I was at a shoot the other day and a friend of mine who has also been deep into Leicas for a number of years told me he was going to sell all his Leica SL gear. It made sense. I’ve watched his work evolve over the years and it seemed clear that he was outgrowing that system — which is really saying something, since the SL is an advanced $7k interchangeable lens camera. I asked him what he was thinking of getting instead and he said, “probably Nikon or Canon.” And that, I thought, was interesting. The choice between Nikon and Canon is decidedly old school, workmanlike and practical.
How, I wondered, do two old brands like Nikon and Canon continue to figure out how to be the choice for the growing photographers? And how does Leica continue not to?
Essentialism
At its core, the Leica way is the German way: it’s essentialism. This is the idea of having only what you need, but just as importantly, nothing you don’t. It’s how Germans build most things of note: their cars, watches, even eyeglasses. It’s minimalistic functionality. And that’s an idea that is timeless — until it starts to annoy people. BMWs, for many years, didn’t have cup holders because they believed people should just focus on driving when they were driving. Eventually, though, they put cup holders in, because coffee, as it turns out, is also essential.
A camera is a camera, it takes pictures. And the essentialist mindset will always question how little one needs to get that job done, while still iterating on the quality level…
