How Do You Afford This Addiction/Affliction?

Tim Gray said:
I make an average salary in the US. I've never bought anything Leica new, other than a tabletop tripod, but I'm thinking about it soon. Mainly through saving my money and not blowing it on other crap. I don't have a lot of other hobbies that cost money. Last time I bought a computer was 2003; I get a laptop every couple years through work. I don't smoke. My car is 10 years old. I don't buy a lot of clothes, etc. I actually don't have *that* much camera gear, and I pare it down frequently. Case in point: I recently acquired a 2nd M7. As a result, I'm going to sell my M6 - no sense in having 3 M cameras laying around. I do have an XPan, but that's going out the door soon. Also, my most recent and only digital camera is a Canon 300D.

I will say all my used stuff for the most part was bought before the recent giant increase in prices, but after the prices started to rise some.

So if you prefer to think of it this way, I buy Leica gear with the money that most people spend on digital cameras and crazy amounts of lenses. I think you just got a Fuji X-Pro1. Instead of buying one, I'm probably going to take that ~$2k and put it towards something else. Along with the $2k I didn't spend last year 🙂 Maybe it will finally be a digital M if the M10 comes out and seems worth it. Maybe not.

I'm sure others approach it differently. A couple people DO probably make a good deal of money and a $5000 purchase is probably the equivalent of a $1000 (or less) purchase to us.
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Good points Tim. I would agree with you there - I guess it just flabbergasts me when I see the "new" prices of Leica gear but then, if I put it into perspective, I look at how my purchases have gone throughout the years. I won't think twice about buying a 70-200 f2.8 I.S. lens at $2,000 so why would one balk, if they can afford it (however they afford it - be it by saving, having extra "disposable income" or what have you), at buying a 35 Lux FLE at $5000.

Granted, to put this REALLY in perspective, I must admit, this is TOTALLY a "first world problem" sort of question. There are, of course, bigger and more important things to be concerned about in the long run and the rest of the world could potentially look at this type of "problem" as being quite ignorant. I hope I haven't offended anyone by asking/posting about it.

Cheers,
Dave
 
I do agree with you though - Leica prices have gotten to the point where they are testing my willingness to stay with the system. If I made 3 times as much, I'd stick with it. But I don't.

Any new lens is likely to be a two years saving process for me (ignoring any price increases in that time) and add on another year for a digital M. I think I said when the M9 was announced that if I started saving then, I'd have enough money to buy an M10 when it came out. That actually might be true 🙂 The question is, even if I have the money, do I really want to drop THAT much on a camera when I could just get a 5DIII or X-Pro.
 
The advantage I have is that I don't actually like modern Leica glass that much - I recognise its technical capabilities but the sharp, contrasty images are not what I'm looking to produce. I've bought three Leica lenses brand new (75 summicron, 28 elmarit and 50 Summilux ASPH) and sold them all. I have owned nearly new M7 and MP but prefered my M3 and M2 so sold the newer cameras. My preference for older lenses and cameras has saved my pocket in many ways.
 
I read that in Leica Camera AG's annual report for 2009 the company reported that over 36% of it's sales were to customers in Asia (China and Japan being the most important markets). I suspect this percentage has increased in the last three years.

At the end of 2011, Asia-Pacific had over 3.3 million high network individuals (defined at those individuals with over $1M USD in assets). That's a lot of potential customers and I suspect demand there is driving Leica's pricing model.
 
If you can afford to buy new digital upper end bodies and fast lenses you can also afford used Leica gear. I had a good job, retired now, no mortgage, own a car free and clear, have savings and prioritize. So no problem except for brand new Leica gear. From the majority of comments on Leica gear in this thread most seem to buy used not new. My jaw still drops at the price of new Leica stuff. I just don't want the new stuff that badly.

Bob
 
Lauffray said:
Yep same here, no kids, no mortgage, no debt, no car. And I went for the "reasonable" Leica, one body, a used summicron. No M9+Noctilux here !
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I guess I'm the opposite of a lot of us; I have 2 kids in an expensive preschool, a jumbo mortgage, an older('99) Range Rover that's very expensive to repair and drive, and I don't really make much money. But I still found a way to buy an M9 last week.
How do I afford it? I think it's mostly luck, with a little bit of patience on my part. I've been waiting for at least a year for the right M9 deal to turn up, and I finally found one that I could afford.
We also have no debt. I don't buy anything on credit, ever. It's such an easy trap to fall into...
 
bob338 said:
I guess I'm the opposite of a lot of us; I have 2 kids in an expensive preschool, a jumbo mortgage, an older('99) Range Rover that's very expensive to repair and drive, and I don't really make much money. But I still found a way to buy an M9 last week.
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😱 are you sure? 🙂
 
I save on a lot of things, buy few clothing, my newest car is year 89, DIY everything as much as I can, repair as much as I can, got a 7 years old cellphone, use it for urgencies only, got no laptop or other electronic gizmos, keep extra evening food for the next day at lunch, don't smoke, no credit apart for the house.
I have 6 kids and sponsor the 3 oldest for their studies.
Save on my expenses when I travel for work.
All my purchased gear is second hand. Seems to work OK 🙂
 
Tim Gray said:
I do agree with you though - Leica prices have gotten to the point where they are testing my willingness to stay with the system. If I made 3 times as much, I'd stick with it. But I don't.

Any new lens is likely to be a two years saving process for me (ignoring any price increases in that time) and add on another year for a digital M. I think I said when the M9 was announced that if I started saving then, I'd have enough money to buy an M10 when it came out. That actually might be true 🙂 The question is, even if I have the money, do I really want to drop THAT much on a camera when I could just get a 5DIII or X-Pro.
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Agreed. To me, the prices have gotten out of control for Leica gear. As much as I'd like to stick with it, it is very difficult. Unable to make the leap to digital M, as film costs go higher and higher, it may drive me out of the system. That would be a shame.

I do what I can to buy used, user-grade equipment.
 
I can afford it because I make more than that and I spend only 15% of my salary on other things.

On the other hand, my question is, how can people NOT afford it when they can drive a $30,000 car around?
 
Thanks for starting this thread. I agree, it's just nuts the way things are on the forums in this regard, BUT if you got that sort of money, what the heck? It's all relative, right?

It's very important to remember that a good photographer can take a $30 old, used SLR, slap a very good used $100 lens on it, and blow the socks off the "latest and greatest gear". This may be due to innate talent, but there's no substitute for hard work, experience, and determination. As much as I love my wife and cat, $13,000 gear just results in a very sharp and clear photo of the wife and cat. Yawn. Whereas a good photographer (might even be me on a good day) can produce something much more than that. If you don't have a good eye, all the gear in the world won't help you.
 
The problem with America is that people make 3 or 4 times the average salary of other countries but manage to have no money left for anything.
 
bob338 said:
I guess I'm the opposite of a lot of us; I have 2 kids in an expensive preschool, a jumbo mortgage, an older('99) Range Rover that's very expensive to repair and drive, and I don't really make much money. But I still found a way to buy an M9 last week.
How do I afford it? I think it's mostly luck, with a little bit of patience on my part. I've been waiting for at least a year for the right M9 deal to turn up, and I finally found one that I could afford.
We also have no debt. I don't buy anything on credit, ever. It's such an easy trap to fall into...
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Mortgage? You do have debt. Not credit card debt, but debt for sure. (I'm in the same boat, btw)

Me? We do alright, don't live beyond our means. Apartment rather than house, one car, etc. It's about priorities, I think. You take your situation and prioritize from there. There are people into any kind of thing who scrimp and save to make it happen... Rangefinders happen to be one expensive niche, which seems to have doubled in the price of entry in the last few years. But at the same time if you can afford the nice lenses, or seemingly any lenses these days, they feel like a good investment if you treat them well. [I say feel... because feel is a lot of it...]
 
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