I would be buying plenty of new Leica kit were it not for the ludicrous prices. They have priced a lot of people out of the market and you can bet that if the dollar continues to strengthen, there will be no price drop in the US.
The summarit line, introduced to allow for cheaper slow speed lenses... now $1350 for a slow 50 with hood and $1550 for a 35 2.5! If they were serious they would not have slapped $200 extra on both about 6 months ago. The summarits really did appeal to me for their mellow signature and small size and now the process have bloated like anything else Leica. From popflash, you can buy a ZI with 35 2.8 and hood in those bozed sets for $250 more than a summarit and hood alone.
I remain convinced that if Leica genuinely held to a sensible price on their budget lines they would have sold a LOT relatively. The 28 2.8 Elmarit has also gone up by the same amount. For someone contemplating a M9 (if it turns out to be any good) they are doing an awfully good job of putting me off. The body will be expensive enough and I was hoping not to go down the Zeiss/CV milch adaptor route, but it looks like what I will have to do.
You can't get a 0.58 finder (or 0.85) unless you go a la carte and swallow an additional premium over and above the insane $4500 price of a Mp/7. This merely forces people to buy used 0.58s and 0.85s rather than new ones. Who in their right mind, as a user for whom $s count, would buy a new 0.58 Mp/7 at near 5K rather than a mint used TTL for $1400 or used MP for maybe $2800? I could buy a THREE body mint 0.58, 0.72, 0.85 kit for the same as ONE new a la carte.
I wish I could, but I have not bought a new leica item since 2006. I have wanted to on a few occasions and before I can rejig kit and sell stuff, the prices leap up again. If Leica does not get the M9 right, heaven help them.