Leica buys majority share of Sinar

[tim atherton]

or something like that... my German is nowhere good enough to figure out the details, but it appears they bought out Jenoptik's share (unless I'm getting it back to front....)

[tim atherton]

ahh - in English

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/...ica_Camera.php

[Kirk Gittings]

I am curious as to what this means in terms of their long range view of where the profitability of photography is at.

[Frank Petronio]

Anything to battle the evil monsters at Zeiss...

[CXC]

Who buys new Sinar equipment anymore? For that matter, who buys new Leicas anymore? I gotta believe that both those markets are pretty dried up. Not helped by the fact that they built two of the most reliable, long-lived, overpriced cameras around -- hold your breath for Linhof...

[Ted Harris]

Don't forget that it is not E. Leitz we are talking about here but the Leica spinoff that was accquired by a group of private investors several years ago ... if my memory is correct.

[Joseph O'Neil]

Anything to battle the evil monsters at Zeiss...

Hey Frank, I love Zeiss optics - I depend on them every day of my life. My prescription eyeglasses are all Zeiss. Hellva difference between them and your one hour eyeglass store.

For that matter, Rodenstock and Nikon both make excellent prescription eyeglasses. Before I went Zeiss, all my eyeglasses were Rodenstock. I thought it was pretty cool to shoot 4x5, knowing i had Rodenstock optics on *both* sides of the ground glass.

joe

[tim atherton]

I am curious as to what this means in terms of their long range view of where the profitability of photography is at.

digital? The digital aspects of Sinar I would guess (I think Jenoptik also has some kind of thing going with Leicas digital sensors...)

[David A. Goldfarb]

I suspect the people buying new Sinars are the ones who sell guys like me their old Sinars. Indeed there was a P2 on the stand at the commercial studio where I picked up my 8x10" P. I suppose it helps to have the manufacturer's rep stopping by to talk up the new gizmos, pick up items for service, and such.

[Oren Grad]

I wonder also whether Leica might be thinking of trying its hand at glass for larger formats, perhaps the sub-645 sensors that you might put on an F3/P3, or for the Sinar m. The idea would be to internalize more of the value chain by displacing Linos/Rodenstock, Zeiss and Schneider as suppliers of Sinar-labeled lenses.