Leica Price increasing April 1, 2021

Half my lenses are Leicas, half are Voigtlander. On the one hand I'm glad to see my Leica lenses increase in value while on the other hand I'm thankful I paid so little for my Voigtlanders which do as good a job for me as the Leicas.
 
kshapero said:
Like I said, M-A for me.

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That is a surprisingly thick instruction manual. The MA is so basic you could put the instructions on a index card. Which is I feel, a good thing.
 
raid said:
I was shocked to find pairs of jeans selling for several hundred Dollars as I was used to Levis, Lee and Wrangler jeans that sold for $40. Leica cameras and lenses are similar to these costly jeans that sell for hundreds of Dollars. People who like them and can afford getting them actually get them.
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There are Levis that sell for thousands of dollars.
 
Look, this ain’t complicated. Here is what you do.
Find a image of the red dot.
Resize to about 19mm and print out a bunch on gummed paper.
Carefully cut out the dots and stick it to any camera you like.
Even a Holga 120n.
Only fellow travelers will get the gag.
 
zuiko85 said:
Carefully cut out the dots and stick it to any camera you like.
Even a Holga 120n.
Only fellow travelers will get the gag.
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Lastly, get a little square of black tape and put it over the red dot. Leica users will get the gag.


Bonus points if you get some gold paint and randomly dab a little on the corners or other raised areas, to create patina.
 
kshapero said:
As if they weren't expensive already.
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For the small segment of buyers who go for $3000 - $18,000 Leica gear (check out the newest S camera body) another $100 to $1000 increase doesn't hurt so bad.

Agree that the used market together with some patience can yield good gear, although many older lenses such as the Summaron 35mm f3.5 (all versions), one of my favorites, have gone up in price, as has the LTM 28mm f5.6 to near the price of the newer, re-issued "classic" 28mm Summaron-M lens. Now the gap will widen by another $100-200.

It is interesting that Leica, or at least some of its representatives, (see "Leica Tech Talk Episode 2, Classics Never Die" on YouTube) admit the older, less highly corrected lenses do just fine on the M10-R and the M10 monochrome cameras. The idea of "Future-Proofing" with expensive glass for high megapixel cameras is less compelling if that is the main reason for purchasing them. Like so much else in these discussions, subjectivity rules, but it is interesting to see Leica acknowledge the impressive behavior of older glass on their modern M-cameras.

Buying used and buying older remains a decent strategy for Leicaphiles. Especially with further price increases.
 
The Federal Reserve says they're aiming for 2% inflation per year, while this year it'll be 2.4%. So on a $10,000 item, by the end of the year it should rise to $10,240, if I'm not mistaken. And prices don't rise to match inflation every year... Grin and bear it? :)
 
ellisson said:
For the small segment of buyers who go for $3000 - $18,000 Leica gear (check out the newest S camera body) another $100 to $1000 increase doesn't hurt so bad.
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Some prices go down. When I bought a new Leica S2 body ten years ago the list price was then $22,995. So a new S3 is a real bargain! :rolleyes: Of course if I now sold that S2 it might fetch 1/10 of that.
It's said that Leica targeted the S camera line to (fashionable) fashion photographers (see early ad campaigns) and did not expect to sell very many. Thus they boosted the price so the profit margin would defray development costs, etc. But as it turned out they sold better than expected.
 
This is the best line in the announcement:

"The good news is that Leica is giving everyone a couple weeks notice here." :)

I'm with ellisson and other here, I'm just fine with Leica's vintage products and actually enjoy them more than their new offerings.
 
ellisson said:
For the small segment of buyers who go for $3000 - $18,000 Leica gear (check out the newest S camera body) another $100 to $1000 increase doesn't hurt so bad.
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Ah, but I understood that this forum, through extensive demographic research, had proved that this affluent segment of buyers are all dentists.

I am told that that dentists have been having a bad time of it recently (I weep) and are now even charging extra for face masks.

On that basis Leica have shot themselves in the corporate foot.
 
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