anu L ogy
Well-known
Does anyone have any idea why leica's lenses seem to be on backorder everywhere. Any idea how long that usually lasts?
Back Order lenses
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steveyork
Well-known
Leica lenses are made in scheduled batches, as you may know, and I believe that their limited production capacity was shifted toward the M9, because that's where the temporal demand was located. And also new leica m users, hauled in by the M9, were eating up store inventories. Now that demand for the M9 has modulated somewhat, leica should get back to making lenses.
Fortunately, there are other makers of M mount lenese and these are very good too.
Fortunately, there are other makers of M mount lenese and these are very good too.
Vickko
Veteran
Months.
Leica is a small company. Very small.
And still does a lot of hand-assembly. They pride themselves on this; and buyers are willing to pay for it.
Thus, their prices are high, and their production capacity is low.
And I wouldn't be surprised that they run up into surprises with the complexity of some of their assemblies, leading to high failure rate, rejection and rework, all which lead to even longer backlog (e.g. 35-70 f2.8 zoom was one I recall, now a very expensive lens, the f1.2 Noctilux was notoriously difficult to make)
I also hear that Asian distributors are getting a higher proportion of units, as their sales are higher and more profitable there. You might be able to move up the waiting list if you deal through Asia.
Vick
Leica is a small company. Very small.
And still does a lot of hand-assembly. They pride themselves on this; and buyers are willing to pay for it.
Thus, their prices are high, and their production capacity is low.
And I wouldn't be surprised that they run up into surprises with the complexity of some of their assemblies, leading to high failure rate, rejection and rework, all which lead to even longer backlog (e.g. 35-70 f2.8 zoom was one I recall, now a very expensive lens, the f1.2 Noctilux was notoriously difficult to make)
I also hear that Asian distributors are getting a higher proportion of units, as their sales are higher and more profitable there. You might be able to move up the waiting list if you deal through Asia.
Vick
Vickko
Veteran
But don't lose all hope.
I got two "very backlogged" items recently by surprise (yeah, surprise to my budget too), i.e. faster than I anticipated, from North American dealers.
So, get on the waiting list, and you might be surprised too.
....Vick
I got two "very backlogged" items recently by surprise (yeah, surprise to my budget too), i.e. faster than I anticipated, from North American dealers.
So, get on the waiting list, and you might be surprised too.
....Vick
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While I understand your frustration, what a wonderful problem for Leica to have. A few years back (before the M8) they were very much on the edge of closing their doors.
B2 (;->
B2 (;->
blindrobert
Established
You will also find that many dealers have standing orders with deposits paid for popular, hard-to-find items (35 lux, 50 lux). As those lenses trickle into the dealers, they get mailed to waiting customers and never show up in on-line inventory. I got lucky and found a 50 lux in stock and bought it immediately, but I have been waiting three months for my 35 lux - it should be shipped in the next few weeks.
jordan.dickinson
Jordan Dickinson
As blindrobert said, if you can find a lens in stock somewhere local, or elsewhere, I'd buy it up. I found a 50mm Lux ASPH at my local shop for $3100. Mind you, it was used by a Leica tester, but not marked or damaged. In fact, I couldn't find a mark on it, and it was a much better deal than a brand new 50 Lux ASPH, in my opinion.
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