Leica APO 77 - replacement? (1 Viewer)

Does anyone have any idea when the Leica APO 77 is going to be upgraded/replaced? Andy mentioned is wasn't that far off last October.

thanks

how long is a piece of string? - seriously though, dont hold your breath.

with all this info coming in about financial troubles at leica, wich i hope isnt true! - a new scope may be the last thing on there mind. no doubt they have been looking to replace it for a while now, to stay at the top of there tree, but i have yet to see any prototype as of yet.

if they are planning to bring a new one out, i will sell my APO 77 to a fellow BF member at a knock down price.....only 9 month old too!

Leica replacement

salty said:

how long is a piece of string? - seriously though, dont hold your breath.

with all this info coming in about financial troubles at leica, wich i hope isnt true! - a new scope may be the last thing on there mind. no doubt they have been looking to replace it for a while now, to stay at the top of there tree, but i have yet to see any prototype as of yet.

if they are planning to bring a new one out, i will sell my APO 77 to a fellow BF member at a knock down price.....only 9 month old too!

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I suspect that, given the huge response, you are right - we must keep holding our breath!
thanks

It's certainly true, Richie:
http://www.leica-camera.com/unternehmen/presse/data/04272/index_e.html

How on earth does a brand-leading company like Leica get into a situation like this? I've heard of firms spending too much on R&D and not concentrating enough on sales, but I wouldn't have thought Leica guilty of that.

Bluetail said:

It's certainly true, Richie:
http://www.leica-camera.com/unternehmen/presse/data/04272/index_e.html

How on earth does a brand-leading company like Leica get into a situation like this? I've heard of firms spending too much on R&D and not concentrating enough on sales, but I wouldn't have thought Leica guilty of that.

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I presume it is because of the digital revolution, since everyone is migrating to digital, and Leica don't have a decent product. By all accounts their forthcoming digital back has problems.

Leif

Leif said:

By all accounts their forthcoming digital back has problems.

Leif

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'Minor refinements' to the software, apparently... :eek!:

But a loss of half its registered share capital? And no one saw it coming?

what's wrong with the one at the moment?

despite Zeiss' constant introduction of new bins they are still to better the 7 x 42 in my (and several other owners of these bins) eyes...

cant see them making £900 worth of improvements...

Tim

Tim Allwood said:

what's wrong with the one at the moment?

despite Zeiss' constant introduction of new bins they are still to better the 7 x 42 in my (and several other owners of these bins) eyes...

cant see them making £900 worth of improvements...

Tim

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The current scope is lovely. But maybe they think they should compete with Swaro et al by making it lighter and shorter and able to take astro eyepieces. A rotating eyepiece holder would be nice but I doubt anyone has plans for one.

Leif

Leif said:

The current scope is lovely. But maybe they think they should compete with Swaro et al by making it lighter and shorter and able to take astro eyepieces. A rotating eyepiece holder would be nice but I doubt anyone has plans for one.

Leif

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its odd that Leica's 62 competes well, you would have thought that they could do the same with the 77 hey ho.

I note that the Leica ultrvid x32 have had the price cut to 769 on w/e

Leif said:

I presume it is because of the digital revolution, since everyone is migrating to digital, and Leica don't have a decent product. ...Leif

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The problem is, camerawise, Leica has always been behind. They were behind with SLRs, autofocus, zoom lenses, to name just a few. And with respect to weight as well. All of this because they only wanted to provide the best, most reliable equipment. For a long time, they somehow managed to soldier on by appealing to the older more conservative minded (with respect to technology, of course) wealthy clientele. But with the present speed of technical developments (and change in attitudes to some degree) they have never managed to catch up again. Even though they did employ the help of others like Minolta, if I remember correctly.

As far as other product lines go, they have done much better, fortunately. But when I wrote them in 1999 suggesting to come out with a smaller version of a spotting scope, they reacted like there was no need for one. At the time, only Nikon had a top line waterproof small scope (the Fieldscope EDIII), and I was not impressed with the only zoom eyepiece available at that time. So I suggested Leica could do better with their resources. Well, in the end, they were the last ones out. And with Nikon having improved on their zoom eyepiece, there was no real need any more to switch to Leica's small APO62. (It's a different story for those who did not already have a small travel scope.)

pduxon said:

its odd that Leica's 62 competes well, you would have thought that they could do the same with the 77 hey ho.

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The 77 is still a superb scope. And those who need a lighter one might opt for the 62. I guess, Leica figured the market potential for a lighter 77 (or up) type to be too small at the time. They may think differently now, but maybe the money is not there anymore in the present situation?