Relative Values

[Martin Horne]

Having being hit harder than most by ye olde credit crunch most of my Leica gear has now been sold. (M7, Winder, f2 50mm, 50mm Elmar, M3, mint meters, cases, half cases etc). I've done well enough to keep the wolf from the door if only temporarily and a lot of nice people have picked up a lot of nice gear into the bargain.

To avoid being without a film camera I had a look round and have picked up the following:

Canon A1 mint, Canon f1.4 50mm mint, Canon f2.8 28mm mint-, Canon Winder A mint-.

For all of the above and some odd caps and lens/body covers my total laid out is still less than £100 UK.

Anyway, knowing what I paid and what I made for the leica stuff it's made me think a lot about whether £500 quid for a nice M2/M3 body really is good value.

I suppose everything is relative and the market will find a way but you get a lot of very good FD for not much cash nowadays - certainly made me think a bit harder...

My Luigi strap looks very good on the Canon by the way!

 

[sevo]

YMMV - arguably, a Leica is overpriced relative to the high-end eighties and nineties reflexes currently overflowing the market. I got my Nikon F4 for little more than 100€. However, the F4 will predictably be beyond repair if it breaks in more than five or ten years time, while a M3 will be fixable as long as there still are watchmakers tools and odd bits of brass to be found on this devastated planet.

Sevo

 

[Roger Hicks]

Anyway, knowing what I paid and what I made for the leica stuff it's made me think a lot about whether £500 quid for a nice M2/M3 body really is good value.

Dear Martin,

There's good value (to you personally), and there's what it costs. Only you can correlate the two.

I've sold a lot of stuff when I've been broke. But not the Leicas I earn a living with (Ms not screw-mount).

Tashi Delek,

Roger

 

[kermaier]

I loved my Canon F-1 and A-1 bodies, and I found the Canon FD glass to be superb. I sold off much of it when I found myself using digital in all the situations where I used to use 35mm film. (Now I use various LTM and M-mount lenses, including vintage Canon and Leica, on an R-D1; I only run film through my Rolleiflex TLR anymore.)

I know it's heresy to some, but some of the Canon FD lenses are without a doubt the equal of any Leica lenses. I mean the 24/2, 35/2, 50/1.4 SSC, 50/1.2L, 85/1.2L, 100/2, 135/2 -- all really first rate, and at a tiny fraction of the cost of Leica glass.

If value is in image quality per dollar, than the top Canon lenses blow Leica out of the water. If value is in retaining resale value and versatility (FD is an orphan lens mount) over time, Leica is the hands-down winner. If value is in image quality regardless of cost, Leica might have an edge in some lens pairings, but you'll only see it in the hands of the best photogs under ideal conditions.

My $0.02

 

[Keith]

The financial squeeze has forced me to sell a lot of gear lately to survive so I know how you feel ... it's not fun! 🙁

My last bastion of quality image making gear when all else had gone would be my OM SLR bodies and lenses, worth very little in reality so no point in selling ... but with just these I know I could still take photos that would make me happy and life would still be OK! 🙂

 

[Rui Morais de Sousa]

Hi Martin,

It is sad to hear a story like yours, but I am sure that you are not the only one. This whole crisis seems to have no end...

Until now, I can be happy to be able to keep my Leicas, but only because I am lucky enough to have a nice and helpful girlfriend and a helpful mother...

The assignments almost stopped coming in, but the costs and taxes don't let me take a rest. I wonder if I can keep my studio for long, I wonder if it all still makes sense...

I am 53, not an easy age for a change.

Just in case things get worse, I am trying to acquire a certain taste for cheap high-quality equipment. So lately I bought a pristine Carl Zeiss Flektogon (equivalent to Distagon) for 34 euros+shipping... Opticaly not much worse than Leica...

But it still keeps beeing hard to buy film, and I can't help wondering for how long I will be able to do it...

It's getting tougher and tougher to keep the flame.

Wish you all, and everybody, better times, what reminded me of an old Neil Young song:
"Good times are coming, I hear it everywhere I go.
Good times are coming, but they're surelly coming slow!".

Cheers,

Rui

 

[waileong]

The value of something is not just what it does. Else Rolls Royces would find no market since Hyundais can also get you from Point A to Point B.

Leica camera values are thus based more on their picture taking ability or specs. It is the cost of craftsmanship, which is why how people pay more for Swiss watches than Timexes. The quality of construction, form and design, feel and pleasure from holding and using a classic ... all this is part of the value.

As to whether the price premium you pay is worth it relative to a Japanese SLR, that's really up to you because we all value things differently.

 

[Melvin]

Martin, I doubt if even a Canon A-1 could keep one from taking a good picture, should the opportunity arise.😉