Have Leica sales come to a halt...

[Vickko]

.... because none of the dealers have stock?

I just looked at one dealer's web site, and most of the new lenses were posted with "This item is out of stock".

...Vick

 

[zleica]

The inventory is near zero. But new lenses are slowly coming in to the dealers, which is why that the used lens prices are coming down a bit lately.

 

[fixbones]

My impression is that that the waiting list for new items are so great that often times they are sold before they hit the shelf.
Also, there is still quite a bit of human touch into Leica products, thus the limitation in production numbers.

....just my opinion. Happy to be corrected.

 

[Steve Bellayr]

For Leica lenses you need to be on a waiting list. I was advised three to six months for certain lenses, especially the 50 Summilux. And, even that is speculative by the dealer. Who really knows?

 

[Bill58]

That's how they keep the prices up in the ozone.

 

[Phil_F_NM]

Last time I looked for a Leica lens it was a month or so ago and it took me about an hour of searching the internet for a new 50mm Summarit /2.5. When dealers don't even have stock of the most basic and least expensive lenses then there must be some serious backlog of sales happening.

I'm willing to wager that as soon as the lens or camera leaves the factory it's already sold.

So now I thought I'd look for a used Summarit 50. Those don't even exist.
It's easier to find the rarest of ultrafast Nikkors for Nikon rangefinders than it is to find a 50mm Summarit used.

Phil Forrest

 

[Field]

NOOOOOOOO

They have been posting highly profitable fiscal years. They are making more money than they anticipated to make.

 

[Keith]

It must be great to be making a product that not a lot of photographers can afford ... and yet be unable to keep up to demand!

The good doctor must be pleased with the direction his company is heading in!

 

[Phil_F_NM]

NOOOOOOOO
They have been posting highly profitable fiscal years. They are making more money than they anticipated to make.

Maybe they took all that money and went to Mexico to blow it on booze and women... 😉

Phil Forrest

 

[PMCC]

Maybe they took all that money and went to Mexico to blow it on booze and women...

At least it wasn't just wasted.

 

[golem]

Last time I looked for a Leica lens it was a month or so ago and it took me about an hour of searching the internet for a new 50mm Summarit /2.5. When dealers don't even have stock of the most basic and least expensive lenses then there must be some serious backlog of sales happening.

I'm willing to wager that as soon as the lens or camera leaves the factory it's already sold.

So now I thought I'd look for a used Summarit 50. Those don't even exist.
It's easier to find the rarest of ultrafast Nikkors for Nikon rangefinders than it is to find a 50mm Summarit used.

Phil Forrest

Freestyle has one

http://www.freestylephoto.biz/c1803-Film-Cameras-and-Lenses-35mm-Camera-Lenses

 

[250swb]

It must be great to be making a product that not a lot of photographers can afford ... and yet be unable to keep up to demand!

The good doctor must be pleased with the direction his company is heading in!

I can't help but think your logic is a little askew.

Leica are notorious for having long lasting customers, diehards who stay with them. The glitch caused by the success of the M9 aside, buying a lens usually, for most people, means a lens for life. So even the high initial price is a small price compared to the fickleness of your average keen photographer who is perfectly willing to jump systems, or buy new bodies and lenses before the last one has been properly run in. The loss of money over the average photographers life (those with no particular allegience) of disposing of expensive bodies and lenses at knock down secondhand prices is astonishing. Not to mention those that like to buy the latest qizmo cameras (such as the X100) as backups, well thats is until the next backup candidate is announced....

Its not the luxury goods that are the cause of wanton waste (a good pair of hand made shoes will last ten times longer than cheap pair of loafers, but not cost ten times the price), but people who always need the latest of something. And lets get that into perspective. Leica always release the very best product they can with no holding back of design and technology. Don't try and tell me Canon couldn't make an immediate jump to another generation of DSLR (or whatever) right now. But they need to milk the consumer market with gradual upgrades.

Steve

 

[Roger Hicks]

I can't help but think your logic is a little askew.

Leica are notorious for having long lasting customers, diehards who stay with them. The glitch caused by the success of the M9 aside, buying a lens usually, for most people, means a lens for life. So even the high initial price is a small price compared to the fickleness of your average keen photographer who is perfectly willing to jump systems, or buy new bodies and lenses before the last one has been properly run in. The loss of money over the average photographers life (those with no particular allegience) of disposing of expensive bodies and lenses at knock down secondhand prices is astonishing. Not to mention those that like to buy the latest qizmo cameras (such as the X100) as backups, well thats is until the next backup candidate is announced....

Its not the luxury goods that are the cause of wanton waste (a good pair of hand made shoes will last ten times longer than cheap pair of loafers, but not cost ten times the price), but people who always need the latest of something. And lets get that into perspective. Leica always release the very best product they can with no holding back of design and technology. Don't try and tell me Canon couldn't make an immediate jump to another generation of DSLR (or whatever) right now. But they need to milk the consumer market with gradual upgrades.

Steve

Dear Steve,

Exactly.

Still more askew is the point that if sales had come to a halt, there'd be huge numbers of unsold Leicas somewhere.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Keith]

You guys missunderstand what I was saying ... what company wouldn't want to be in a position where your manufacturing capability can't keep up with demand from your customers. Leica are in such a position at the moment and good luck to them ... and their decision to go digital was obviously the key to their current situation. I don't think even they would have predicted the effect the M9 was going to have on lens sales!

 

[Matus]

Keith, in principle you are right. But it may well be that the cost per unit would grow if Leica was to increase the volume. Sounds surprising and not intuitive, but it is very often the case in many industries (see Wikipedia). Also - to make a new production line may take some time even if Leica decides to do so.

So I guess that they are maxed out on production as the demand probably topped their expectations.

Until they are not way under demand it may be easier just to keep selling for high prices everything they can produce. They have practically no competition as those who want (and can afford) new Summilux will not go for Zeiss Sonnar or VC Nokton.

 

[sc_rufctr]

I love Leica products and I can't tell you how happy I am that they are doing so well right now.
We all know they haven't always been in such a position.

... Of course Nikon and Cannon would be looking closely and trying to understand why...
And as a consequence, maybe we could see a new digital rangefinder system from the either Nikon or Cannon in the not to distant future. 😀

 

[Roger Hicks]

I love Leica products and I can't tell you how happy I am that they are doing so well right now.
We all know they haven't always been in such a position.

... Of course Nikon and Cannon would be looking closely and trying to understand why...
And as a consequence, maybe we could see a new digital rangefinder system from the either Nikon or Cannon in the not to distant future. 😀

Dear Peter,

So they are going to get into a tiny niche market, in a technology (interchangeable lens rangefinder cameras) where they haven't made a profit in 50 years? Or in Canon's case, a camera in 50 years?

Yeah, right.

Cheers,

R.

 

[jsrockit]

The rich are getting richer and buying Leicas as fast as they (Solms) can make them ... while the rest of us blunder along happily with our Nikons and Canons! 😀

Right, because we all know that the Nikon D700 is so cheap. 😛

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

That's how they keep the prices up in the ozone.

It's all part of a conspiracy. Shame on Leica! 🙄

 

[sc_rufctr]

Dear Peter,

So they are going to get into a tiny niche market, in a technology (interchangeable lens rangefinder cameras) where they haven't made a profit in 50 years? Or in Canon's case, a camera in 50 years?

Yeah, right.

Cheers,

R.

I can dream... 😉