Is the ME ugly?

Is the ME ugly?

  • Strongly disagree

    Votes: 108 26.9%

  • Disagree

    Votes: 114 28.4%

  • Agree

    Votes: 116 28.9%

  • Strongly agree

    Votes: 63 15.7%
  • Total voters
    401
I actually think it is not bad,with black instead of chrome I might be seriously interested.It could serve as my x-pro back up.
 
crispy12 said:
Not to mentioned that you scratched out the white M8 letters...
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Actually removed them with rubbing alcohol, not scratching. Once the white was removed, my photos started to look much better 🙄

clicker said:
It could serve as my x-pro back up.
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Makes a nice combo, but the M8 in the bag gets kind of heavy at the end of the day.
 
I saw one in the flesh today (Camera not ass unfortunately) And it's far better looking colour wise than the pictures would suggest.
 
So,

anybody bring up this yet?

Leica_ME.jpeg


vs

SH01204a.jpg



See anything familiar-looking?

That bottom model is a wartime Leica IIIc Kugellager camera, highly collectable in good condition.

Now how could any serious collector withstand the M-E when Leica is putting out a camera that resembles that wartime IIIc in design that much?

I've seen the M-E at Meister Camera in Berlin and the color of both body and 'chrome' is real close to the wartime Barnack. Too much so to be a coincidence, I'd say.
 
So, this thread is till going, eh? That's funny.

Interesting to look at the poll. While the majority disagrees or strongly disagrees that the camera is ugly, a very large minority agrees or strongly agrees that it IS ugly. If you compared this to other Leica models, I doubt the poll would be anywhere near close.

So concluding that the design / color scheme is unpopular at least among some significant segment of potential buyers is not out of the question. What might be interesting from a strictly marketing standpoint would be to try to determine the degree to which the design / color scheme actually prevented sales outright, or influenced the decision to upgrade to the more expensive M. Or what a poll of folks involved with product design would reveal.

I can't imagine Leica marketing would be happy about this "controversy" if you could even call it that given that poll-takers on this forum are already a preselected bunch. I wonder what a broader pool of camera enthusiasts would think, including those who may not have heard of, or care about the Leica brand.

Finally, I do agree with Roger about Nikon's red stripe. Very silly, actually. But I don't care enough about it to cover it up, and I think the black tape crowd is generally overzealous about stuff like this.
 
Pablito said:
..... I think the black tape crowd is generally overzealous about stuff like this.
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I'm glad not to be a zealot then. I've got a dark green dot over my Leica-red-dot-graffiti, and I've also got a dark green dot over the silver lens release button.

Zero zealousness!

.............. Chris
 
I doubt the Leica designers would be surprised with the outcome of this poll. Almost any non standard color Leica has been a big controversy. If it's not black or steel grey/chrome it's a controversy. Most of the voters in this thread probably have an opinion on black chrome versus black paint, so it would be silly to think they won't have an opinion on a dark-grey that most us would think of as non-standard (nice find on the Kugellager).

Basically this M9 is designed to not be the M9 or the M9P, since it's supposed to be a different price category. Else it would seem like just a price reduction on a digital camera that's years old. (which it obviously is, but the color helps the sell of this reduction)
And they needed to consolidate the two different colors in a one color-model which would be able to take both black and chrome lenses. (I dont think they succeeded in making this a good option for chrome lenses)

I doubt many people outside of these forums care as much as we do about the color of this camera. Without the preconceptions about what a Leica camera should look like, I bet most wouldn't worry about the color so much.
We're just not the target audience of this, and if you care enough about the design you probably already have a M9P or you would prefer to buy a M10 later.
 
The more I see the M-E the less I dislike it ; even thinking it would look great with a chrome lens.

However the more I see the big M and the big red dot on the M-240 the less I like it.
Once I've blacked out the M and red dot, the front face is going to look very plain without the illumination window :bang:
 
SOOO, I've handled an M-E earlier today at the Leica shop. Just dull dark gray. I didn't dislike it, though I much prefer the chrome or black color schemes. If it were a metallic dark gray it would have been just really sweet. The chrome knobs make it easier to match a chrome lens indeed. Looks sexy with a v1 35mm Summicron mounted on it (goggled version). Didn't miss the preview lever at all. Considering getting one due to the 2 yr warranty, vs an used M9 with thousands of actuations and no warranty at all (apart from the seller's). Might tape it black...er.

a funny coincidence: the shop also had an M9P Hermès. STUNNING.
 
FrozenInTime said:
The more I see the M-E the less I dislike it ; even thinking it would look great with a chrome lens.

However the more I see the big M and the big red dot on the M-240 the less I like it.
Once I've blacked out the M and red dot, the front face is going to look very plain without the illumination window :bang:
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You're not allowed to buy any more equipment anyway. That M9P of yours is sweet Donald.
 
kdemas said:
You're not allowed to buy any more equipment anyway. That M9P of yours is sweet Donald.
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Thanks Kent - but it's out classing my GXR and OM-D soo much that I'm thinking I should sell them and get the M9-P a companion.


On the M-E, I think it's interesting that several dealers (popflash and ffordes) have already had ex-demo M-Es for sale.
I can only surmise that these are the result of customer returns on aesthetic grounds.
It also seems that most dealers have now completely run out of M9s and M9-Ps ( with their classic good looks )
 
FrozenInTime said:
...On the M-E, I think it's interesting that several dealers (popflash and ffordes) have already had ex-demo M-Es for sale.
I can only surmise that these are the result of customer returns on aesthetic grounds....
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Perhaps, and I'll guess in many cases the camera may have been unboxed and shown/demonstrated without having gone far from the store.

A few years ago I bought a new "demo" Leica from RFF sponsor PopFlash at about 10% off list, very welcome relief on such a pricy item. I couldn't tell to what extent the camera/lens had been demonstrated, and it all worked out very well.
 
Doug said:
Perhaps, and I'll guess in many cases the camera may have been unboxed and shown/demonstrated without having gone far from the store.

A few years ago I bought a new "demo" Leica from RFF sponsor PopFlash at about 10% off list, very welcome relief on such a pricy item. I couldn't tell to what extent the camera/lens had been demonstrated, and it all worked out very well.
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True. 'Ex-demo' may imply 'a lot of interest'.

Cheers,

R.
 
I saw a used M-E on Popflash for $5k returned by a customer who didn't like the colour. Good deal, still had the yr warranty available!

Btw, for those who really dislike the colour.. why not just gaffer tape the top & bottom plates roughly? I will probably get an M-E instead of a black M9 due to the warranty, the price gap is not too big... then most likely add black tape to it and make a M-P Derelict 🙂
 
I saw another one yesterday (in daylight), it still looks quite blue to my eye.
 
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