A Trend Underway? Selling Off M bodies ?

<i>A Gullwing in mint condition is worth $850,000, for your reference. I bought one at $80,000.</i>

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Is that a special order M camera?

I'm surprised Leica is till around.

 

As to the M8: It'll be about as successful as the DMR.

yeah. I don't know why Leica is even bothering with the M8 when a bunch of people who post on the internet have already declared it a failure with outmoded technology that will only appeal to a tiny number of buyers. They should stop their plans to produce the M8 and close up shop. Shut the factory down. After all, a bunch of people on the Leica Photography Forum already know that the M8 is a losing proposition. Might as well give up and be done with it; sell the company for ten cents on the dollar and count their blessings. :-)

After countless years of unalloyed, dewy-eyed ardor for everything Leitz/Leica, it's refreshing to see that some people at least are displaying some clear-eyed skepticism.

Sandy:

 

I am glad that you were prudent enough to snatch a Gullwing at 80k - good move.

 

I may be wrong but at this juncture I don't believe they are in the 850k range now - a few years ago some sold in this range & then it tapered off - a lot - has to be an early mint non-restored example but I'm guessing this is what you probably bought.

Gullwing...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Mercedes-Benz-SL-Class-1954-Mercedes-Benz-

Gullwing_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ6338QQihZ012QQitemZ220018835054QQrdZ1

First link not working...

Here we try again...

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Mercedes-Benz-SL-Class-1954-Mercedes-Benz-

Gullwing_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ6338QQihZ012QQitemZ220018835054QQrdZ1

Luigi:

 

I believe the site here blocks any ebay links - easiest to refer to the item as 220018835054 & if anyone's interested they can find it that way.

The html on this site gets screwy with long URLs, is all. No need for conspiracy theories....

Only because I was concerned that I had understated my opinions:

 

http://www.classiccarsmagazine.co.uk/vehicle/by-id/1220//finance.ehtml

 

Of course - these are merely recent auction prices either meeting reserve or not.

 

Of course this is not indicitive of selling between private parties - wherein prices could be a lot more or a lot less depending on a lot of variables.

 

Back to Leica ...

So, is the M8 feng shui correct?

I did a poll here several months back and most here are very seasoned photographers in age. I hope we "live long and Prosper" and can afford any advances that add to our enjoyment of our photography. some quick observations.

 

Most who are on the cutting edge of change can afford not to immediately liquidate film bodies to purchase an M8.

 

However, if they are real users they will start saving lots of money with digital after thousand of exposures vs. what film would cost. Also, they will find that using digital they can easily overcome RF inherent limitations in predicting DOF and exact framing by looking at the LCD and the doing a redo.

 

I predict after 6 months of saving on film and not missing it too much that like Nikon F5 and other high end film cameras prices will go down faster than at any time in the last 15 years.

 

My poll showed a lot of the this forums responses showed 4 or more M bodies per member. Now add a camera that tends to make the others collect dust while they go down in value. If the new M8 can do B&W well a lot of film cameras will get sold off.

 

My poll show many forum folks would rather have something near to FF or FF instead of the M8 crop factor. But the M8 will easily sell out for the next few years.

 

Others have no use for the M7 or M8 since they are not mechanical cameras that can be maintained for decades and have battery dependance. These folks will love adding cheap mint cameras to their collections since more will be available.

 

Lastly, collectors won't be interested in the M8. I don't see the price of Apple computers from 20 years ago going up do you?

I think there will soon be a glut of MPs and M7s on ebay. That will drive down prices of everything else.

"As to the M8: It'll be about as successful as the DMR."

 

Really?

 

The DMR had to compete with every DSLR and it's brother in a SLR world obsessed with

meg count and gadgetry . To me it was a camera for those already buying into the Leica

optical option, whether you agree with them or not.

 

For now at least, what will the M8 have to compete with ? ... given that there are those who

DO use range-finders and like the size and shooting style inherent with them.

 

I have no intention of selling my M7 to fund a M8. I use the M7 for B&W film shots at

weddings and will continue to do so. Practically speaking, the M8 will take over tasks from

the ciderblock sized Canon pro DSLR and it's attendant mega sized fast glass... and I

personally know of 3 other close associates that plan to do the same thing.

 

For anyone who has lugged around a DSLR & lenses for 8 hours while shooting a wedding

this will be a breath of fresh air ... literally and figuratively.

 

10 meg. 1.33X sensor supported by excellent optics (Leica or Zeiss or whatever) is more

than enough for the wedding work, even when cropped, that rarely produces more than a

8X10 sized print.

 

Lots of people obsessed with the finances of these cameras aren't looking at the real value

... using the damned thing ... not studying a spead sheet of potential ROI from the

hardware itself.

So, how did the preditions pan out? All I see is the rapid appreciation of lenses (some doubled, some tripled!) since this thread first started. It makes me regret some recent sales around the same timeframe: Noct at $1500, 35 lux asph at $1350, 75 lux at $1100, for example. The falling $ must have something to do with it, as well as the introduction of the M8, which I don't own. Oh well, I've been out of the market since.