Leica's M9 and Mini M plan

wayne.mills said:
...in your spendid isolation, you may not be aware that the US Sub-prime loan fiasco.. (throw in Oil prices)...has caused a veritable Tsunami in World financial markets...including here in Australia...so I would agree...the timing for a FF M9 is not good .....the M8 does 95% of what the market wants is to do..that is...record digital files of very high quality...how many how many of us mere mortals who have already bitten the M8 bullet are going to shell out to another $6K for so or for the other 5% with a World Recession looming???
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I didn't think the US was a very big market for Leica? I thought Japan was??
 
An M10 with Nikon D3/D700 electronics???? Let Leica concentrate on the tooling and engineering of the lens/body, and adopt the existing technology of an existing product. Maybe Nikon needs to make a digital SP??? Flack jacket colors - camo green, grey, beige or WHITE for hot climates or the artic regions <vbg>.
 
Yep, looking forward to shoot with my CV 35 F1.2 🙂

I hope on a Leica Mini M, or otherwise I buy a M8 after the Photokina
 
I am also waiting to see if it will be a another second hand M8, or an mini M or such... If there really is an M9 coming I guess it will be too expensive....

Well, never mind - the M8 is good enough anyway!
 
Leica mini M

Leica mini M

aniMal said:
I am also waiting to see if it will be a another second hand M8, or an mini M or such... If there really is an M9 coming I guess it will be too expensive....

Well, never mind - the M8 is good enough anyway!
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I agree, after waiting so long, I'm really looking forward to buy a M8
I can't wait to put this gem onto a M8 🙂
Silver on black, looks beautifull isn't ?
ultron_28M_F1.9.jpg

Today I received my new Ultron 28M F1.9
 
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Their problem is that they didn't have the lower end solutions in place promptly after the release of the M8. They should have had a lower end, maybe Panasonic partnered M solution for a lower price within a quarter or two of the M8's launch. They need momentum, and by differing the perceived quality and features they can exponentially gain momentum with a broader product offering in this category (digital M mount solutions).

Regarding the Summarits impacting the Summicrons and Luxes, these are completely non overlapping markets. The speeds, and prices dictate a completely different market than the f2.5 Summarits.

If you need the look, and build quality of a f2 asph cron, you will only get that from a $2795 (current USD BH price) asph cron. If you need f1.4, an asph lux.
 
leicasniper said:
How could Leica have produced a lower priced M mount digital at the same time as the M8? I can't see how anything but the case could have been different. Maybe made the case of plastic? And a lower priced M mount would have killed the M8 cold, dead.
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Not if the the Leica M8 will stay for a longer time, and will be upgradable
with full frame sensor, etc.
The mini leica will be a nice back-up camera, or a beginners M mount camera for starters.
I really hope that the leica M8 will be upgradeable in the future, instead of a completely new Leica M9, Leica customers don't like to buy a new camera every year...
 
leicasniper said:
Wouldn't it be sweet looking through that EVF and trying to manually focus? 🙂
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Military people would say that. If it includes super advanced IR who detects people showing white colour and all other vising only green 😀 Temperature control of surroudings would be great. Sounds it way too sweet?
 
They probably couldn't

They probably couldn't

but possibly could with a partner like Panasonic. Look at the D700 and D3 similarities. The D700 might take away a few D3 sales, but the aggregate of both products allows Nikon to increase their market share of the FF DSLR market, immediately increasing market share and revenues, along with lenses, peripherals, and ultimately profits as newer cost reduced and upgraded versions come out for the larger market share that the lower priced but closely featured D700 offers.

leicasniper said:
How could Leica have produced a lower priced M mount digital at the same time as the M8? I can't see how anything but the case could have been different. Maybe made the case of plastic? And a lower priced M mount would have killed the M8 cold, dead.
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I would say that the perfect move now would be to bring out some mini M - and at the same time offer some upgrades on the M8.

What if it was possible to upgrade with a new and better sensor of the same size and pixels? But with something the same as the low light capabilties of the D3/700?

If that was the case, Leica would in my opinion be fully back in position as a major and leading camera producers. It would send a signal that M8 is here for the long haul, as has been the hallmark of all Ms.

If that were to happen, I would straight away by another M8 before the prices on second hands climb. Then I would upgrade one of the bodies only, and at a later stage....

The best thing is that it is really feasible, provided that one sticks to the same size and 10 mpix...
 
POINT OF VIEW said:
Crisis? Leica is the only company in the world making a digital rangefinder camera ( a excellent camera, in my opinion, I might add). They just came out with 4 brand new lens. They have the only real professional Rangefinder film camera in the world. Last but not least they are designing lens for some very fine point and shoot plus midrange cameras. That doesn’t look like a crisis to me.
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Brittanica made the finest enyclopedias in the world. Solid business, world wide sales. Their crisis was that the subsitutes (MBA speak within the Porters 5 forces model) were far too strong.

Leica may be the best, but it doesn't mean they can be in a crisis. They haven't got a good track record for sound business sense either. They may be making more lenses, but is this the right strategy IF they aren't progressing into new innovative ideas, where quality still is the USP for a particular camera type?

Darrin
 
Hehehehehehehehe....

Me too, I will do a lot of work with my M9 too. Won`t bother to read the manual thought - it is just aperture, range and shutter as with all Ms...

Which is really wonderful about M8 & 9!!!
 
Hehe - usually I style my Ms after getting them.

That is, getting those marks and scratches that come from running amok looking for great pictures...
 
Whew! EIGHT PAGES of arguments and speculation, but not one person has brought up this FACT: Leica announced an upgrade path for the M8 earlier this year, and emphatically stated that there was a path to upgrade the internals of the camera, alluding to improved sensors, electronics, etal. Now it doesn't take a rocket scientist (or does it?) to figure out this MIGHT include the ability to drop a FF sensor in an M8 body and re-designate it as maybe an M9! Additionally, no one has pointed out that NOT ONE of Leica's current lenses has been re-designed specifically to accommodate the cropped sensor of the current M8, resulting in the same lens issues facing any DSLR manufacturer-the performance of "old" technology lenses has issues with DX (or, Leica's equivalent to them) sized sensors. SOME (not by any means all!) of the problems with Leica's sensor can, I believe, be attributed to this near fatal flaw. With its limited resources, the best course for Leica IMHO would be to re-design the SENSOR to full frame, thus recovering the stellar performance of its world-class lenses and also recovering "face" in the photographic community. Just my two cents!
 
MacDaddy said:
"old" technology lenses has issues with DX (or, Leica's equivalent to them) sized sensors. SOME (not by any means all!) of the problems with Leica's sensor can, I believe, be attributed to this near fatal flaw
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Speaking of facts: when do you suppose --I'm sorry: know-- my M8 will die, due to this "near fatal flaw" of cropped factors?
 
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