M8 price - will it fall like it is typical for digital?

[Finder]

Of course. Leica has a long history of having K-Mart specials 6 months after a release to sell off stock. Since their cameras are marketed toward large sales volumes aimed at the average consumer, they will certainly be cutting prices. Just wait for the Christmas sales! And since Epson has a digital RF, the price may fall sooner - just look at the price drop of Leicas when the Bessa rangefinders were released and then again when Zeiss Icon came out with a model - thank goodness for Contax and Konica or Leicas would be way more than a couple of hundred bucks now.

 

[anaanda]

I ask myself if the price of the m8 will go down like it did with all digital cameras.
when buying a contax tvs digital my dealer said "that is the first digital camera that will keep its value". one year later it was nearly half. will the same thing happen to the m8? an upgrade to my M3 is as simple as can be: just put a new film in it...
don't know, but buying an m8 is like having bought a M3 with a fixed ADOX KB 17 Film...

Of course it will fall, its just a matter of when. The Leica Digilux 2 still goes for $1400, I think it was about $2000 new two years ago. The M8 two years from now will be around.... lets see $4750 new so slash 30% of that and that is...$3325 You can get an M7 used now for $1800-$2000. That camera new is $3495...do the math..That's around 50-60% of the original value..

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

I bought the Leica Digilux about ten years ago. It cost a fair bit then and it's worth nothing at all now. But still worth keeping just for photos for eBay sales.

Even my phone is a better camera that that Digilux!

 

[Bryce]

Quote:
"Of course. Leica has a long history of having K-Mart specials 6 months after a release to sell off stock. Since their cameras are marketed toward large sales volumes aimed at the average consumer, they will certainly be cutting prices. Just wait for the Christmas sales! And since Epson has a digital RF, the price may fall sooner - just look at the price drop of Leicas when the Bessa rangefinders were released and then again when Zeiss Icon came out with a model - thank goodness for Contax and Konica or Leicas would be way more than a couple of hundred bucks now."

Yeah. Just like the first time leicas became obsolete, when Nikon and friends introduced slr's with prism focusing and (gasp) built in meters....
Seriously, the presence of the M8 is proof that digital imaging is maturing. Canon is supposedly through adding pixels, at least to its high end models. The curve is flattening out.

 

[jaapv]

What sense does it make to ask this question anyway? The M8 is a photographic tool, not a future heirloom.I will buy mine to use, not to sell it at a profit. How much did your new car drop over five years? 50%,60%, 70%? You name it. I can buy a Mercedes S class of 10 years old, mint, for 10% of its original price. Still new cars get sold....

 

[Didier]

I bought the Leica Digilux about ten years ago.

10 years? You must have been much in advance in 1996, all others saw it 2004 first...
😉

It cost a fair bit then and it's worth nothing at all now.

I see several actual bids over $1000 on the auction site, and there's a dealer selling new ones with warranty for 1200EUR. This means that this camera kept much more value than comparable compact digis of 2004.

Even my phone is a better camera that that Digilux!

Personally I'd never have bought a camera with electronic viewfinder, if red-dotted or not; but I guess you just forgot to add the rant tag today.

Have fun with your fone!

Didier

Edit: oops I talked about the Digilux-2 - you probably talked about the Digilux 1 - sorry for that! 🙂

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

You're correct in your edit.

Have a nice day.

 

[hth]

It will not happen. Canon is incapable of making a RF camera that can compete with Leica, and Nikon cannot afford to.

The only company that has proved capable is Konica, and they have withdrawn from photo business.

Price drops of M8 will be dictated by Leica M9 (full frame) and the point when Leica has managed to produce enough M8s to fill the built up demand. The first will cause a significant drop for a short period, the latter some minor rebates caused by market actions with coupons and similar.

The M8 is a niche product that lacks competition in the marketplace.

/Håkan

Imagining a scenario where Leica, Canon and Nikon were to release cameras on the same day with comparable technical specifications, and then Canon and Nikon introduced successors every year but Leica's follow-up came three years later, would prices for the Leica over the three-year period behave more like those of a unique sui generis item whose own manufacturer had not issued a replacement, or would price erosion resemble that of the supplanted Nikon and Canon models?

 

[mfunnell]

Through institutional psychology Canon may "be incapable" of producing a competing rangefinder (although I'd guess more along the lines of "uninterested") - but they certainly have the technical and financial capacity to do so, if they choose to. When I was learning about threat assesments I was taught to look at capabilities before intentions (which are much more susceptible to change).

...Mike