Leica latest prices

Denis K · Aug 19, 2009

I notices that B&H is now listing new prices at least for Leica's lenses. I was considering a lens purchase for my M6TTL but based on what I saw I think I may have made my last purchase of a new Leica item. I hate to say that, because my actions can only hasten the end, but in the current economic environment there needs to be a limit. Leica, it was nice to know you...

Denis K

Kvistgaard · Aug 19, 2009

Weren't new Leica lenses always out of reach?

Jeff Kubach · Aug 19, 2009

Even the old ones were out of reach!

Jeff

Tim Gray · Aug 19, 2009

There were some 'deals' to be had earlier in the year when the pound tanked compared to the dollar. There was a 15% rebate going on too over there and you could actually pick up a 50 ASPH Summilux for less than $2k! That's 'cheap'. haha.

I just buy used.

david b · Aug 19, 2009

I just received the latest Freestyle catalog and it has the M7 and the MP listed for $4400. No matter the brand, this is simply outrageous for a 35mm camera.

Andrew Moxom · Aug 19, 2009

Agreed.....I'd buy a Mamiya 7II and a lens or two and beat the pants off the Leica for that money

Sirius Glass · Aug 19, 2009

And then one can buy used. Can you say B&H or KEH?

Steve

Jeff Kubach · Aug 19, 2009

Sirius Glass said:
And then one can buy used. Can you say B&H or KEH?

Steve

Which is true. I love to have one, but right now, I'm so broke I can hardly pay attention!

Jeff

Sirius Glass · Aug 19, 2009

Jeff Kubach said:
Which is true. I love to have one, but right now, I'm so broke I can hardly pay attention!

Jeff

Get over it, someone has to stimulate the economy!

Steve

Denis K · Aug 19, 2009

Sirius Glass said:
And then one can buy used. Can you say B&H or KEH?

Steve

Granted most of the price increase is the elimination of the rebate, but this raises the walk-away price nonetheless. As for your comment about buying used, I can only say I am, or should be, one of Leica's important target audiences for new sales. I'm an engineer by profession and thus should have sufficient disposable income to allocate to their products. I should fall in the broad base of their market, instead of the rarified few who frequently purchase in the $30K - $40K level. These extremely high end customer are too few and far between to justify building a market for them alone. However, if they lose their base then that will put them in a real box. I'm usually the cannery in the coal mine when it comes to manufacturers pricing themselves out of the market. I'm not price sensitive so long as I feel there is adequate perceived quality to justify their prices in my mind; but of course there is a limit. I'm often amazed how often it is that when I finally throw in the towel on a company due to their pricing policy and then see them go under shortly afterwards. Leica needs people to purchase new as well as used to support the resale value of their products. Well see?

Denis K

Sirius Glass · Aug 19, 2009

Denis K said:
Granted most of the price increase is the elimination of the rebate, but this raises the walk-away price nonetheless. As for your comment about buying used, I can only say I am, or should be, one of Leica's important target audiences for new sales. I'm an engineer by profession and thus should have sufficient disposable income to allocate to their products. I should fall in the broad base of their market, instead of the rarified few who frequently purchase in the $30K - $40K level. These extremely high end customer are too few and far between to justify building a market for them alone. However, if they lose their base then that will put them in a real box. I'm usually the cannery in the coal mine when it comes to manufacturers pricing themselves out of the market. I'm not price sensitive so long as I feel there is adequate perceived quality to justify their prices in my mind; but of course there is a limit. I'm often amazed how often it is that when I finally throw in the towel on a company due to their pricing policy and then see them go under shortly afterwards. Leica needs people to purchase new as well as used to support the resale value of their products. Well see?

Denis K

Denis, you are preaching to the choir.

Steve

david b · Aug 19, 2009

As I mentioned before, the new M7 is $4400.

A like new M7 on ebay is about 50% of the new price and is probably owned by a collector of sorts.

A like new M6 on ebay is now around $1200

There is no way in hell I'd spend $4400 on a 35mm film camera.

lns · Aug 19, 2009

david b said:
...There is no way in hell I'd spend $4400 on a 35mm film camera.

Me, personally, I'd spend $4,400 on a 35mm film camera before I spent it on a digital camera.

-Laura

Not that I have, though.

Sirius Glass · Aug 19, 2009

david b said:
There is no way in hell I'd spend $4400 on a 35mm film camera.

And yet I brought a Hasselblad 903 SWC in LN- condition for less than that!

Steve

brofkand · Aug 19, 2009

Leica has always been a couture brand.

Voigtlander makes M-mount lenses for much less than Leica which according to reviews are just fine.

Even Leica's accessory viewfinders cost more than I would consider to be reasonable for a small-format camera.

resummerfield · Aug 19, 2009

lns said:
Me, personally, I'd spend $4,400 on a 35mm film camera before I spent it on a digital camera........

Laura makes a very good point. Of all the new film cameras available today, I believe only the Leica will hold its value. Yes, as David said, Ebay prices are lower, but my buying experiences on Ebay haven't left me with a good feeling. Reputable retail merchants like B&H and KEH will probably list pristine used equipment closer to new prices.

There are people willing to spend $4400 or more on a camera...... just look at the Nikon D3x (B&H price $8K) that will be obsolete in 18 months!

PeteZ8 · Aug 19, 2009

resummerfield said:
Laura makes a very good point. Of all the new film cameras available today, I believe only the Leica will hold its value. Yes, as David said, Ebay prices are lower, but my buying experiences on Ebay haven't left me with a good feeling. Reputable retail merchants like B&H and KEH will probably list pristine used equipment closer to new prices.

There are people willing to spend $4400 or more on a camera...... just look at the Nikon D3x (B&H price $8K) that will be obsolete in 18 months!

The D3x is targeted at a very narrow professional and high end amateur market, particularly those looking to bridge the gap between spending $25,000+ on a medium format system and "35mm" format DSLR, to meet their customers needs. Stock companies or advertising companies now want a minimum of 20mp resoloution in many cases. Nikon's product cycle for "pro" bodies is around 2-4 years, so it will be around for a bit. Sadly, when it is replaced it's value will very quickly diminish to under $2,000. By then, the commercial photographer will have made his money back many times over, and much of that is money that could not have been made without the proper tool.

That said, I don't get the $3k premium over its little brother the D3.

Not to get into a digital argument, but digital is actually one area where I can understand a larger investment, at least for a working pro. If you cannot satisfy your customers reqirements, you're simply not getting the job, like it or not.

That said, I could never see myself paying in excess of $5,000 for a 35mm film camera. While I can, being a very mechanical person, appreciate the quality of a Leica camera, it is well past the point of diminishing returns. 35mm image quality has very defined limits no matter how much you are willing to invest. With film bigger is simply better and there are many, even new, larger format systems that can far surpass 35mm quality for far less investment. To me a Leica is like a Rolex. You buy it for the wow factor, or simply out of appreciation for it's precision. But it doesn't take pictures any order of magnitude better than a lesser 35mm camera any more than a Timex tells time over a Rolex.

I suppose if I planned on carrying it every day for the next 30 years or expected it to survive the jungles of Vietnam I could see it's purpose, but for normal 35mm shooting Leica's just solve a problem that really does not exist.

Or, maybe I'm just making excuses because I can't afford one

brofkand · Aug 19, 2009

A working pro making their living off film will probably use medium format. I doubt there are many working pros that use 35mm.

A working pro using digital is 1) a glutton for punishment and 2) using a D3x, 1Ds Mk III, or a 5D Mk II, with few exceptions.

Mahler_one · Aug 19, 2009

Well, I am contemplating thinning out my Leica lens collection in order to buy some additional darkroom equipment to be used for LF work. If anyone has a particular lens that they are interested in please send me a private message. Perhaps I have what you are looking for.

As an aside, I was saving most of the Leica M things that I have for the children in hopes that the cameras would be used well into the current century-film being available. Sad to say that the interest is about deminimus...such facts make me smile when I see the various posts about making one's prints last for a hundred years. The prints that anyone's relatives and friends want will likely be scanned, and converted into electrons within a few years of the final act. I guess Weston's prints and those of a few other masters will be in museums and collections, but the bulk of the great work exhibited on APUG will be but dust, but dust preserved with selenium and other toners..:}. Sorry to be a bit maudlin.

Sirius Glass · Aug 20, 2009

resummerfield said:
.. just look at the Nikon D3x (B&H price $8K) that will be obsolete in 18 months!

That is more than I paid for a Hasselblad 503 CX, 50mm CF lens, 80 mm CF lens, 150 mm CF lens, 250 mm CF lens, four A12 film backs, four extension tubes, filters, lens hoods, PME [45º] metered finder, a Hasselblad 903 SWC and a RMfx back! It shoots film and if I had the interest [which I do not] I could attach a digital back. All of this is thanks to the digital revolution and the influence of APUG!

Steve

budrichard · Aug 20, 2009

The $4400 price quoted is list and not street price. There are Leica dealers with inventory of both M7 and MP where the camera can be had for considerably less.
Last year i purchased a new M7 from an authorised Leica dealer for less than $2200 and sent in and got the extended warrenty for another $150.
If you order from the a la carte program you will of course pay full price but the camera will not take better pictures.
Used cameras and lenses can be a source also of considerable savings as many/most? Leica users don't use thier equipment and if they do, are so fearful of a scratch or dent that they go to considerable lengths to avoid any mar.-Dick

Xmas · Aug 20, 2009

Hi

Just dropped an M2 baseplate unto tiles 5 foot, down.

Just wait until you see the list proce for a M9, but the early adapters are all dentists and the like, so dont worry you will have to wait in line for a nice street price.

Noel

Denis K · Aug 20, 2009

Remember guys and gals, I'm not complaining about high prices, I saying that for me Leica has JUST NOW crossed the boundary between price and perceived quality.

I feel almost as if a weight has been listed from my sholders. It's a new day now!

Denis K

david b · Aug 20, 2009

budrichard,
where did you buy a new Leica M7 for less than $2200?

IloveTLRs · Aug 20, 2009

Come to Japan: Leica prices have really come down. I bought a IIIa for $180 the other day- even a year ago it would have been $400 or more.
4 or 5 years ago clean M3s were going for $2500- now they're about half that prices. Even less for dirty ones.

Leica latest prices

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