Noctilux price increase

Exactly, though I am glad I bought mine used years ago.

Also, from my reading of posts on the Leica Users Forum, it's the increase in cost of a rare glass element, not a rare gas, that's responsible for the price increase. Leica is simply passing on the increased cost of materials.

varjag said:
If there's something that could sink Leica it's not Noctilux. The lens wasn't really a sales leader, or was it? Right now Leica Camera might have much bigger problem, but there's a different forum for that.
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I agree with Eugene. A whopping price increase on a product that is miniscule in terms of unit sales volume means very little. It will get people steamed, but it won't mean much. It may even result in a slight increase in sales. The very well heeled might see it as an incentive to collect this lens. I think it was Steichen (maybe Stiegletz?) who increased his portrait fees from about $100 to $1000 to cut down on the number of sittings, and it had the opposite effect.

I think Leica is saying that they really don't want to manufacture this lens any more.
 
The $1500 price increase nicely coincides with the 30% discount for M8 buyers. Guess what lens people were most interested in.
 
furcafe said:
it's the increase in cost of a rare glass element, not a rare gas, that's responsible for the price increase.
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LOL, one hell of a typo eh?

Trius said:
I agree with Eugene. A whopping price increase on a product that is miniscule in terms of unit sales volume means very little.
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It's an image thing for Leica. When ppl scan thru a camera catalog and sees the tiny Leica section, the price will further position the brand into the tiny niche of rich man's toy. Like the items here: http://most-expensive.net/ Anything here you like? other than to just window shop?
 
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NIKON KIU said:
Well I have news for you,
Nikon prices are decreasing!!

Kiu
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Really? If so, screwmount 50/1.1s may start going up again! Given that a recent test posted in a thread here seemed to show that their performance is pretty comparable to the Noctilux's, the collector prices this lens brings suddenly don't sound so wild...
 
patrickjames said:
The Noctilux is a lens that few of us would buy new. The issue I think for most Leica users is that this will raise the price on used examples making it more difficult to purchase (and afford) this lens. The vast majority of people that would buy a Noctilux new don't care about that increase. It is a status symbol type of lens for most people that have the money to afford it. This increase opens the door for CZ or CV to make something similar. Maybe in the long run there will be a better lens than the Noctilux for less money and we will all be better off, after all is it really that great? Seriously?
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Yes I do think the used prices will trend up at least in the short term. And if it is the cost of materials they will stay up. I got a version 1 (E58) last year - I really wanted the first version - a wee bit smaller and takes very available filters & hood. It is a wonderful lens but it does have a narrow application. You have to like the way it draws an image at f1.0 and it is magic at night. But it is pretty heavy and not very practical as a "carry round" normal. Takes great pictures at smaller apertures though - I certainly will not be selling mine - I love it. I think many posts above are correct this is just crazy but if there is continuing demand for the lens no matter what the price you can't blame Leica for trying to make a few extra pennies.
 
Lucky one`s who have it already, and lucky me that I never wanted to own nocty 😀
As for zeiss 50 f/1! Yeah! I am up for it! just for sake of experimentalism (But for $2000) 😀
 
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patrickjames said:
This increase opens the door for CZ or CV to make something similar. Maybe in the long run there will be a better lens than the Noctilux for less money and we will all be better off, after all is it really that great? Seriously?
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There already is: the CV 35/1.2. Half a stop slower, but larger FOV (= easier hand-holding) and .7m minimum distance.
Great OOF behavior too. In all practical terms the lens seems equivalent, in particular if used on an M8 with crop factor.

The Noctilux is a status symbol. The type of users who bought it new before will keep buying it new, whatever the price.

A few weeks ago there was a Hexanon 60/1.2 on ebay for less than US 2000 BIN for several days. If there would be
demand in Noctilux functionality, this lens would have been gone much quicker - go figure.

My 2 cents,

Roland.
 
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Right.. I'm just waiting for 50/0.75 Heligon to pop, and adapt it to the Contax 🙂
 
jlw said:
"rare gas used in the production..."???

maybe somebody at Leica is sniffing this rare gas, and that's how they got the idea of using it as an excuse to stick the customer with a $1,500 price increase. If that's the case, I hope they include a sample vial with the purchase of a lens...
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I think they should include a vial with the M8 too, along with those 2 free IR filters😀

About 3 years ago I stopped in a camera store and almost bought a really clean Noctilux (the previous style with the separate hood) for $1600. Seemed like a huge extravagance at the time :bang:
 
Why doesn't CV make lenses with identical specs and dimension as the Leica lineup? It would seem like a great way to steal some sales from Leica. If the CV version is even 85% of Leica's optica or build quality, I'd gladly swap out the Leica for the CV. Too bad the CV35 1.2 is so much bigger than the Leica 35 1.4..
 
ywenz said:
Too bad the CV35 1.2 is so much bigger than the Leica 35 1.4..
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Yes, but the 35 1.7 is smaller, and not *that* much slower. 😀 I'm more bothered by the 35 1.2 being M only. I have a lot of LTM bodies that I'd love to use it on.
 
ywenz said:
Why doesn't CV make lenses with identical specs and dimension as the Leica lineup? It would seem like a great way to steal some sales from Leica. If the CV version is even 85% of Leica's optica or build quality, I'd gladly swap out the Leica for the CV. Too bad the CV35 1.2 is so much bigger than the Leica 35 1.4..
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There is a 40/1.4 that's small.

Plus, hey, they have a 50/2 that doesn't flare.

Roland.
 
All of the Hong Kong dealers who listed the Noctilux on eBay for the best prices are out of stock. I've been putting off buying a Noctilux for a long time, thinking I could always get one whenever I wanted. Clever marketing strategy by Leica to force everyone's hand who had been holding out. But who knows how many of the new ones they'll sell. The $5000+ price will be a real show stopper.

T.
 
I very much doubt there is some kind of big price problem with the cost of any rare optical glasses used in the Noctilux. If anything, their prices should be coming down. I am an amateur astronomer, and I don't see the costs of any of the advanced refractors going up, and they all use large rare optical glass elemnts that are hand figured to the accuracy of a fraction of a wavelength of light. The apochromats use three elements, one of which is usually fluorite or a related rare glass. You can buy one whopping big refractor for $5,000. Leica is BSing if this is really their story.

T.
 
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