M10 Battery BP-SCL5 availability

JeffS7444 said:
Probably excellent candidates for rebuilding: Likely no actual fault with them, save that their state of charge fell below a recommended threshold.
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Indeed, but I’m not paying $AU310 to get a dead case and then also paying to repack it.

If battery doctor can help I’ll let you know.

Edit: battery doctor says they probably can. I’ll send my dead battery to them tomorrow.
 
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boojum said:
The question is why are batteries hard or impossible to find? Are they incredibly complex? Are they very hard to manufacture?
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I don’t get it, a company the size of Leica is tiny compared to SonyCanonNikon, with comparitively insignificant sales volume, yet they are still financed well enough to design and manufacture sophisticated digital computers utilizing modern sensors. Sourcing these sensors is a challenge in and of itself, due to the nature of semi-conductor scheduling and manufacturing. They are nowhere near reaching the economies of scale of the big guys. These challenges are orders of magnitude more intensive in every way compared to sourcing or manufacturing a lithium battery…yet they have succeeded nonetheless.

So the battery situation is a confusing conundrum. It appears the battery is just outsourced to Varta Indonesia (and perhaps others) anyway...so is this simply a result of poor management and planning?
 
splitimageview said:
I don’t get it, a company the size of Leica is tiny compared to SonyCanonNikon, with comparitively insignificant sales volume, yet they are still financed well enough to design and manufacture sophisticated digital computers utilizing modern sensors. Sourcing these sensors is a challenge in and of itself, due to the nature of semi-conductor scheduling and manufacturing. They are nowhere near reaching the economies of scale of the big guys. These challenges are orders of magnitude more intensive in every way compared to sourcing or manufacturing a lithium battery…yet they have succeeded nonetheless.

So the battery situation is a confusing conundrum. It appears the battery is just outsourced to Varta Indonesia (and perhaps others) anyway...so is this simply a result of poor management and planning?
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My conspiracy theory is that some upper management tsar in Wetzlar was snoozing on the job, failed to reply to an order email from Varta, and Leica lost their slot in the queue.
 
This whole battery problem and attendant despair and discussion is like a dysfunctional family. Some make excuses and cover up for the bad behavior. Others say the shit show should stop. But the battery problem is not the result of rational behavior. This is not how a well run business operates. No one is pointing to Leica and saying, "Boy, they sure know how to run a business."

They can build a camera, yes. That's engineering. That's just a part of the company. Then there are the suits and paper shuffles, the awful triumvirate: "MBA's, cost accounting and marketing".
 
Could be as simple as minimum battery orders being large relative to number of M10s sold, and made doubly complicated by the fact that Leica created 2 battery variations.
 
JeffS7444 said:
Could be as simple as minimum battery orders being large relative to number of M10s sold, and made doubly complicated by the fact that Leica created 2 battery variations.
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It could be. OTOH the manufacturer has some obligation to supply batteries. Follow it to the extreme, a camera manufacturer who sells the camera but not the battery. I found this figure of ~1,100 built. M10-D production numbers? I am not sure but I would bet that someone, somewhere in the world could be persuaded to make, say, 3,000 batteries.

The M9, OTOH, is reputed to have sold between 35,000 and 40,000.

I cannot find figures for the M11.

Years ago I read of some custom boot-maker on Saville Row whose shoes were legendary, and very expensive. They also had a reputation for pinching your toes despite being bespoke. Could pain be a companion of conspicuous consumption?
 
boojum said:
Years ago I read of some custom boot-maker on Saville Row whose shoes were legendary, and very expensive. They also had a reputation for pinching your toes despite being bespoke. Could pain be a companion of conspicuous consumption?
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As an aside: most classic footwear is not designed for foot comfort, it's made for looks. Most anatomically correct shoes/sneakers look abominable, like duck feet, and that subjective judgement is a product of a lifetime of visual indoctrination to a certain aesthetic of a symmetrical toe. Feet aren't shaped like this, but most footwear makers continue with this style.
 
boojum said:
It could be. OTOH the manufacturer has some obligation to supply batteries. Follow it to the extreme, a camera manufacturer who sells the camera but not the battery. I found this figure of ~1,100 built. M10-D production numbers? I am not sure but I would bet that someone, somewhere in the world could be persuaded to make, say, 3,000 batteries.

The M9, OTOH, is reputed to have sold between 35,000 and 40,000.

I cannot find figures for the M11.
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The M10-D is the version with no screen and a manually cocked shutter. It is not an indicator of total production for the M10 series.
 
Freakscene said:
The M10-D is the version with no screen and a manually cocked shutter. It is not an indicator of total production for the M10 series.
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Right you are. My error. I jut tried now and have been unable to find the stats on M10 sales. I suspect if they were good we would hear about it.
 
Freakscene said:
The M10-D is the version with no screen and a manually cocked shutter. It is not an indicator of total production for the M10 series.
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The M10-D "wind lever" is a thumb rest, not a shutter cocking lever.

It's also not generally been Leica that published counts of camera models sold. All those numbers have been generated by analysis of serial numbers by Leica historians/enthusiasts after the model series has ended. The M10 series models have only been out of production a relatively short time, so the Leica historians/enthusiasts haven't yet analyzed all the different M10 models and their serial number ranges to provide such data.

G
 
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trix4ever said:
Thank you for this, I contacted Norm and he's going to repack one of my Rollei batteries for my 6008.
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I just wanted to say that I did get Norm to recell my Rollei 6008 battery and he could not have been more helpful, did a perfect job at sensible money.
Cannot recommend him highly enough for any battery rebuilding.
Thanks again for the tip, Mark
 
I meant to update this a few weeks ago but Leica LA actually received a small shipment and someone on FM was kind enough to notify us on a similar thread. I was able to place an order for two and received them. If anyone is still looking, they may still have some. I'm going there this weekend and I'll check as well but hopefully this means the end of the battery supply problem.
 
A shipment has come in and there are BP-SCL5 batteries available in Australia. Get ‘em while you can!

I ordered mine in March 2024, and got one yesterday. Still waiting on 4 more, but they are reputed to be coming.

Edit - the whole shipment is spoken for. Unless you have ordered one already there won’t be any in this shipment for you.
 
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For my curiosity are the various M10 the only Leica cameras for which batteries are not available? Are batteries for other mdels (Q, SL, M11 etc) availabe?
M10 batteries in Italy too are not available, you can make a reservation but without idea about delivery times!
 
robert blu said:
For my curiosity are the various M10 the only Leica cameras for which batteries are not available?
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The BP-SCL2 battery used by the M240/246/262 series has the same problem - out of stock everywhere, no commitment on delivery times but orders typically taking many months to be filled.
 
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