Used M8 What's up with prices (or down)?

[Al Kaplan]

It's pretty hard to argue about getting some M bodies, bought second hand for under $200 each way back in the 1960's and early 1970's, and no major work done to them in about forty years beyond changing the synch contacts and replacing chipped vulcanite.

http://thepriceofsilver.blogspot.com

 

[x-ray]

ROB-F is my all Time Super Crap Hero....:angel:

All the Best- 🙂 Helen

Crap happens!

Even at just under $2K I don't know if I would pay that. $2K will buy a lot of camera outside the Leica world. Anyway I'm really struggling with whether i want to stay as deeply invested in the film world. I have Canon digital for my work with a stack of prime L glass and L zooms but when I use the Canons for pleasure I associate them with work. I have a Canon G10 that I love using for pleasure because i don't use it for work. The same is true of my film gear, it's totally pleasure and sees little work use. The M8 would be strictly a pleasure machine too.

 

[Wiyum]

average price for used seems to be around $2500, u.s.

Where's that?

 

[back alley]

Where's that?

seen it here and there..😉

 

[climbing_vine]

When I say appreciating I mean they haven't dropped and have risen in price at least some. No they haven't kept up with inflation but I make a living with my cameras and if I toss them in the trash in the end It really doesn't matter.

Hey, more power to ya. 🙂 Just saying that's something different from "appreciating".

 

[gotium]

Well said

Well said

I can understand Helen's position on this. Not only is there the "coding crap" but also the "filter crap" and the "undersized framelines crap."

Thing is, though, that with the R-D1, you have the "rangefinder out of alignment crap" the "only three framelines crap" and the "can't even see the 28mm frameline with eyeglasses on crap." That is without counting the "only six megapixels crap" which I do not count as you can do a lot with 6MP.

So I bought the Nikon D200. It has the "focus confirmation with manual lenses is not worth a crap" crap; and the "focusing screen had the wrong shims under it so focusing by eye was way off" crap.

I do like my Leica D-lux 3 and D-lux 4. And I like my Leica M2, M6, and MP.

This pretty much sums up what goes through my mind every time I think about digital cameras, and has done so continuously for the past couple of years. Just can't find the right...well...you know? Thing.

So to @#$# with it. I just bought a Zeiss Ikon. And a scanner.

 

[Avotius]

I too have noticed that a lot of used M8's have dropped in price to a point where they start to get tempting. When my Canon 20D crapped out I thought about getting a 5D mk2 but it was in the same neighborhood as a used M8 and it didn't seem like that much of a stretch to me then but this and that happened and the money supply dried up and I ended up with a Olympus EP1 which is also a fine camera.

By the way nice to see you around again Don.

 

[leicashot]

I think that when the M9 is announced it will drive 'all' prices to go up, including the current M8, as it will be a cheaper way of people stepping into the M line who have their sites on an M9, but are 'currently' not in a position to aquire it at the time. Especially lens prices...expect them to rise, more so for used prices.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

If the new M9 is full-frame and under $7K, expect M8 and M8.2 prices to nose-dive. Closer to $10K+, expect M8.2 to be continued in production.

 

[MCTuomey]

I don't believe digital technology has anything particular to do with it. For the same reason that an MP costs 5 to 10 times that of an M2, depending on relative condition, the M9 will be valued at multiples of an M8/8.2. It's the process of technological advancement and the effect such advancement has on market pricing. Depreciation is accelerated by technological advancement - that's clear. Eventually the M8/M8.2 prices will decline, maybe not at a perfectly linear rate, but they will drop.

I'm glad for it, because eventually good gear falls into my price range. If you have to have the best and newest, you'll always pay for it. Some would say bottom-feeders like me "pay" in terms of not having the best, but that's not how it feels to my wallet. I can do without the best. I'm not skilled enough to need it anyway, to be honest.