Noctilux at $27,499

Why is that I find the Noctilux packaging so morally repugnant? I cannot understand, for the life of me, the value attached to a camera lens... and that the Leica people will go to such obscene lengths to maintain a fetish value. <shakes head in disbelief>

Maybe I'm getting old... In any event, when I die, my cameras won't be sold in that shape. They're being used, and often.

Cirque, that story was great! I'd like to meet your uncle! :) Great, practical man!!
 
It is very funereal, a lens for the after-life in a mummifying box, to be buried with a Pharaoh, appropriately a Noctilux...I hear the Western Lands don't get much sun...
 
cirque said:
To put it this way: My uncle actually bought this. I kid you not. $16,000. He could have picked up a Noctilux from Meister camera for about $6000. But no, he bought it.

Less than three weeks later he received an offer for the set that would have made it possible to cover the $16,000 AND get a Noctilux from Meister. What did he do? He took the damn lens out, and *used* it! So, that leaves 99.

For the record: My uncle is not mad, but an unexpected inheritance put him in a position where he was able to buy the Leica that he always had dreamt about. He wanted to buy it new, so this was the only option at the time. He also got a M8, and he's looking for a MP3 set in black paint (Does anyone have one that they would like to sell?)

I guess, if you wait long enough you deserve it.
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So at least ONE of them is going to be used ! If somebody has the cash and always wanted that lens in new condition, why not ? :) There are enough people spending 25.000 $ and more for some exotic trips / adventures / guns etc ...
 
I don't know, I just can't get too worked up about it. There are thousands of worse things in this world - a single f**king Hummer does far more damage to the world on a daily basis than all 100 of these lenses combined. Why should I care about these?

Frig it. Peep's that can enjoy them - in box or on camera - need to simply be allowed to do so. Foo the rest.

William
 
SolaresLarrave said:
Cirque, that story was great! I'd like to meet your uncle! :) Great, practical man!!
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I'm sorry, but the last thing you can say about the man (based on the above story) is that he's practical.

It'll be interesting to see what happens to the price of used Noctiluxes if Leica announces a new superfast lens at Photokina.
 
Well, the humidor is pretty fancy, but a nice presentation box wasn't so unusual at one time.

Tell ya what. I'd let my 10" f:6.8 Wide-Field Ektar with box go for $15,000, and if you use BIN, I'll include this original photograph on Polaroid Type 809, which has been discontinued and has recently been selling on eBay for over $1000 for a box of 15 sheets.

(The 8x10" Polaroid bubble seems to have burst rather quickly. The eBay price is back down to about $250 a box, which is what retail stores were selling the last batch for. About a year before it was around $160 a box.)

[For the lens geeks--I took this photograph to test a 14.5" Verito.]
 

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The Million Dollar Baby?

The Million Dollar Baby?

Uups! Have I missed something? Has my greedy, grab-it disposition left me? Should I have changed back to normal??
Well, why can`t folks buy a Leica, use it for at least 2000 of films and be happy with it? Maybe, if you had to live on it, depart from your battered M-Body to add to your pension scheme, if it`s a rare one?
My humble advice: Grab yourself an M3 and/or a "new" MP if you can sum up for both, by a nice Summicron 50 or a 35, the more exotic length can wait or Voigtländer can serve you, and, take pictures!!!
Forget about the artsy-fartsy - Noctilux .....- it!
Best regsWolf
 
Andrew Sowerby said:
I'm sorry, but the last thing you can say about the man (based on the above story) is that he's practical.

It'll be interesting to see what happens to the price of used Noctiluxes if Leica announces a new superfast lens at Photokina.
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Well, Andrew, in my book, the man is practical: he used the lens. :)
 
Rayt said:
Leica can certainly use the money so if they can cash in on something like this then why not?
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Trouble is, with this auction, and any others, Solms isn't getting a dime over what the seller originally paid for it. Leica doesn't benefit from anyone "flipping" their rare boxed Nocti on the open market.

Me? Like all such silly auctions on the 'Bay, I'm only in it for the entertainment value. :rolleyes:


- Barrett
 
Well thats disappointing. I really believed they were going to fire up the Noctilux line again and I was going to be watching the bottom fall out of the market on the current over inflated prices. But, well Im just disappointed now for sure.
Anyone know why they stopped production of this lens?
 
I think the Industar-26m came in a diamondplate steel box with welded corners, heavy steel hinge plates and massive bolts, with a huge padlock and skeleton key on the front.
 
I am very confused about the humidor thing. Now I spend a great deal of effort trying to keep my cohibas, partagas, hoyo de monterreys and monte cristos at the right humidity - somewhere around 68-72. Living on a small island in the caribbean I also try to keep my lenses below 60, for fear of fungus. So how come the hygrometer in the leica humidor shows 60-75 as "normal". I would seriously worry if my lenses were routinely kept at that level of humidity. Whilst bloom (not mold) on a cigar is good, would not want to see it on any lens.
Anyway, I could easily find a guy in Havana to sell you a much prettier box than that for 100 bucks, with a few of fidel's finest thrown in, plus a night down the Floridita as well. Could struggle on the noctilux though.
One for chan chan to mull over during the next lanceros.
 
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