Just How Much Is Too Expensive ?

[murrayb53]

Every so often I will follow a thread or two concerning the Leica M8. From what I gather there are are number of members who own this camera.

When I found out what this digital was priced at I thought sales would be very slow, so slow that maybe Leica would even decide to lower the selling price. Hell, with this lousy economy I thought the M8's price would just hand off more sales to the competition. Reading some early reviews pointed out there were some issues that made many question its hefty price for what you were getting.

Lately it appears that more and more are "figuring out" the gem and are sounding off like true Leicaphiles (Digital Leicaphiles, that is !). With this, I take it that for the most part, you like it and to hell with the cost, all is well.

Now, the Leica M8.2 at a proposed selling price of $6795 ? Did I read that right ?

C'mon you Leicamaniac's. Are some of you M8 owners thinking of trading-in, or selling off your M8 for an M8.2 ?

Just curious, and really, not critical.

But one begs to ask,
"Just How Much Is Too Expensive"?

Still M8-less,
Steve

 

[35mmdelux]

Many that can spend this kind of money on a luxury item such as a Leica are largely immune from burps in the economy.

 

[sfokevin]

Leica has a niche market.... Like Harley Davidson, Bang & Olifsen and many others where price is not the driving motivator...

 

[BillBingham2]

Nice Niche

Nice Niche

Have to agree. I expected there to be someone else out there by now. My gut tells me we will see something by late this coming winter, but I do not think till it comes any thing will slow the niche filler.

If I were making money with a camera these days I would have one, it's the cost of doing business. As a non-pro I have to say thank you but no to another red-dot (or black for that matter), it's a little less than 1/2 what I paid for my new Honda Fit last year!

B2 (;->

 

[Benjamin Marks]

hey, I'm susceptible to Leica . . . but the current prices? Ouch. I would never say never (in fact, looking at my cameras, the problem isn't saying "never" its' saying "no" every once in a while) but even as a fan of Leica gear I'd have to win the lottery before spending $8K on a lens.

In fact, I just finished buying a new (used) Subaru. For the price of a Noctilux you can get a car with 5-7 hard years of salty Vermont road life left in it.

Ben

 

[SolaresLarrave]

Your question: How much is too expensive?

Relativity rules! Lemme tell you... One single M8.2 can get you two Nikon D700, and even three Nikon D200. If my math doesn't fail me, for that money I probably can accomodate three Nikon AF-S 24-70 zooms, and probably five Nikon AF 85mm f1.4 lenses.

I would be able to swing ONE of those items and recover in, say, four months, but an M8...

Lesson learned, luxury is very relative.

 

[JohnTF]

A "What if", What if you could find a demo, full warranty, for $4950, and get $3800 for your M8? What if they upgraded your M8 to M8.2 for $1000? Is there a price tipping point, if so, where is it?

Are people buying tri elmars and other high end lenses?

These prices are probably closer to affordable than the M4 plus lenses were when they were new, for non pros.

And, will there be some M8's with a bit of wear in the offing as users in a year or two?

J

 

[scaryink]

The M8 is an unobtrusive camera capable of shooting a very high quality image. It doesn't look like much - except to the enthusiast. The M8 is the best quality stealth camera in digital I have been able to find. The physical aspects of the body allow me to take shots not obtainable using my eos 1ds dslr.

The kit is a dream for the candid shot maker/taker. Its qualities are unique.

The M8 is capable of being used in the most intimate of moments. It is much better kit to use with people who are not used to being in front of a camera.

That my friends is the bottom line.

 

[Rayt]

It depends on how the individual perceive value. If I had a huge vinyl record collection like hundreds of albums then spending several thousand dollars on a top quality turntable and stylus in order to play them wouldn't be unreasonable. Similarly for someone who has ten or twelve Leica M lenses the desire to get decent digital files out of them without the hassle of scanning would be equally reasonable. I am in this boat and as far as I can see the M8 completes a journey where I started with a single 50mm Summicron 14 years ago.

 

[Frank1969]

For what it offers, the M8(.2) compares to a Nikon D300 or a Canon eos 40D or even a Fuji S5pro. Thus a price of about 1.500 US dollars for an M8(.2) should be fair.

Problem with the Leica is that the company has nothing else to offer that makes an easy buck so the M8 stays expensive. And of course, it has the name Leica on it which makes it a few thousand dollars more expensive than it should be. Imagine a brendnew M8 for 1000 euro. So cheap, that must be rubbish. Now it's expensive and compared to what Nikon, Canon or even Pentax have to offer it is still rubbish, only expensive rubbish.

I would love to have a digital rangefinder, but I would not want an M8, maybe when all the bugs are removed and the price is more realistic (about 1.500 dollar).

 

[petepete_seattle]

slimmer charger

slimmer charger

and to me the second coolest announcement was the fact that the battery charger will be slimmer.

I wonder how much a slimmer charger will cost and will it be compatible with original batteries?

 

[sfokevin]

I wonder how much a slimmer charger will cost and will it be compatible with original batteries?

Same battery and $165...

 

[yanidel]

I find the comparisons with cars funny. A Leica might represent only half the price of a normal car, yet most people buying Leicas M8 probably have cars worth at least 10 times the price of the M8 😉

 

[user237428934]

For what it offers, the M8(.2) compares to a Nikon D300 or a Canon eos 40D or even a Fuji S5pro. Thus a price of about 1.500 US dollars for an M8(.2) should be fair.

Problem with the Leica is that the company has nothing else to offer that makes an easy buck so the M8 stays expensive. And of course, it has the name Leica on it which makes it a few thousand dollars more expensive than it should be. Imagine a brendnew M8 for 1000 euro. So cheap, that must be rubbish. Now it's expensive and compared to what Nikon, Canon or even Pentax have to offer it is still rubbish, only expensive rubbish.

I would love to have a digital rangefinder, but I would not want an M8, maybe when all the bugs are removed and the price is more realistic (about 1.500 dollar).

Are you serious? Do you really believe production costs of a m8 and a 40D are similar and leica earnes just more money with every single m8? As no one here knows the real production costs we only can say that it is expensive, but do we know if it is too expensive?

 

[jackal2513]

i'm looking to possibly get out

at this rate a FF M9 + Noctilux will be more expensive than a 31MP Hasselblad digital or Sinar kit. The road map looks very bleak for pros.

I was hoping photokina would mark an effort on the part of leica to return to real world products, at real prices serving real working photographers. The complete opposite now seems to be the case.

Esoteric rich mans toy....

 

[Rayt]

Leica is not a high volume, low margin company. There is no way they can compete with the likes of Canon. This may mean nothing to you and the end consumer can vote with his wallet but this is the way it is. Leica is not raking it in given their losses.

 

[SR1]

Yesterday, the artist (you decide which kind) Damien Hurst managed to sell a dead tiger shark in a tank of formaldahyde for £8 million give or take.

This on the same day that Lehman Brothers went bust.

Now I might be uncultured and I clearly don't see the art in a dead shark, but it got me thinking.

Damien Hurst only commands such prices because of his name, not the art.

So if he put a Leica M8.2 in a glass box, how much would it be worth?

..oh and would it be art?

SR

 

[tomasis]

Funny some compare cars to leica.

Remember to have car costs a lot money at least here in Sweden. Gas, insurance, repair, wear parts, charges, fees etc. For that reason I go for the bicycle instead lol. To use Leica costs not much if you do use many years and you can still sell leica for quite good money if we talk about mechanical pieces.

M8.2 tempts me a lot more now. Now this looks like fully decent camera and it would be awesome with 1.4 loupe so I get 1:1 vf digital M3 yeah! The silent shutter got me in hook. I would be surprised if M8 continues manufactured along with M8.2 long time. I kind of expect m8.2 to replace m8 instead. Im not sure how much costs to produce sapphire, new shutter mechanism compared to older body.

I look forward to m8.2 when my Rd1 eventually dies some time later 🙂 It is kind of same thing when you wait for car model when the car model is beginning to end in the cycle and the car cleared out of teething troubles at its first years (for comparison for M8 1.0).

 

[peter_n]

Never mind the M8, have any of you looked at the price of the new 24mm finder? However the price in current dollars is roughly the same as previous offerings over many years. Leica's niche means they operate in a market of (almost) perfectly inelastic demand. In other words, their customers are willing to pay almost any price to obtain the product. So the OP's question just how much is too expensive cannot be answered because we haven't got there yet. And let's hope for Leica's sake that we never do.

 

[scaryink]

I would love to have a digital rangefinder, but I would not want an M8, maybe when all the bugs are removed and the price is more realistic (about 1.500 dollar).

So you haven't shot with the camera? How can you form a realistic opinion without having gone for a test drive? You really can't listen to most of the comments here, as the majority don't have the access or cash to purchase or shoot with one.

Most of the words spoken are opinions formed on other peoples opinions about what someone else thought about the kit.

Really, it is a much better kit than I expected. Actually its quite similar to my Porsche 930. Minimalist and deadly at what it does. That is very attractive combination to me.

I'm not a proponent because I spent the money. I recently had a bunch of equipment stolen and am using the insurance proceeds to buy some new products. I am a long time shooter with a Canon Eos 1ds MII and the best glass Canon has to offer. 200 1.8, 400 2.8.

The Leica allows you to capture images very quietly (not talking about the shutter). From this viewpoint it is similar to MP-4 but without the film.