Would you buy a limited edition digital Leica?

I went the opposite route. I got a stripped down used M Type 262. But I do love all those limited editions. Some of them are right purdy.
 
noisycheese said:
Yes - I bought the M-P 240 Safari in April of 2015. Regarding "shameless cash grabs," the Safari kit was actually less expensive than buying an M-P 240 and a chrome 35 Summichron ASPH would have been, which is what prompted me to upgrade from my black M240.


I have never grown tired of the olive green & chrome finish.

The limited edition M cameras are a mixed bag - some look great like the Safari cameras and the Monochrom 246 Stealth edition while some are uglier than a bag of rotten xxxxxx.
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After nothing but black camera bodies ever since a Nikon D50 (damn, that’s a long time ago) I grew tired of the same body color and particularly of Leica black chrome. Bought an M10-P Safari for same price as the others and it just looks cool. Visually more appealing. There’s something to that.
 
Darthfeeble said:
Shelf life of Digitals is only limited by the owners need to have the latest and greatest. I have an Epson R-D1 from the middle '90s that still makes wonderful image quality.
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Mid 200X, more likely. I seem to recall that my Canon EOS D30 (3 mp) was introduced in 2001+/-1 year or so. I certainly bought it second-hand during spring 2003 at about 1/3 of its price as new.

OTOH, I still use what I replaced it with in 2006, a Canon EOS 30D (8mp), so I do agree with the point you make, although you are off by 10 years..
 
raid said:
There is nothing classical about a digital camera. I view such cameras as practical solutions.
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Good take, this. How does any company promote a "classic" model while simultaneously pushing the upgrade treadmill typical of, among many things, digital cameras? "Classics" come out of an environment of 'A Lifetime of Great Photography', and saving perhaps two months of family income to purchase an M3 that your grand-daughter now uses. Digital image capture hasn't even been around long enough to be thinking of 'classic-ness'.
 
I've been following this topic with some interest. I conceived of and helped Leica produce the LHSA special editions since the Black Paint M6TTL. I was disappointed with the typical special editions Leica had done with the LHSA prior to the black paint cameras. I agree there is nothing "special" about engravings and body covering making a camera special, as Leica eventually did with the a la carte program. The black paint was the first baby step, with a finish Leica no longer did for regular production, even questioning why anyone would want the inferior black paint finish compared to the "superior" black chrome.
Hammertone was the next up and I wanted to do a finish that had only been done to special order for ten MD cameras. We also did a "retro" version of the 35/2 for it.
Pulled out all the stops with the MP3. I wanted to give everyone a chance to own an MP as close to the original. We did the "retro" classic 50 Lux with it, which turned out to be a hit on its own and Leica has done several versions of it since.
The recent 50 APO LHSA Special was the latest endevour, and sold out immediately after the intro.
I am very proud of how well received these specials have been, the idea to be offering something really different or something that had become unobtanium like the original Hammertone or MP camera.
We considered doing a special edition digital camera, but that did not happen for various reasons. Unfortunately unlike film cameras, digital cameras are somewhat disposable after a number of years, so not a sound basis for a limited edition.
 
Being a tight git I would not dream of paying extra for a limited edition of a camera unless it was something like £5 more That being said I do love cameras with alternatives to the usual black leather and a nice green will always appeal but cameras are purchased to take photographs and I would not pay significant amounts more for a pretty version.
 
derleicaman said:
I've been following this topic with some interest. I conceived of and helped Leica produce the LHSA special editions since the Black Paint M6TTL. I was disappointed with the typical special editions Leica had done with the LHSA prior to the black paint cameras. I agree there is nothing "special" about engravings and body covering making a camera special, as Leica eventually did with the a la carte program. The black paint was the first baby step, with a finish Leica no longer did for regular production, even questioning why anyone would want the inferior black paint finish compared to the "superior" black chrome.
Hammertone was the next up and I wanted to do a finish that had only been done to special order for ten MD cameras. We also did a "retro" version of the 35/2 for it.
Pulled out all the stops with the MP3. I wanted to give everyone a chance to own an MP as close to the original. We did the "retro" classic 50 Lux with it, which turned out to be a hit on its own and Leica has done several versions of it since.
The recent 50 APO LHSA Special was the latest endevour, and sold out immediately after the intro.
I am very proud of how well received these specials have been, the idea to be offering something really different or something that had become unobtanium like the original Hammertone or MP camera.
We considered doing a special edition digital camera, but that did not happen for various reasons. Unfortunately unlike film cameras, digital cameras are somewhat disposable after a number of years, so not a sound basis for a limited edition.
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How did I miss this reply? Thank you for the thought and input that has gone into the special edition film bodies. Did you have anything to do with the anthracite or full titanium MP? An anthracite MP is a contender for my dream camera. I've seen three in shops; two in Hong Kong, one in Japan. Each time, it was out of my budget, and now they are so rare and expensive it's ridiculous.

Do you get much feedback about whether the special editions are being used or just collected? I met a man in Melbourne who was using his MP-6. It looked so good!
 
derleicaman said:
I've been following this topic with some interest. I conceived of and helped Leica produce the LHSA special editions since the Black Paint M6TTL. I was disappointed with the typical special editions Leica had done with the LHSA prior to the black paint cameras. I agree there is nothing "special" about engravings and body covering making a camera special, as Leica eventually did with the a la carte program. The black paint was the first baby step, with a finish Leica no longer did for regular production, even questioning why anyone would want the inferior black paint finish compared to the "superior" black chrome.
Hammertone was the next up and I wanted to do a finish that had only been done to special order for ten MD cameras. We also did a "retro" version of the 35/2 for it.
Pulled out all the stops with the MP3. I wanted to give everyone a chance to own an MP as close to the original. We did the "retro" classic 50 Lux with it, which turned out to be a hit on its own and Leica has done several versions of it since.
The recent 50 APO LHSA Special was the latest endevour, and sold out immediately after the intro.
I am very proud of how well received these specials have been, the idea to be offering something really different or something that had become unobtanium like the original Hammertone or MP camera.
We considered doing a special edition digital camera, but that did not happen for various reasons. Unfortunately unlike film cameras, digital cameras are somewhat disposable after a number of years, so not a sound basis for a limited edition.
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Interesting to hear your input on this. What do you think of the fact that Leica is no longer supporting the M6TTL? Those lovely special editions are now also somewhat disposable...
 
No

Even if I had unlimited funds, this would be a hard pass for me. I already feel that digital Leica's are overpriced for what they are. A company charging more money for something cheaper to manufacture tends to turn me off. That alone would prevent me from purchasing such a camera. Add to the mix that I dislike limited editions (the majority of which I find cheesy at best) and you are essentially wrapping a camera that does not interest me in a limited edition configuration that turns me off and the end result is rather repulsive as far as I'm concerned. That is not to say that someone couldn't produce wonderful images with such a camera, but it just wouldn't be for me.
 
No way would I buy a "Limited Edition" digital camera. Electronics survivability after many years is too uncertain.

If I had $35,000 to buy a camera I would look for a Leica I(A), ideally with an Anastigmat or Elmax and (hopefully) in user/working condition.
 
I have bought limited edition Leica film cameras because I wanted the black paint lenses. Too bad I didn’t keep the bodies because they are worth 8 to 10 times now. I am not interested in digital so likely not.
 
No, I wouldn't.
Their regular edition equipment is already over-priced and over-hyped, and offers no discernable improvement in image quality over the Nikon gear I've always used, so why would I be further fleeced by the cleverness of Leica's marketing weasels?
Another Kardashian Moment for Rangefinder Forum.
Robert
 
Just looked at one of my cheap, secondhand limited edition Leicas and the instructions in German show the menu screens are in English. That suggests you have to be bilingual to use them if only one language is available. I forgot to look and check that it was American English, which would be worse...


Regards, David
 
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