Leica as a fashion accessory in Bangkok

Michael, I am sure there are online photography forums in Bangkok. Maybe that is a place you can reach out to more fellow photography enthusiast.
 
passing through Bangkok ( if I had more time sure I'd have contacted you, Michael, hoping for a meet up ) I could not help but notice that a new Leica store just opened, I believe April 2016, at the Gaysorn Plaza, a luxury departement store:

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and now they get free adverticing by me right here :)
There is a section with used gear too, a handful of bodies and some 20+ lenses, but no price tags. No tags nor descriptions at all, which, as I am not up to date with Leica bodies, I'd have appreciated.
 
kuuan said:
passing through Bangkok ( if I had more time sure I'd have contacted you, Michael, hoping for a meet up ) I could not help but notice that a new Leica store just opened at the Gaysorn Plaza, a luxury departement store.
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Gotta give it to Leica: while other camera companies like Nikon are at the brink of bankruptcy, Leica is posting record sales. They must be doing something right!
 
I've been out of the digital Leica fold for some time now. Just wondering, do they have a smart phone app like Nikon and Canon do, where you can take a picture with your Leica digital camera and send it to your smartphone (for Facebooking, Snapchatting, Twittering, etc.)?

I would think that would bring more young people into the fold.
 
giganova said:
Gotta give it to Leica: while other camera companies like Nikon are at the brink of bankruptcy, Leica is posting record sales. They must be doing something right!
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believe me I am anything but a nationalist, but now I can't help but note that it was a countryman of mine, an Austrian, Mr. Andreas Kaufmann who had bought Leica, saved it from bankruptcy and made it prosper..oh, and he is an Andreas too ;)
cheers, andreas
 
Just wait until they try taking a selfie or asking their mates to snap a shot off with an RF patch to focus! Most of the Thai girls I see never venture beyond that level.
 
giganova said:
Each time I visit Tokyo I am amazed how many girls are dangling film Leicas around their necks. Its the antithesis to cell phone selfies. I love it!
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I saw quite a number of female film camera users on John Sypal's blog, "Tokyo Camera Style" too.
 
kuuan said:
passing through Bangkok ( if I had more time sure I'd have contacted you, Michael, hoping for a meet up ) I could not help but notice that a new Leica store just opened, I believe April 2016, at the Gaysorn Plaza, a luxury departement store:

and now they get free adverticing by me right here :)
There is a section with used gear too, a handful of bodies and some 20+ lenses, but no price tags. No tags nor descriptions at all, which, as I am not up to date with Leica bodies, I'd have appreciated.
Click to expand...

Yes, that store just opened. They had a really big grand opening June 15th and one of our RFF members (LeicaShot aka Kristian Dowling) had his photos up and conducted a talk and a special workshop the following day. I was just at the shop yesterday to meet up with some of my friends, the prices are a little higher than the other stores in Bangkok that carry Leica, that said, it is nice that they opened up the store.

I spoke to a good friend who is well connected to the store, the owners and the official Leica distributors in Thailand and I asked my friend how can they survive when there are other stores in Bangkok that sell Leica gear for cheaper. My friend explained to me that they cater to a special market in Bangkok. He explained to me how the business works and I sort of understand it now. I guess the same could be said for most "official Leica stores" worldwide, I imagine that there are other stores in the same cities as official Leica stores that offer slightly cheaper prices.

I am not one of their "target customers", and I don't really get involved in that whole business aspect, nor do I understand it fully and I am OK with that. I am more of a shooter and I am not willing to go into one of those stores and pay the prices that they are asking. I prefer to spend my money on traveling, film and good times.

cheers, michael
 
michaelbialecki said:
Yes, that store just opened. They had a really big grand opening June 15th and one of our RFF members (LeicaShot aka Kristian Dowling) had his photos up and conducted a talk and a special workshop the following day. I was just at the shop yesterday to meet up with some of my friends, the prices are a little higher than the other stores in Bangkok that carry Leica, that said, it is nice that they opened up the store.

I spoke to a good friend who is well connected to the store, the owners and the official Leica distributors in Thailand and I asked my friend how can they survive when there are other stores in Bangkok that sell Leica gear for cheaper. My friend explained to me that they cater to a special market in Bangkok. He explained to me how the business works and I sort of understand it now. I guess the same could be said for most "official Leica stores" worldwide, I imagine that there are other stores in the same cities as official Leica stores that offer slightly cheaper prices.

I am not one of their "target customers", and I don't really get involved in that whole business aspect, nor do I understand it fully and I am OK with that. I am more of a shooter and I am not willing to go into one of those stores and pay the prices that they are asking. I prefer to spend my money on traveling, film and good times.

cheers, michael
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I was at Leica Store NYC the other day with my fiancee and a young Chinese couple was buying an enormous amount of gear (M-P 240 with evf, grip, case and thumbie, Noctilux and 35lux FLE in Silver, 90 APO cron, Oberworth bag).

Now I've owned these lenses but only after soul-search and haggling extensively for the best deals and going for demo copies...and certainly not paid NYC-level sales taxes for them.

With one of these sales a day I think official stores are going to do just fine...
 
YYV_146 said:
I was at Leica Store NYC the other day with my fiancee and a young Chinese couple was buying an enormous amount of gear (M-P 240 with evf, grip, case and thumbie, Noctilux and 35lux FLE in Silver, 90 APO cron, Oberworth bag).

Now I've owned these lenses but only after soul-search and haggling extensively for the best deals and going for demo copies...and certainly not paid NYC-level sales taxes for them.

With one of these sales a day I think official stores are going to do just fine...
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I wonder, will Leica stray too far from the path of providing good functional practical cameras for the photographer or will they resign themselves to mere producers of rich-people bling?

Then again, a rangefinder isn't the most practical camera to start with...
 
Hern said:
I wonder, will Leica stray too far from the path of providing good functional practical cameras for the photographer or will they resign themselves to mere producers of rich-people bling?

Then again, a rangefinder isn't the most practical camera to start with...
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I don't think functionality and bling appeal are mutually exclusive. Cost might be proportional to luxury but luxury is arbitrary to practicality.

I've seen a lot of Leicas lately, all of them touted by young Chinese with mainland accents at tourist sites. I would imagine the demographic has changed a lot. Yet to see anyone actually take a photo with one.
 
Interesting, Michael, thanks for your observations. Good to think the young ladies will learn their new gear and make some photos.

Before this week I'd not been in a Leica store, though I've bought online from Leica Store Miami. This past Monday, however, I found my way to the Leica Store in an upscale suburb of Seattle, next door to the Apple Store. Interestingly, it looked just like Kuuan's pics of the Bangkok store!

I had some gear for them to send to New Jersey for service, and they were helpful and surprisingly knowledgeable about the technology, more detailed than usual for salesfolk.
 
In Los Angeles the Leica Store has the same prices as the regular camera stores, but it is a much nicer experience, with very friendly staff who know what they are talking about and will bend over backwards to help.
 
Hern said:
I wonder, will Leica stray too far from the path of providing good functional practical cameras for the photographer or will they resign themselves to mere producers of rich-people bling?

Then again, a rangefinder isn't the most practical camera to start with...
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Hi,

It's the other way round; the rich people's bling becomes the good functional camera for the photographer about 6 months to a year later on. Well, that's how I get mine and it's a system that works even better six years after the rich buy them.

Regards, David
 
David Hughes said:
Hi,

It's the other way round; the rich people's bling becomes the good functional camera for the photographer about 6 months to a year later on. Well, that's how I get mine and it's a system that works even better six years after the rich buy them.

Regards, David
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You're welcome David!

:p
 
Didn't anybody notice that they were holding those cameras properly? I'd say good luck to them. If I were younger I would be asking for telephone numbers.
 
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