Price increase for Leica USA and M8 Delivery

[taffer]

Now we only need somebody building a digital Canonet for $500 to use it as a backup or at late night parties 😛

 

[RML]

Nice thing about digital cameras depreciating quickly is that you no longer have to worry about that depreciation. You can just keep it, use it and abuse it until it's entirely worn out and defunct. Than, a decade or more later, you buy a new one. 🙂

 

[kbg32]

From what I have read, the M8 will be the same size as the M7. Same physical dimensions. As far as megapixel wars, they are over. Now it is up to the manufacturers to refine what we have. 10-16 megapixels is more then enough for any any commercial usage. 8 can do in a pinch as well. My agencies have even lowered their file size requirements over the last year.

Leica is on the right track, but I wish it was full frame as well, and 12 megapixels not 10. I'll wait for a review until I plunk my money down.

 

[Will]

I can't imagine having the cash for a M8 anytime in the not-so-near future. That being said, I hope and hope that the camera is done right, because it'll be nice to have the option available when I need it and can afford it.

Matt, you read my mind

 

[Will]

The Audi A4 1.8 I bought in 1997 at some 27,000 Euros is now for sale at 2,000 and I can't find anyone willing to spent that much money on a car that old. Even if it has had a CLA recently and the engine has less then 80,000 km.

I don't think any camera will be worse in this regard.

OTOH, the house my father built in 1998 for some 200,000 Euro is now worth 350,000.

I dont think any camera will be better in this regard, either.

Socke,

Let's don't tie it with investment..

We get entertainment value out of a good car or a camera..

 

[Will]

As long as it is still taking as good a picture as the day I bought it, who cares? But that said, if digital technology advances so far in the next 10 years that a 10 megapixel 1.33 crop camera is worthless, what makes you think the film version will be worth anything? Not to start a digital versus film thing here, but the quality of pro digital at this point is certainly on par with film at equal sizes, and if it advances so much that today's technology is worthless, then film is going to be decidedly outclassed. Will people still use it? Probably. Hell, I probably will too, but it will not be because it provides a technically superior print...

If the M8 is the only "pro" choice in digital RF in the next few years, the users will still be happy..

Just listen to those happy R-D1 owners now..

 

[Socke]

Socke,

Let's don't tie it with investment..

We get entertainment value out of a good car or a camera..

Don't forget the entertainment value of a bedroom or a bathroom with a big tub 😉

 

[grantray]

From what I have read, the M8 will be the same size as the M7. Same physical dimensions. As far as megapixel wars, they are over. Now it is up to the manufacturers to refine what we have. 10-16 megapixels is more then enough for any any commercial usage. 8 can do in a pinch as well. My agencies have even lowered their file size requirements over the last year.

Leica is on the right track, but I wish it was full frame as well, and 12 megapixels not 10. I'll wait for a review until I plunk my money down.

Agreed. Digi-backed Hassy's with 22 mega-pixels are capable of wall-sized prints with virtually NO noise when properly used. I've seen these types of prints in galleries down in Chelsea and they can be breathtaking. A ten mega-pixel camera with Leica or Zeiss glass should be capable of 22" prints.

I also think Leica will continue the MP line as a sister camera to the M8 just as it does now in regards to the M7.

-grant

 

[Will]

Don't forget the entertainment value of a bedroom or a bathroom with a big tub 😉

Lucky that doesn't effect the resale value of your investment home..

and people compain an used camera with smells..

Back to the M8, other than Jorge, anyone is in for sure?

 

[Ken Ford]

I have great interest in a digital M, but will probably wait until a full-frame body is released.

I very much like the 1.5 crop on my DSLRs, but that's because I use them 95% of the time with teles. To me, an RF is a wide angle through short tele machine, and I don't want to give up the wide end.

I have to admit that I much prefer digital workflow over wet! That, and I've found I tend to be much more experimental with digital because I can chimp and adjust. I also tend to shoot 200% to 300% as much with digital due to the low cost per frame and not having to worry about roll changes at inopportune times.

 

[Burkey]

Well, hummm. . . Interesting. I've always assumed that I will not be able to afford the digital m at $5K so the announcmnet to me is just sorta', intersting at best. But, to call it the M8 instead of the DM or similar is a real surprise.

 

[kbg32]

My only concern about the new M8, is the chip is from Kodak, and we know how successful their pro cameras have been.......

 

[Mark Norton]

I'm in, No 2 at Robert White here in the UK.

 

[sdai]

you can buy new leica m7's here in china and hong kong for about 2500-2700 USD. Which is why I kind of laugh at the prices at say....KEH for a used M7 that is the same or just 100-200 dollars less then here. But then of course there is always the customs fees you would have to pay for there, actually being in China is the key to that little doozy.

I have no doubt that Leica will sell a boat load of M8 in China ... Chinese people have a strong obssession with the number 8 plus RMB is strong against almost all major currencies in the world. Well ... I'll wait another 5 or 6 years because my lucky number is 9 😀

 

[sdai]

I do wonder how well a digital camera will hold up in a couple of years... Would anyone consider buying a 8 year old digital camera? Not me, for sure.

Will you buy a six-month-old computer? 😀

 

[x-ray]

It's really funny how Kodak can't make a camera using their own chip. Unlike their cameras the Kodak chips have proven to be some of the best CCD's made. The highly regarded Leaf backs use Kodak chips and I think one or two of the others use them aswell.

For many shooters digital is of no savings over film but for a commercial studio like mine it does. Before I went digital nearly seven years ago I was spending roughly $90,000 per year on film, processing and polaroid. I now spend $30,000 - $40,000 per year on upgraded equipmement and now charge for image processing, retouching and color correction of raw files. It's a big savings and satisfies the client with quality and speed. Another bonus is clients like to review and check images as we shoot. This takes time and time is money to me. In the end there been quite a net gain for my studio.

Look at the demand for the high end digital gear. Canon can hardly keep up with demand for the 1DsMKII and the 1DMKII. New the 1DsII is $8,000 and is a fantastic camera. Also look at the success of the high end MF backs, a 22MP back without body cost around $27,000. I think Leica is banking on a portion of the PJ market going back to Leicas and the pro studio using them and I think they're right. Look at the equipment many amateurs have. I was in Wyoming a couple of years ago and the amateurs had more long L and ED glass than I've seen outside of a major sporting event. If the M8 performs well I think Leica has a real winner even at 1.33x.

 

[sdai]

Leaf backs use DALSA CCDs produced in Waterloo, Onatrio.

 

[Will]

I'm in, No 2 at Robert White here in the UK.

People, we have 2!

Will there be any dedicated lens design for the chop factor?

 

[xrogers]

Phase One backs (including the P45 39Mp) use Kodak CCDs, as do the Imacon backs and Betterlight scanning backs. Jenoptik has used Kodak in the past, but currently has joined Leaf in using Dalsa. Earlier Kodak DSLRs used Kodak sensors, and were well respected cameras. The last round of Kodak DSLRs used a CMOS sensor from FillFactory (not Kodak, how strange...)that was unusable at ISOs over 400. This camera was not a success, and ended Kodak's DSLR line.

Kodak (and Dalsa) medium format CCD sensors have a reputation for great color accuracy, subtle gradation and excellent dynamic range (reportedly better than any Canon or Nikon DSLR, I couldn't say from personal experience). Users of the DMR report the same attributes in the smaller Kodak sensor it uses. Kodak and Dalsa sensors don't provide the low noise at high ISO of a Canon DSLR sensor (although some DMR users claim ISO 1600, while noisier than Canon, is still perfectly acceptable).

WARNING, ENTERING SPECULATION MODE, WARNING. I expect the M8 won't have the high ISO performance of a Canon DSLR, but that said, it easily could provide better results (sufficent resolution, low noise, with superior color and dynamic range) at ISO 400 and lower. At 800 and 1600, it should be quite good, but expect Canon's low noise to provide noticibly cleaner images. I also expect these differences to be rather slim, and typically less important than ergonomics, audiable noise, lens requirements, or size and weight differences (any of which could push you to Canon, Nikon, Leica M8, or a film camera).

I'm looking forward to seeing results from this camera.

 

[Avotius]

I have no doubt that Leica will sell a boat load of M8 in China ... Chinese people have a strong obssession with the number 8 plus RMB is strong against almost all major currencies in the world. Well ... I'll wait another 5 or 6 years because my lucky number is 9 😀

yeah, you should see how many resturants around here are named 666 and how many photographers you see wandering around with m6's....

either way though 40,000 RMB is a hell of a lot of money for a lot of people here. At a normal college here that is about....9-10 years tuition....or about 50 years salery for the typical person