The Future Price of a Leica M6

[twhittle]

I am considering purchasing an '86 M6 body only from a friend. I do not need it at all but the price is good and I could afford it now if I knew that I'd get a good return on it.

I just got into film cameras before the prices really went up, and then I remember thinking they'd reached their summit- but still prices have gone up. With the combination of part scarcity, age of the camera, technicians retiring without passing their trade on and film supply in constant flux:

Do people think that film camera prices have plateaued? Are they still going up? Will there be a crash?

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Take it easy. Are you into taking pictures with film Leica M adventure or into worrying with accounting and predictions on big data involved?

From my Leica film M shooter perspective and buying, service experience prices didn't went up, they are steady.
Do not look at speculants listings. Have a look for how much M6 is sold for real.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=Leica+M6&_sacat=0&LH_Sold=1
Same prices I have seen couple of years ago.

You really need to buy M only once 🙂.
I'm keeping just one film M for now. It is trashed well enough by me, so I'll keep on sending it for service (hopefully, I'll be able to afford it for some time) and using it until I'm able to buy film.


Just think about it. iPhone is purchased for 1K every other year by many as soon as "new" model is shoveled on the market. Basically millions of people are speeding 1K every other year to buy some prestige and nothing else.
M6 is purchasable in the range of 1300-1500 even from eBay. So, private user to user sale should be at least 10% less.

Again, just think about it. If you'll get M6 now and buy film in bulks, plus chemicals you could have five years of shooting M6 experience. Autonomic, like submariner on expedition to Arctic. Serviced and not over-abused M6 will make it for five years. Film and chemicals lasts five years at easy. I just developed #29 and #30 C-41 rolls of film in one year old kit, which was purchased 4+ years ago.

Within this period of time iPhone crowd will spend much more on updating their prestige status. And those who are buying every digital camera made by Leica Camera AG will spend much more. 🙂

 

[Roger Hicks]

Take it easy. Are you into taking pictures with film Leica M adventure or into worrying with accounting and predictions on big data involved?

From my Leica film M shooter perspective and buying, service experience prices didn't went up, they are steady.
Do not look at speculants listings. Have a look for how much M6 is sold for real.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=Leica+M6&_sacat=0&LH_Sold=1
Same prices I have seen couple of years ago.

You really need to buy M only once 🙂.
I'm keeping just one film M for now. It is trashed well enough by me, so I'll keep on sending it for service (hopefully, I'll be able to afford it for some time) and using it until I'm able to buy film.


Just think about it. iPhone is purchased for 1K every other year by many as soon as "new" model is shoveled on the market. Basically millions of people are speeding 1K every other year to buy some prestige and nothing else.
M6 is purchasable in the range of 1300-1500 even from eBay. So, private user to user sale should be at least 10% less.

Again, just think about it. If you'll get M6 now and buy film in bulks, plus chemicals you could have five years of shooting M6 experience. Autonomic, like submariner on expedition to Arctic. Serviced and not over-abused M6 will make it for five years. Film and chemicals lasts five years at easy. I just developed #29 and #30 C-41 rolls of film in one year old kit, which was purchased 4+ years ago.

Within this period of time iPhone crowd will spend much more on updating their prestige status. And those who are buying every digital camera made by Leica Camera AG will spend much more. 🙂

Well, yes. The OP admits he doesn't need it, so why is he buying it? If it's just because he wants it, that's fine too, but if it's an investment, as you say, what is he going to do with ?

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Well, yes. The OP admits he doesn't need it, so why is he buying it? If it's just because he wants it, that's fine too, but if it's an investment, as you say, what is he going to do with ?

One of the books I have is with prints taken by film M.
Author of this book grabbed M4 just because it was available and cheap.
It spend couple of years in his office desk (newspaper reporter) before he realised what it was all he needs camera.

 

[Roger Hicks]

One of the books I have is with prints taken by film M.
Author of this book grabbed M4 just because it was available and cheap.
It spend couple of years in his office desk (newspaper reporter) before he realised what it was all he needs camera.

Ah, yes. I had assumed, foolishly and without any basis whatsoever, that he already had a Leica. But of course you are right: everyone has to start somewhere.

But even if he bought it; hated it; and sold it for half what he paid; well, if he can't afford to take a modest risk and a loss of a few hundred, can he afford to buy it anyway?

Cheers,

R.

 

[Richard G]

I think Ko.Fe is right. In the scheme of things one should not fear stepping onto Leica territory. My second-hand dealer told me over a year ago that prices of second-hand film cameras are going up. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if they have have or have not plateaued. Another year of our lives has gone and that’s much more important. Do I regret buying the Hasselblad and the IIIf in that time? No way.

The OP would like to have an M6. He really ought to get it. Wonderful camera, maybe the most successful Leica of all. Fate brought him to this opportunity. He must take it. The alternative hardly bears thinking about.

 

[davidnewtonguitars]

I predict that all Leica cameras will increase in value beyond what we can imagine, or they will become curious paperweights and be worth a few dollars. The future is fuzzy.

 

[jbharrill1]

When I was considering purchasing a Leica m4-p to replace the CL I had I was told if the price is right, you can't go wrong. If anything it's an investment and in a few years you'll make a couple bucks if you decide to sell, or at the very least get what you paid for it.

 

[David Hughes]

Hmmm, it's not a rule carved in stone but, in general, prices go up and, in general, they sometimes go down. It really depends on a lot of things and there's no way you can be absolutely certain. I've bought cult cameras for a tenth of their ebay peak price for some years* and think it's mostly a matter of keeping your ears and eye working and knowing what you want...

And luck comes into it.

Regards, David


*The last two within the last couple of months.

 

[David Hughes]

When I was considering purchasing a Leica m4-p to replace the CL I had I was told if the price is right, you can't go wrong. If anything it's an investment and in a few years you'll make a couple bucks if you decide to sell, or at the very least get what you paid for it.

Hi,

It might work over a "few" years but use it and keep it long term and you'll find it going back for repairs and general servicing. Add that cost to the original price and you'd be better off putting the money in a savings bank.

That's based on my Leica CL and M2 and ignoring inflation.

Regards, David

 

[rfaspen]

My cameras, like my cars, are not treated like investments -- At all.

When I acquire a camera, I don't think of resale value at all. The price I pay needs to be weighed against my desire for it, and the value it will provide me in terms of making photographs. I own Leicas, and it was a big decision to spend the money required to get them, but it was done without any regard whatsoever to selling them at any point in the future. Just coincidence that some of them seem to sell for higher prices today, but most of them sell for less! Not a problem for me 🙂

Having said that, I have indeed sold some of my photographic gear from time to time in order to fund another photo-related purchase. But, it was all based on current situation. In other words, no planning or strategy of any kind. I simply looked in the closet and noticed that I wasn't using the Rollei 2003 system much anymore, and I would prefer to have a digital M. So, sold some stuff, bought some stuff. Thus goes the spinning world...

 

[giganova]

I did this two years ago. Not much change since then:

 

[JeffS7444]

In the past, I've done pretty well buying and selling Leicas, but I was aided by a couple of (once-in-a-lifetime?) factors: The Japanese "bubble economy" of the 1980s, and the boom in Chinese luxury buying up until 2012 or so. Yes, for a brief while, it was possible to buy a lens for $2600 new, play with it for a few years, then turn around and sell it for $4700 or more, but those days are over.

Today, I think if you can buy secondhand Leica M gear, use it for a few years then resell for 80% of your original price, you are doing pretty good.

I do get the sense that some prices are rising, but to me it looks like a lot of mini-trends which come and go seemingly overnight, and the total dollar amounts are pretty modest.

 

[giganova]

M6 won't go up noticeable over the next few years, so this would not be a good investment.

But if you have money and time, you can make more money. I have a friend who bought empty lots in metropolitan areas in sketchy neighborhood for peanuts in the 80s and 90s. Now he is selling them for six figures apiece! Another friend of mine bought new VW Beetle convertibles each time he had a little bit of spare money in the 80s and put them in his barn. He is selling them now for big bucks because they are essentially new with maybe 10 miles on the odometer.

 

[philosli]

I never buy a camera anticipating I will sell it in a few years. I pull the trigger only if i am pretty sure at that moment I will keep it for the foreseeable future.

But I must say prediction is hard, in particular about the future. I may sell me cameras when money is tight. Or when one day I change my mind to go full digital. Who knows?

 

[michaelwj]

In Australia, we are a small market and so the cost of globally traded goods like Leicas are largely dependent on foreign exchange rates.
I bought my first Leica (a beat up M6) for A$750 and sold it eight years later for A$1750. It appears that I made A$1000 with eight years use, but over the same time the A$ went from buying US$1.05 to US$0.65, so I would have made a large chunk of that buying US$, and the rest from inflation.

 

[muser53]

i don't view cameras as investments. They are tools to be used. That being said film Leica M's hold their value better than any other cameras I can think of. If you want one buy a good one use it and if the time comes you must sell it you'll get a better return than most cameras out there.

 

[Steve M.]

No one knows. I have seen these things go up and down for several decades. When the Japanese started collecting lots of cameras, prices went up. When they recently started selling them, prices went down. But that's only true for some cameras and in some markets.

There are so many variables that have nothing to do w/ anything else, you can't get a grip on it. If we could, we would all be rich playing the stock markets.

In general, buy at what the market rate is (or lower), condition and functionality are everything unless it's a collectible, and buy what you like to shoot. I would never advise someone to buy photography gear as an investment. If you find a steal at a cheap price, then you can flip it, but "investing" is not what I would suggest.

 

[aizan]

i would buy it. film production is reestablishing itself for smaller quantities, and new repairmen are indeed being trained. on the other hand, the manufacture of new film cameras with the same mechanical complexity as a leica m is uncertain. i think prices for an m6 are going to keep creeping up for the foreseeable future.

 

[DanskDynamit]

prices IMO are not going up, M cameras are keeping their value over time but you can still find bargains here and there. I wouldn't buy a Leica M as an investment unless is half price of the average price and I would resell it right away.
Maybe this website helps:
http://collectiblend.com/Cameras/Leitz/M6.html