Market effect of the new Leica M6

[Huss]

It’s probably one of those tricks of the eye, but I can’t quite figure out what we are looking at here (post #44). Why is one side grey (undeveloped?) and the other side black (developed?)? Why does the black side have distorted sprocket holes? Is it a shadow? Is the scratch in question the pale narrow line straight down the centre of the photo, and why does that look grainy rather than sharp-edged when zoomed in? What is the broader line to the left of it?

Perhaps you should take a roll of undeveloped film that you may have, pull it out if its canister and examine it under indoor lighting. That should help you understand what you are looking at.

Don’t worry, you can put it back in the canister and use it. As long as it hasn’t been exposed to light while in a camera it will be fine.

 

[snusmumriken]

Perhaps you should take a roll of undeveloped film that you may have, pull it out if its canister and examine it under indoor lighting. That should help you understand what you are looking at.

Don’t worry, you can put it back in the canister and use it. As long as it hasn’t been exposed to light while in a camera it will be fine.

Sarcasm lost on me. Still no clearer what the photo shows.

 

[Huss]

Sarcasm lost on me. Still no clearer what the photo shows.

You’re the only one seeming to have problems. And why do you think I am being sarcastic? That is an undeveloped roll of film you are looking at. If it confuses you, follow my instructions.

 

[MattKing]

Don’t worry, you can put it back in the canister and use it. As long as it hasn’t been exposed to light while in a camera it will be fine.

And why do you think I am being sarcastic?

Because you are?
Other than the scratch itself, it was hard to figure out exactly what we were seeing. You had lit the subject so artfully!
Pardon the gentle sarcasm.

 

[Huss]

It's a bendy piece of film that reflects all sorts of light cuz it is bendy and shiny. The thing to pay attention to iz dat big scratch down da middle.

A big scratch that Leica now notices too!

And Matty - I am shocked, shocked I tells ya! - that you think I can be sarcastic.

 

[madNbad]

It's a bendy piece of film that reflects all sorts of light cuz it is bendy and shiny. The thing to pay attention to iz dat big scratch down da middle.

A big scratch that Leica now notices too!

And Matty - I am shocked, shocked I tells ya! - that you think I can be sarcastic.

Maybe they just need to clean the sensor?

 

[Pieter12]

Maybe they just need to clean the sensor?

Yes, the sensor is obviously the problem. It is being blocked by scratched film.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Leitz has not scratched the surface of this problem. Do they have to feel the itch first?

 

[Huss]

You lot are punny

 

[madNbad]

Originally the problem was going to have them scratching their heads. Then someone thought, "Hey, let's get it on film!"

 

[Sirius Glass]

We would not want to punish you any more, Leitz is already do more than enough of that.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Originally the problem was going to have them scratching their heads. Then someone thought, "Hey, let's get it on film!"

Now they are scratching a padded bendable part of their bodies.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Has Leitz figured out that it is a film camera yet:

 

[Pieter12]

It's not a scratch. It is a feature, like something from Holga.

 

[logan2z]

Clearly, in the QC department, the Leitz are on but nobody's home.

*Mic drop*

 

[Huss]

Clearly, in the QC department, the Leitz are on but nobody's home.

*Mic drop*

We have a wiener!

 

[Guth]

I didn't get around to digging any deeper on this matter until now. Like @SchwinnParamount , I did not buy my M6 (or any of my camera gear) as an investment. While it will no doubt strike some as being naive, back in 2000 when I bought my M6 new, I believed that it would be a camera that I would end up using for the rest of my life. While this might ultimately prove to be the case, given the sort of money Leica gear has been bringing in return the past few years, I have had thoughts of selling mine from time to time. Thus I have checked on prices of the M6 TTL version in particular every now and then as that is what I own. For the black chrome version with the 0.72 finder like mine, I recall prices at their highest last year were typically around $4K w/shipping for mint examples with original box/packaging. Looking at the sold prices for this model out on Ebay today, it appears that prices are currently pretty much the same. If I'm not mistaken, Ebay's sold prices reflect the past 90 days only — so the search results I pulled today would not reflect any sold prices before the new M6 was announced.

I realize that the TTL version of the M6 has generally sold for more than the non-TTL version, but I can't recall how large that price difference typically was given that I wasn't paying close attention to the non-TTL models. If the new M6 has indeed had an impact on used M6 prices aside from any other market forces that have impacted countless other items, then I can't imagine it being a very notable impact. For what it's worth, I paid $1,845 for my new M6 back in 2000. Adjusted for inflation, that would be $3,206 in today's dollars. I'll admit that it kinda blows my mind that people are now actually paying more than this for used examples of this model that are at least 20 years older and don't include a warranty. It's no wonder that Leica decided to produce a new M6 given that they never stopped making M film cameras. The funny thing is, I didn't even know about the whole film scratching thing going on with the current model until seeing it in this thread.

 

[film_man]

At $20/roll I can understand Leica being reluctant to use real film for testing...

 

[grat]

I think it would be better to describe the Yutoobers as infamous. I can't think of one, though I am not an expert on Yutoob, that is a great photographer. Very few of them are actually working photographers either. They are just people that started a photography Yutoob channel.

Thomas Heaton and Nick Carver both are professional, working photographers. Steve O'nions is a hobbyist, but a good one who sells the odd print. Matt Marrash does a nice job of spreading the gospel of large format, and may or may not still work at Midwest Photo. Ben Horne probably started the analog vlogging trend, and Ted Forbes was fantastically useful when I was getting into film photography after a few decades of digital.

Calling any photographer "great" is too subjective, but all the photographers I listed understand light and composition, and have a relatively high ratio of "excellent" photos. Several of them use both digital and film, but I don't hold that against them.

 

[Pieter12]

A whole lot of photographers on Youtube or other social media are out there to promote themselves as photographers or "influencers," or a brand that sponsors them. Most photographers I know don't waste their time making self-serving videos testing equipment, they'd rather spend the time shooting photos.

 

[BradS]

I notice that the prices for used cars have dropped precipitously since the introduction of the new Leica M6 too.

correlation does not imply causation.

 

[Pieter12]

I notice that the prices for used cars have dropped precipitously since the introduction of the new Leica M6 too.

correlation does not imply causation.

Used car prices are up again. So the old M6s must have gone back up in price, too.

 

[BradS]

Used car prices are up again. So the old M6s must have gone back up in price, too.

a longitudinal study of adults in the USofA found that greater than 99.9% of all people who had died in the prior two decades had also consumed at least 1 liter of water per day, every day of their adult lives....

 

[reddesert]

I notice that the prices for used cars have dropped precipitously since the introduction of the new Leica M6 too.

correlation does not imply causation.

Leica is selling so many new M6's that their buyers' empty pockets are decreasing the demand for cars, so the used car market is deflating!

I don't keep close track of the high-end used camera market (M6, Hasselblad, etc) so have no opinion on that issue really. A couple of things I have noticed are: medium format seems to be still in strong demand, although perhaps there is more supply than there was in the past couple of years. For ex, about a year ago, KEH listings for medium format lenses would have about 100 in stock at a time over all systems, and now it's more like 200. Prices are still higher than pre-pandemic levels (IMO due to film resurgence plus the end of the era of pros cleaning out their closets of old film gear).

Closer to the bottom of the market, if I look at ebay or shopgoodwill, it seems like a couple years ago a random 35mm SLR that was not a high-demand model (not a K1000 or AE-1 or Nikon semi-pro, etc) would hardly attract any interest, and now people will actually bid on them. They're still cheap compared to the use-value, though.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Leica is selling so many new M6's that their buyers' empty pockets are decreasing the demand for cars, so the used car market is deflating!

I don't keep close track of the high-end used camera market (M6, Hasselblad, etc) so have no opinion on that issue really. A couple of things I have noticed are: medium format seems to be still in strong demand, although perhaps there is more supply than there was in the past couple of years. For ex, about a year ago, KEH listings for medium format lenses would have about 100 in stock at a time over all systems, and now it's more like 200. Prices are still higher than pre-pandemic levels (IMO due to film resurgence plus the end of the era of pros cleaning out their closets of old film gear).

Closer to the bottom of the market, if I look at ebay or shopgoodwill, it seems like a couple years ago a random 35mm SLR that was not a high-demand model (not a K1000 or AE-1 or Nikon semi-pro, etc) would hardly attract any interest, and now people will actually bid on them. They're still cheap compared to the use-value, though.

I have not bought a Hasselblad body in years or Leica camera or lens ever. Furthermore one of my vehicles is a 1997 model and the other is a 1998 model. The first bought new and the second bought 8 years ago and converted to hard core offroading. Yet I have been buying Nikon slr lenses recently. I have not seen the prices affected by my recent purchases.