less of this price (even if it is "only" a 24 MP FF sensor for example, I would be okay with it).
I also don't like what Leica is doing at the moment for a lot of things...like, spending thousands (if not millions) of $$$ on sponsoring a bunch of YouTubers to preview a product so they can go on their respective channels and literally say with a straight face in their "review" videos that they are "not influenced" by Leica ...but calling on just _any_ Chinese company to create a competing product at a fraction of the price is not something I will just get behind... _unless_ that Chinese (or any country for that matter) can truly create a compelling competing product...because for the most parts, a lot of the Chinese companies create products with compromises...even with their "high end" products.
Pixii is actually _almost there_ for me...and their dedication to their business model that serve the needs of their customers...but there are certain design decisions on their actual products are deal-breakers for me...like the no screen, internal-only storage, and especially the electronic-only shutter...if they improve at least the last one for me by using a sensor with a fast readout (a la Z9/Z8) then maybe they have a real shot and is already ahead of the curve than most.
Look at the M lenses made by TTArtisan, 7Artisans DJ Optical etc etc - all very well made with metal, optically good, many of them in >90% similar in quality to 10x more expensive Leica M lenses. Yes I expect compromises for a much lower price - but the EV1 is a purely electronic camera, no rangefinder based mechanical parts - I believe a Chinese company can quite easily copy an EV1, put a cheaper FF sensor in maybe even with a less high resolving EVF but still more than good enough. I think this would be a very attractive package for many.
Funny that always the Pixii is brought up when this is mentioned - main culprit is that it is much too pricey for what it offers! It is a failure. I don't think any western based company will be able to build and sell an EV1-like camera for much cheaper - they are all done here. Government-supported Chinese companies are IMO the only ones up for this potential task. And I say this as not being a Chinese product fan per se - but I admit that they are doing things no other country is able to do anymore.
Wasn’t it lensrentals that concluded that the Chinese lenses aren’t that well built?
I’m sure the Chinese could also undercut the other brands, but there must be a reason that hasn’t happened yet.
I am not following lensrentals, but this likely derives from a time when the first Chinese M lenses were released. Many of them had some minor issues which were corrected in later versions. Modern Versions are actually very good both in built and optical quality - but it also meant that due to higher demand for many of them the price went up (still a lot cheaper than Leica M). Light Lens Lab is one example which specializes on remaking vintage Leica M lenses in very good quality. I think they already undercut the market but to which degree I don't know. I only see and read that many M photographers are using them
Oct 26, 2025 at 05:04 PM
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