M9 Titanium so there you have it!

[dogberryjr]

6 pages of 'Ugly, wretched excess, Leica is gone downhill again, etc, etc...". Heck, I only posted here to boost my post count...

Hi, Mr. Wretched Excess Commenter here. My point is that while I appreciate both technical and aesthetic advances (or even attempts), I don't understand the need for a titanium camera. Hasn't everyone agreed already that just about any body will outlast the usefulness of digital guts?

 

[amateriat]

I understand the titanium lenshood can also be thrown like a ninja star, with deadly effect.

Really? I was thinking of using it to shape ground beef on a butcher block to make perfectly-sized sliders. Mmmm...Leica sliders...!


- Barrett

 

[amateriat]

Why???

Does a titanium shell triple the production costs?

Mr. Barnum would be smiling.

My first Konica Hexar RF body, brand-new, set me back about a grand. The Kit that my second body came with, was just a bit more than that. Titanium top, bottom, front and side plates, finished in a fairly tough, warm-to-the-touch, semi-matte black epoxy. Anything Leica has built with more than a lick of ti in it has been pricier by at least a factor of five. Even Konica's Millenium Edition of the Hex, with that wild 50 f/1.2 lens, sold at a less-than-slap-happy price.

That said, I don't think the M9T is ugly. In a way, I sort of like it, and, as special-edition jobs go, this one's relatively restrained. It'll be interesting to see where Solms goes with the new VF tech. It is not, however, a dance-in-the-streets development on the level of Fuji's X100, which may likely retail at a bit under 1/20 the "Teica's" asking price. (Of course, Fuji, in their preemptive announcement, effectively peed in everybody's punch-bowl, not just Leica's.)


- Barrett

 

[Nikkor AIS]

oo double tap

 

[Nikkor AIS]

Has anyone heard what grade of titanium Leica is using for their M9T?

 

[Bill Blackwell]

I agree with those who had responses along the lines of "What was Leica thinking?" It's M9 ala M5 Titanium...

... But I also think they'll sell-out very quickly.

 

[robklurfield]

Of those of us who said the M9t is ugly, I wonder how many would have a more charitable opinion if the price were around $2,995? or $2,295??? Maybe that extra digit to the left of the decimal point is decisive. I'd probably have had fewer nasty things to say in my posts if the darned thing weren't so expensive.

 

[robklurfield]

Porsche didn't get it right either... a new 2011 Speedster... only 356 of them to be produced at $263,000. I also won't be buying one of those too soon.

Looks okay, but the original Speedster concept was take the tub from a Cabriolet and strip it down to its bare essence to make it lighter and cheaper. Mission not accomplished when the new one costs twice what a Carrera cab does.

Maybe Leica should partner with Porsche on these limited editions, selling a car and camera together. If one our very well-to-do RFF pals buys one of each, I'll gladly use their M9t to take pix from the passenger seat of the Speedster.

http://www.egmcartech.com/2010/09/2...-porsche-911-speedster-only-356-will-be-made/

 

[Tony Rose]

Unfortunately I will sell everyone we can have delivered from Leica USA. Probably only a very few kits will ever be bought within the USA.

 

[Japan---Exposures]

No retro look here then, bravo.

 

[amateriat]

No retro look here then, bravo.

Well, look at it this way: to someone taking a pic of their kids at the museum with an iPhone*, ALL these other cameras are "retro", or, perhaps, "antique."

Meanwhile, here are today's scores:

Fuji X100 thread: 900

Leica M9T thread: 152 (okay, 153 including my missive)

Again: bring on the X100!

(*Spent a rare, and long, Sunday at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Lots of people taking pics with iPhones, the rest lugging big-ass dSLRs for no particularly good reason, IMO.)


- Barrett

 

[Ken Shipman]

You've heard of a concept car? This is like a concept camera. Disregard the Titan Limited Edition facade. They're testing the waters for future mass production design. The end product might take a piece here, a piece there, a piece over there, and throw away the rest. It's what modern marketing is all about.

 

[CK Dexter Haven]

Special edition Leicas have always been scorned. Remember the king of Thailand gold edition? They are not about functionality, they are purely about profit for the company, which is a GOOD thing isn't it? We all want Leica to survive.

They would be more profitable if they focused their attentions to developing real-world products that more consumers would both want and afford. If they're bound and determined to remain an elitist, niche brand, they're going to continue to struggle and have to release offensive tripe like this.

What happened to their vow to put out a system for R-users? BS distractions like this aren't helping them reach that objective. They give us a limited edition collector's mishmash that will never see actual use by an actual photographer, and re-releases of Panasonic products. What happened to serving PHOTOGRAPHERS? They owe their reputation to the street and the trench, not the showcase.

 

[Lss]

Of those of us who said the M9t is ugly, I wonder how many would have a more charitable opinion if the price were around $2,995? or $2,295??? Maybe that extra digit to the left of the decimal point is decisive.

At $3k, I would say the weird leather-loop thing is ugly, sell my M8, and buy this baby. At $2.3k, I would do the same but probably keep my M8.

 

[Paul Luscher]

I guess I see it this way: Having one of these would be like owning a gold-plated Porsche.I'm not mad or offended that Leica did this--just doesn't interest me. It just not very practical--I'll take a humble black M, thank you.

I AM interested in the LED framelines, though. I 've had problems with the framelines going very dim or disappearing when shooting in low light. So this MIGHT tempt me into buying an M10 (if I can afford it), if it came with this feature.

And, Amateriat, when I saw "titanium," I thought the same thing: Hexar RF. A camera that disappeared too son. A nice and VERY AFFORDABLE use of titanium. Now why can't Leica think of that?

 

[jaapv]

Maybe Leica should partner with Porsche on these limited editions, selling a car and camera together. If one our very well-to-do RFF pals buys one of each, I'll gladly use their M9t to take pix from the passenger seat of the Speedster.

http://www.egmcartech.com/2010/09/2...-porsche-911-speedster-only-356-will-be-made/

They do. R8-R9 was Porsche design, Summarit production line was by Porsche, M9Ti was by Volkswagen aka Porsche.

 

[ywenz]

Of those of us who said the M9t is ugly, I wonder how many would have a more charitable opinion if the price were around $2,995? or $2,295??? Maybe that extra digit to the left of the decimal point is decisive. I'd probably have had fewer nasty things to say in my posts if the darned thing weren't so expensive.

No, at that price I would purchase a normal M9.. even if both were the same $.

There's a visceral appeal to that wrap-around leatherette and the prism window that the M9T is lacking. And knowing that money went towards purchasing a machine with classic design appeals rather than a flavor of the month edition.

 

[JayGannon]

They would be more profitable if they focused their attentions to developing real-world products that more consumers would both want and afford. If they're bound and determined to remain an elitist, niche brand, they're going to continue to struggle and have to release offensive tripe like this.

What happened to their vow to put out a system for R-users? BS distractions like this aren't helping them reach that objective. They give us a limited edition collector's mishmash that will never see actual use by an actual photographer, and re-releases of Panasonic products. What happened to serving PHOTOGRAPHERS? They owe their reputation to the street and the trench, not the showcase.

I'm sorry but your incredibily wrong here.

Leica will make massive profit on each of these and that money will go into developing those systems for you and I.

As for it being offensive, stop being angry at someone just because they pay more than you for something. They owe their reputation for limited editions to their limite editions not their 'trenches' models. Their entirely different things and Leica has done special editions right back into the 1930's.

 

[antiquark]

M9Ti was by Volkswagen

I can believe it, maybe it was inspired by an old VW design...


VW Thing, 1974 by kura-grill, on Flickr

 

[Paddy C]

You would think Leica killed some people's family members here. Sheesh.

I think it's a neat looking design and I also think Leica must innovate on that front if it wishes to continue. Just releasing an M10 that is a slight spec upgrade from the M9 wouldn't do much for them. This leads the way to something bolder.

But forget about this special edition. What is more problematic, if you are a Leica fan, is the rest of the program.

The usual re-badged Panasonics at twice the price. And a black X1 that is already history because Fuji just beat it into the ground with the X100. And I mean six feet into the ground.

Then you have the S system that appears (I'm absolutely not and never will be in this market sector) to be beat handily by the Pentax 645D (or whatever it's called).