Lowest price for M8

[loneranger]

What do you guys think will be the bottom price for a used leica M8 in the future, will it ever get to say..$400 or will it bottom at about $1000 like the M6.

 

[Keith]

I'd supect that a year from now there may be a few around a little rough cosmetically and higher shutter actuation for around $1500.00 ... I couldn't see the camera ever going much lower than this though!

 

[FrankS]

In 3 years from now ... $500.

We'll just have to wait and see.

 

[Keith]

The lowest used rate these days seems to be $2,750-2,850. Quite a drop from new not long ago. The problem with digital is that it depreciates very rapidly as the technology is always improving and new bodies are coming out, making the previous generation "obsolete." Leica is a bit of an anomaly as a) there are no new models of the M8 (sorry, the M8.2 doesn't count) and b) well, it's Leica. Canon and Nikon for example, are a vicious cycle of upgrades by comparison.

But all good things must come to an end. Right now the M8 is still a very, very good camera and equally usable. It won't last; in another year or two the specs of the M8 will be rather sad as compared to the status quo whereas right now it's still reasonably competitive. Of course, that's not to say the M8 will take worse pictures in a year than it does right now... But no one will be looking at 10MP cameras the same way they do today.

Naturally, the value will continue to drop. Unlike film which is just as good today as it was 50 years ago... The M8 is living on borrowed time. I doubt it'll become "worthless" or "cheaper to keep than to sell" but it'll remain valuable to many as long as there's no alternative available. And right now the only one is the Epson R-D1 which is already yesterday's news.

The M8 might remain collectible for some, but as a shooting tool it's becoming less and less relevant.

I agree to a point but also think that there are sufficient people out there who are smart enough to know that 10 megapixels is a sweet spot and will be well aware that they need no more for 90% of their shooting needs.

The current generation full frame DSLR's that can show us the hairs on fly's backside are all very well but they are in more danger of ending up as landfill than the M8 IMO!

 

[George S.]

Keith, you're using common sense, there's no room for that in the digital marketing arena! I don't think there's anywhere near enough people who will realize that they don't need the biggest and bestest body to matter a whole lot in the buying public. They will be told otherwise. I'm betting that in two years people will be told over and over, and they will believe that they would be ABSOLUTELY FOOLISH to consider buying a digital SLR with less than 20 or 25 Megapixels.... the "consumer" SLRs will probably be 15 to 20 MP by then....

 

[George S.]

The M8 might remain collectible for some, but as a shooting tool it's becoming less and less relevant.

And it will continue to become less relevant until the day arrives that you can't give one away, much less sell it for $1000. I'm not bashing the M8 or Leica, it just happens to all digitals. It'll happen to the M8 also. Some take a couple of years, some may take 5 years or maybe a bit more for most of the camera buying public to feel that the M8 " is not worth wasting your time on".

 

[Keith]

If they're going to be giving their M8's away this must mean they will actually have to pay us to take an Epson off their hands ... I'm looking forward to that! 😛

Seriously ... it will be very interesting to see what eventuates.

 

[Dingo]

An R-D1 in mint condition still sells over $1500 US here in Hong Kong, M8 won't go worse than that in the coming future.

 

[FrankS]

A lot will depend on whether or not new RF digi cameras are built to replace the M8 and RD-1. At the moment they are the only RF digi game in town.

 

[swoop]

Looking at the R-D1 which sells for about $1500 and is years old, all used, 6MP, and a 1.5x crop factor. The M8 will hold its value for awhile. and I doubt will ever see less than $2k and that's well used and beat to hell. because the M9 isn't coming for at least two years. And if you're worried about the M8.2. For $1700 you can upgrade a perfectly good M8 to M8.2 specs with the exception of snapshot mode and shutter delay. Nothing detrimental.

10MP is fine for everything. I've seen 11x14 prints from 8MP Canon 20D's that were beautiful. I use a 7.5MP DMC-L1 on occasion for professional work that gets regular print. No one is complaining about quality. Pixels are severely overrated. And most of these digital images stay digital and just end up getting resized to 1024 or something like that. If anything more pixels are just a waste of hard drive space.

 

[kuzano]

??? What time window... ten years, fifteen???

??? What time window... ten years, fifteen???

Ten years... may have to hunt a bit to find the hardware to get the pictures out of the camera... Fifteen years, you better have kept the hardware around and in running condition to get the pictures out of the camera.

Otherwise... just a paperweight. Not just the M8... all current digital capture hardware.

Remember what happened to all serial devices (cameras, drives, comm devices, scanners, printers) that ran on Serial and parallel Ports less than fifteen years ago? It will happen... it's happening as we type these posts.

My money says film will still be available, as will processing when the current inventory of camera's will have little or no access to the images they capture.

Does the M8 (and most others) use firewire, bluetooth or infrared for image transfer? Or, any other wireless connect?

 

[bunkawen14]

"in another year or two the specs of the M8 will be rather sad as compared to the status quo whereas right now it's still reasonably competitive..."

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we've reached this state already. Comparably priced - and substantially cheaper - offerings from Canon, Nikon and Sony in reality go well beyond the M8 in IQ, especially when coupled with the right lenses.

I own the new 5D Mk II, and am a longtime and happily productive, if not entirely happy owner of the M8. Based on extensive experience, the new Canon far exceeds the M8 in file quality, in print quality, in versatility in shooting conditions, in battery life, color acuracy, (I regret most having to say the following, given Leica's history of streamlined, functional design) in menu structure, and I could go on.

Two weeks ago I used the two cameras side by side for a studio portraiture shoot, using my best Leica glass and my best Canon glass, some of which happens to be vintage manual focus Pentax glass used with focus confirming adapters. I did so with no preconceived notions of results, having worked the M8 extensively and to good effect with studio nudes in the past. I don't think I'll ever shoot the Leica again for this purpose, so great was the difference.

The only advantages I can conceive for the M8 today are form factor for street work or other situations where discretion (although not noise discretion. There the Canon wins again) is important. Sheer affection for Leicas and rangefinder photography, or the desire to amortize a large investment in the gear. By the way, I've overcome much of the form factor issue in street work by shooting with small, fixed lenses, including beautiful old Pentaxes and tiny Olympuses.

I have no idea what the future value of the used M8 will be. (I'm not selling mine, mostly out of inertia.)

What I can say is that having decided to get into digital, Leica needs to go whole hog, accepting the planned obsolescene inherent in digital photography. What does this mean right now? It means a new sensor and other improvements are already overdue.

Samples of my work with both cameras can be found here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aglimpseoftheworld/
and on my website: howardwfrench.net

 

[infrequent]

if it gets down to USD2000, i might bite. the best price right now is around USD2750. down to USD1500 would be a bonus.

 

[Dingo]

Quite a few comments mentioned large size printings, I believe this should not be a major concern unless it is for commercial purposes. I have printed some 24"X36" photos from R-D1 and they are perfect for wall exhibitions.

 

[noimmunity]

if it gets down to USD2000, i might bite. the best price right now is around USD2750. down to USD1500 would be a bonus.

The lowest I have seen was $2200, in exc condition from a reputable seller. And that doesn't include US local lists like Craigslist and Fred and Miranda.
But anything around $2700 is a good price if the unit isn't a beater.

I don't think the price of either the R-D1 or the M8 will fall to the bottom until there is another viable and reasonably priced platform for M and LTM lenses that also provides a similar viewfinder experience. The next Leica, if ever, will only be astronomically expensive. But eventually somebody will come out with another dRF that is for everybody with M/LTM glass.

With the G1, it's not just the crop factor, but also (for me) the difference in the viewfinder. This is not a criticism of the superb EVF on the G1, but rather just a simple distinction between the view it provides and the view an RF viewfinder provides. They are different, and it makes a difference for some people.

 

[jbf]

Personally the downfalls of the m8 are not it's megapixel range. It's the fact that it cant handle high ISO very well, and it isnt a full frame sensor.

 

[Richard Marks]

Well I think its going to be interesting to see if an M9 happens. If it does and its an improvement on an M8 then M8 prices will inevtiably tumble. If on the other hand there is no M9 then M8 prices will I expect stay quite high. Interestingly in the UK the R9 DMR backs are very highly sought after and I have not seen one go for less than £2,000. Admitedly sales of these were very low.

Richard

 

[PrisonersDilema]

M8 Uk

M8 Uk

I ordered an M8 at USD3000 inclusive of 7% GST (goods and services tax), shipping and insurance charges.

From the UK where the British pound crash and the concurrent Leica cashback offers produces one of the best environments for a purchase.

Tri-Elmar 16-18-21 going for 3200USD. Anyone?

 

[DWatts]

What with the Leica reduction I bought an M* just before this last Christmas from a Leica main dealer in the U.K.for £1700 so I would to expect that it would be worth about half that in a few years time.
David Watts,
Cornwall

 

[DWatts]

Sorry that should have read an M8 should keep my fingers trained to stay off the 'shift' key !
David Watts,
Cornwall