Pricing for Didital M Lens

[paul_chan4]

The Noctilux with the 6-bit coding for the new Digital M is available from a

Hong Kong seller in the auction site for $3150. Prices for this new batch of

lenses would typically trend north. Looks like I need to ask Suzie Osman

whether I should take up that 2nd mortgage.

[vivek iyer]

Sounds like a bargain for an updated f/1 lens.

[working camera]

Vivek

 

...updated?

 

Leica just give it a barcode.

 

C

[vivek iyer]

Sure, Craig.

 

Genuine Wetzlar lick of paint to update the lens so that the M8 can recognize what has been mounted. :-)

[EricM]

bargain? $8200 for a digial camera with a 50mm? only in lala-Leica-lala land.

[vivek iyer]

All Noct lenses (used, of course) from other brands (C & N)have become so expensive that the new, updated Noct 50mm is not too far off in its pricing.

[terry_rory]

Eric ~ Photo.net Patron Prolific Poster, sep 03, 2006; 12:47 p.m.

"bargain? $8200 for a digial camera with a 50mm? only in lala-Leica-lala land."

 

The new Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM has an SRP of 1147 GB Pounds and the Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II has an SRP of 5999 GB Pounds.

 

That totals 7146 GB Pounds

 

At B&H the Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM is going to cost $1599 and the EOS 1DS Mark II is $6869

 

Total = $8495

[terry_rory]

Sorry. $8468

[eliot_rosen1]

Good one Trevor. :-)

[terry_rory]

Personally i'll be OK with a Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM on a D80 at ISO 1600 not so much 'la la' but more like 'plastic fantastic'!

 

I also have my M6/Voigt Nokton f/1.4 for a bit of old skool.

[EricM]

uhm, you really want to compare a pro Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II with a (toy?) M8?

[vivek iyer]

What make you think that the M8 is a toy, Eric?

[vinay_patel]

Especially since nobody's talking who's played with one.

[kevin m.]

A better comparison would be the 1D MkIIN with the M8. They both have the 1.3 crop

factor and they're both 'pro' cameras (though the jury is still out on the M8 for obvious

reasons) and they're both priced within spitting distance of the other.

 

If Leica can deliver the goods with the M8, then I know several wedding photographers

who sold their M's and switched to Canon but would be eager to switch back to use a

smaller, lighter body with a much better selection of wide-angle primes than Canon (or

Nikon) offers. Not to mention they'd no longer have to lug around a medium format-

sized body with features they don't need or use.

 

All speculation until Leica actually proves they can do it, though. ;-)

[EricM]

It's rhetorical, Vivek. Hence the (?). Personally, I don't think it's a toy in a condescending way, but a toy in the literal sense, of and for pleasure use, sure. The Canon? Not so, just a tool to make a living with.

 

I find it odd that someone would start comparing slr's with rf's when they're usually a proponent of not doing so? Maybe film vs digi will somehow get thrown into the thread next?

[vivek iyer]

Fair enough, Eric.

[kevin m.]

BTW, does anyone know if Canon or Nikon will EVER get off their asses and make a decent

wide-angle prime lens for the APS-C sensor cameras. I realize that most photogs are happy

with a 'fast' f2.8 zoon lens, but is there NO demand for prime lenses anymore?

[EricM]

Kevin, Nikon makes great primes in the sub 20mm range. They work great on D200's and such.

[vivek iyer]

<i>BTW, does anyone know if Canon or Nikon will EVER get off their asses and make a decent wide-angle prime lens for the APS-C sensor cameras.</i>

<p>

I hear that their a$$es are glued shut by their respective bean counters.

[terry_rory]

A pro camera is only a pro camera when used by a pro, otherwise they are all toys Eric. You should know this. If you sold a picture taken with a Stylus Epic then it is a tool. If you just tool around with an $8000 (Leica or Canon who cares?) and it never helps you earn a living then it is a toy. This is not to disparage either pros or hobbyists or whatever cameras they use. Just a fact. The wedding photographer who turns up with a D200 or a 50 year old Rollei TLR may be sneered at by 'Uncle Bob' with an 8000 dollar rig but who walks off with the fee?

[kevin m.]

"I don't think it's a toy in a condescending way, but a toy in the literal sense, of and for

pleasure use, sure. The Canon? Not so, just a tool to make a living with."

 

I made money with my M's. I liked using them. But the antidiluvial 1/50th flash sync and,

finally, the absence of a digital option forced my hand. A digtial M with a 1/250th flash sync

and a state of the art sensor will not be a "toy" in my book, but very much a useful alternative

to carrying around an oversized brick with a mediocre-performing zoom lens.

[kevin m.]

Are Nikon's primes under 35mm better than Canon's, Eric? Because with the possible

exception of the 24 f1.4L, all of Canon's primes under 35mm are mediocre, at best. And

even the 24L is no match for Leica glass.

 

It would still be nice, especially since Nikon has no full-frame sensor on the horizon, if they

would make a compact prime lens somewhere in the 18- 23mm ballpark. f1.4, preferably,

but I'd settle for f2.0. I want a compact camera, and I don't want to carry a 77mm filter, f2.8,

chromatic abberatin' zoom lens all day. ;-)

[andrew robertson]

Why not compare the Noctilux on a 1.3x 10MP crop camera to the EF 50 f/1.4 on a full

frame 13MP 5D?

 

Comes in at way under half the price of the Leica.

[EricM]

"I made money with my M's. I liked using them. But the antidiluvial 1/50th flash sync and, finally, the absence of a digital option forced my hand. A digtial M with a 1/250th flash sync and a state of the art sensor will not be a "toy" in my book, but very much a useful alternative to carrying around an oversized brick with a mediocre-performing zoom lens."

 

 

I hear you, Kevin. Almost all my paid and pleasure work is done with available light; documentary style. I would love a small light pocketable digi rf . But to sway me to an M8, or an RD-1s, and I doubt possible, the price would have to be half of what's expected, it would need to do at least 5 fps, have ttl flash just in case, and most importantly, more than three or four reasonably priced lens choices between the limiting focal lengths of 25mm to 135mm.

 

Sorry, I just don't see the value in an M8. It's a silly amount of money for what it is...a little box with mass produced electronics that other manufacturers have already done and paid the r&d for. I'd be game for it if I new it was the only camera system (tool) I needed and could invoice 20 times its worth every season. But it isn't. I'd take it out doing street once in awhile (toy).

[vivek iyer]

Nikon has exactly one prime lens for its APS-C dSLRs.

 

It is the 10.5mm f/2.8 AF-G fisheye lens.