Leica M Original Cost

[paulboe]

Hi,

I'm a new M3 owner who keeps reading about how expensive the cameras were wehn they first came out. So what was the 1954 cost for a new DS M3 with a 50mm f2 lens?

Thanks,
Paul

 

[photodog]

I have a 1962 price list that lists an M3 with a 50mm Summicron for $447. A Leicavit is listed for $51.

 

[ywenz]

I have a 1962 price list that lists an M3 with a 50mm Summicron for $447. A Leicavit is listed for $51.

that is pretty pricey.

 

[x-ray]

I bought my first used M2 in 1968. I think I paid a little over two hundred dollars and paid $330 for my new 35mm summilux. I don't remember what I paid for the other lenses but I think I paid about two hundred for a 21 3.4 super angulon with a chrome finder. I bought a new Sinar Norma 4x5 in 1969 and found the reciept recently. I paid $365 which was the second most expensive view camera then. Linhif was the highest priced. I was making big bucks while in school in the sixties. Photography earned me fourteen thousand dollars a year. To put that in perspective, tuition was under two hundred a quarter and I bought my used Plymouth with thirty six thousand miles and only four years old for two hundred and fifty dollars. In 1973 I was in the market for a new car and deceided I wanted to look at a new Porsche. A new 911 was thirteen thousand. I have a younger brother and in the fifties my dad could feed a family of four for seven dollars a week. He built a really nice house in the fifties for thirteen thousand and the payments were ninety nine dollars a month. Factoring in inflation and what we make today I don't think Leicas are anymore expensive today.


http://www.rangefinderforum.com/pho...500&ppuser=2450

 

[aizan]

1962: $447
2005: $2760.32

 

[Stephanie Brim]

Hrm. Interesting to note that Leitz hasn't raised their prices all that much in the long time they've been making cameras.

 

[wlewisiii]

According to the inflation calculator at:
http://www.westegg.com/inflation/
What cost $447 in 1962 would cost $2760.32 in 2005.

I can't speak to it's accuracy, but that gives you a rough idea.

William

 

[aizan]

if you got them on ebay, an mp and latest 50mm summicron would be about $2800.

 

[Andrew Touchon]

1962 M3 + 50 Summicron = $447 (per Photodog)
2006 MP + 50 Summicron = $4690 (current B+H prices)

Average annual price increase of new Leica with 50mm Summicron was 5.49%
Average annual price increase of US Consumer Price Index for the same 44 year time period was 4.33%

 

[TimF]

Howzabout a UK perspective.

In 1960, an M3 with 50mm Summicron would have set you back £138 6s 8d. A Nikon F (eyelevel prism) with 50mm f/2 was £146 13s, and a Canon VI-T with 50mm f/1.8 and trigger-wind base was £140 17s.

In 2004 (best I can find) this would be approx. £2,074.75p

For those unfamiliar with arcane UK currency, s=shillings (20 of these to the £, worth 5p in new money), and d=pence (12 of these to the shilling, hence 240 to the £)

 

[kajabbi]

To the best of my memory, I purchased my DS M3 in 1954 with a collapsible Summicron for about $375.00 I think that included a leather case. The hood was extra. The whole purchase came to less than $400.00 with the Connecticut sales tax. There was, at that time, something called a Luxury Tax. That too was included in the final price of less than $400.00.