Leica M7 à la carte

[mijosc]

So I'm thinking about purchasing an à la carte M7. Does anybody have any recommendations on where to purchase it from? The hitch is that I don't live anywhere near an à la carte dealer, so I'd have to do the whole process remotely. I recently sent an email to Precision Camera in Austin, TX, but I haven't yet received a reply.

 

[Rowse]

I just received my MP a la carte today😛 I ordered it from Ken Hansen. (KHPNY19@aol.com).

 

[mijosc]

So I was basing my dealer options off the list from Leica's à la carte site here: http://www.leica-a-la-carte.com/

Can other dealers order à la carte as well? If so, I wonder if my local Leica dealer, National Camera Exchange, can order one for me?

 

[moreammo]

I live in Austin and went to precision recently. i told them i wanted to look at a Leica and they were excited. for some reason when i said i wanted an MP they were much less interested. the guy said "a film camera, i guess we could order that but you might as well order it online" .... maybe he just did not want to make a sale. but i am looking online now.

 

[segedi]

Try your local first. My local was on the a la carte list, but was not an option when I went through the configurator process - which I thought was odd. I printed the PDF after verifying they could order and it went pretty smoothly.

My a la carte M7: Black paint, .85 viewfinder, .85-4 (35/135, 50 and 90mm framelines), no engraving and mp style film advance lever. What are you thinking about?

 

[efirmage]

I didn't even know this existed.....

I'm sort of sad now because I know I'll never get one.

Enjoy that slice of camera perfection if you get one!

 

[mijosc]

This is what I was thinking of getting:

Silver chrome finish, Classic top, MP style levers, Vulkanit covering, standard 0.72 finder.

I considered the black paint option as well, but I have several chrome lenses, which I think look out of place on a black paint body. In the end, it will end up looking very much like my M4.

 

[mijosc]

 

[kshapero]

Ask for David Farkas at http://www.dalephotoanddigital.com/ he is an ala carte dealer and loves film.

 

[segedi]

Beauty! I have considered chrome, but went with the black paint. If I ever go the a la carte route again, your setup looks very classic...

And if you have to go online to get it, might as well go out of state if possible to save on taxes!

 

[Mackinaw]

Popflash (RFF sponsor) does a la carte too.

Jim B.

 

[wjlapier]

My M7 ala carte came through Precision Camera. Robert Jagitsch is who I dealt with. He's digitalintrigue here on RFF or monza on getdpi.

 

[mijosc]

So I spoke with National Camera Exchange; they said they could order it and that the lead time would be about 6 weeks.

Now it's decision time! I keep going back in my mind between chrome and black paint...

One thing that bothered me a little bit... They asked me to pay the full amount up-front. I don't mind putting half down, but I don't feel comfortable paying completely for something I won't take delivery of for weeks. It's not like the camera is so custom that it's un-sellable.

For those of you who have done this before, is this standard practice? Am I worrying too much? It is a lot of money...

 

[huntjump]

I think it's fair to say a store who is custom ordering a very specific leica model of very premium value might not want to even have someone pay half and bail, for whatever reason, just because now they have a very custom ordered leica they didnt have before they need to sell to make up the cost of ordering(true they have your deposit).

 

[jsrockit]

Seems way too generic for an a la carte... live it up!!!

 

[Riccis]

So I spoke with National Camera Exchange; they said they could order it and that the lead time would be about 6 weeks.

Now it's decision time! I keep going back in my mind between chrome and black paint...

One thing that bothered me a little bit... They asked me to pay the full amount up-front. I don't mind putting half down, but I don't feel comfortable paying completely for something I won't take delivery of for weeks. It's not like the camera is so custom that it's un-sellable.

For those of you who have done this before, is this standard practice? Am I worrying too much? It is a lot of money...

I've ordered four a-la-carte bodies before and was never asked to pay in full in advance and instead 50% upon placing the order and the remaining balance upon delivery. I am assuming this is a policy set by each dealer. All my bodies have been done by David Farkas from Dale Photo and Digital (www.dalephotoanddigital.com) and I highly recommend them. Call them up, ask for David or Josh, tell them I sent you and they will take great care of you.

Cheers!

 

[kshapero]

Call around, but don't expect a different answer. Good luck, enjoy and be patient. BTW, Dave Farkas at Dale Photo lent me an M6 while waiting.

 

[mijosc]

Seems way too generic for an a la carte... live it up!!!

One man's generic is another's classic! Just out of curiosity, what would you suggest?

 

[segedi]

I paid full amount upon ordering. Wasn't a big deal - a lot of money, but I was going to pay it anyway!

 

[mijosc]

Seems like a lot of recommendations for Dale Photo. Maybe I'll give Dave Farkas a call. As a bonus, I wouldn't have to pay sales tax. Although I do like to keep my money local when possible.