List of products announced by Leica today...

[joshroot]

<p>Here's what I got via email:</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>I hope this email finds you well. Today at the Leica “Das Wesentliche” Event in Berlin, Leica Camera AG unveiled a host of new products to the Leica portfolio. We are pleased to share the following announcements:<br /><br /></p>

<ul>

<li>Leica S-System Expanded By Five S-Lenses With Central Shutter: Available From October 2012</li>

<li>Leica Camera AG Expands The Leica S Professional Camera System: New Leica S-Adapter H Enables use of Hasselblad H Lenses on the Leica S2</li>

<li>Leica M Monochrom: The Future Of Black-And-White Photography</li>

<li>New Leica Limited Editions: Leica M9-P “Edition Hermès” / Leica M9-P “Edition Hermès - Série Limiteé Jean-Louis Dumas”</li>

<li>Leica APO-Summicron-M 50 MM F/2 ASPH.: The New Milestone In Lens Construction</li>

<li>Leica X2: The Next Generation Of The Leica Compact Digital Camera</li>

<li>Leica V-Lux 40: Compact Camera With An Extensive Range Of Features</li>

</ul>

</blockquote>

<p>I have the pdf press releases for all of these if anyone is interested. But I'm sure they will appear elsewhere as well.</p>

<p>For most of us, the momochrome M is the most interesting in a practical sense. It's really amazing that we have finally reached the point in digital photography's evolution when companies can offer products like this. The</p>

[Dieter Schaefer]

<p>A $7k+ price tag for the 50/2 ASPH is apparently real: http://www.adorama.com/LC502MA.html?utm_term=Other&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=Other&utm_source=rflaid63773</p>

<p>Leica-M-Monochrome preview: http://www.dpreview.com/previews/leica-m-monochrom/</p>

[stephen_york3]

<p>I recall Leica saying years ago they could improve the 50 Summicron, but it would be expensive (read here, 'cost prohibitive'). And that's the reason they stayed with the '79 formula for so long. I guess they're true to their word. Some have already speculated that the price of used 50 Summicrons will go up too.</p>

[Dieter Schaefer]

<p>Minimum ISO on the M-Monochrome is 320 - does it come with an ND filter?</p>

<p>That must be some improvement over the old Summicron to justify a 3+x price tag...</p>

<p>And that 'lux 50 ASPH sure must be a dog - seeing that it costs less than half...</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>Whew! Every single other thing in the entire world now feels like a bargain, even those shoes my wife just bought. <br /><br />That must one incredible 50mm lens.</p>

[Dieter Schaefer]

<p>Just to get a little perspective - for $15K, I could get a Leica M-Monochrome and a 50/2 ASPH - or a Nikon D800E, 24/1.4, 35/1.4, 85/1.4, and a 200/2. Tough choice....</p>

[Matt Laur]

<blockquote>

<p>Tough choice....</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Not really, Dieter. The D800E shoots in color, which is an obvious disadvantage!<br /><br />Plainly, Leica's not really very worried about anyone comparing their new gear or pricing to anything else. They (Leica and their customers) are who they are, and they all seem pretty happy about things. I'd love to take that body and lens for a test drive, just for fun, but Leica's certainly not talking to me with their product line. Which leaves one more in inventory for a devoted Leicaphile, who will surely love it.</p>

[pcnilssen]

<p>And the Leica site seems to be down at the moment ...</p>

[eric friedemann]

<p>No Hermès Monochrome Edition- and Leica has the nerve to call itself a camera company!?</p>

[joshroot]

<p>Mocking Leica for being expensive is kind of silly at this point. It's like making Monica Lewinsky jokes. Yeah yeah we get it, a cigar. Leica knows their market and have sold to it for decades now. Lots of folks laughed at the price of the M9, but Leica had a hard time keeping them on the shelves for a while.</p>

<p>The monochrome Leica is a neat idea, at least in theory. We'll have to see how it performs. I doubt that I'll be shelling out my own money for one, but I'm sure glad that we've reached a point where digital component and r&d costs have dropped to such a level that we can start seeing niche products like this one. The product diversity for cameras is finally increasing again after years of "point and shoot, fixed lens prosumer, or DSLR"</p>

<p>In my opinion, it's a good time to be a photographer (not that it's ever been a bad time, but you see what I'm getting at).</p>

[Robin Smith]

<p>Clearly there must be room at the top!</p>

[eric friedemann]

<p><em>"Mocking Leica for being expensive is kind of silly at this point."</em></p>

<p>Mocking a camera company that caricatures itself by selling Hermès Edition cameras and $7K+ 50mm lenses never goes out of style. Seriously, how complete a douchebag- or douchèbag- would you have to be to buy a camera at a Hermès Botique? "Uhh ... I'll take a pair of the $1,100 'men's' sneakers that look like giant toddler shoes and one of those Leica cameras ... yes, the one covered in elephant penis foreskin."</p>

<p><a href="http://usa.hermes.com/man/shoes/sneakers/quantum/configurable-product-z-men-quantum-26815.html">http://usa.hermes.com/man/shoes/sneakers/quantum/configurable-product-z-men-quantum-26815.html</a></p>

[joshroot]

<p>Well, make up your mind. Are you mocking the people who buy such things or are you mocking Leica for offering products that people want to buy? If it's the latter, Leica wouldn't offer Hermes edition stuff and the like if people didn't buy it. Leica knows the market and caters to it, just like every company. If it's the former, who cares what other people do with their money? Most of us make purchases that others consider silly. Be it a car or kitchen knives or art or a riding lawn mower. </p>

[phule]

<p>Great something of somewhere. I was hoping they had made an edition for <em>this</em> Hermes:<br>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermes_Conrad</p>

<p> </p>

[joshroot]

<blockquote>

<p>Great something of somewhere. I was hoping they had made an edition for <em>this</em> Hermes:<br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermes_Conrad" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermes_Conrad</a></p>

</blockquote>

<p>Now if they made a Leica Futurama edition, I'd have to consider buying it. Though in reality, it would be no less silly than a Hermès version.</p>

[eric friedemann]

<p><em>"Well, make up your mind. Are you mocking the people who buy such things or are you mocking Leica for offering products that people want to buy?"</em></p>

<p>Both; and I'm sure if Leica made adult diapers with a big red dot on them, there would be a market for them. That wouldn't make offering them right.</p>

<p>And so we're clear, I'm not slagging Leica for producing a Monochrome camera. Kodak tried to do this a decade ago; the potential benefit being much greater resolution and somewhat better tonality out of a sensor of a given size:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/kodak-760m.shtml">http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/kodak-760m.shtml</a></p>

[john_robison3]

<p>Leica has, by price increases in the last few years, squeezed out 85% (statistic made up on the spot and probably too low) of their long time and loyal customer base. Some people are just a little sour about that and I can't say I blame them.</p>

<p>Case in point.<br>

As a 27 year old newly married young man in 1976 I took home about $600 per month. At about that time the 50mm f1 Noctilux was introduced at about $750 retail. All well and good. Now it's replacement, the f0.95 is $11,000 a 15X increase! My monthly income is sure nowhere near that stratospheric price and I don't think inflation has increased that amount on other cameras either. Even gasoline is only up about 9X it's 1976 price. The other M system components have seen a comparable rise. It is no surprise Leica fans are choking on these price increases and wish to express their annoyance.</p>

[Dieter Schaefer]

<blockquote>

<p>Not really, Dieter. The D800E shoots in color, which is an obvious disadvantage!</p>

</blockquote>

<p>We need to see how the 18MP files of the M-M stack up against images from the D800E (and of course the M9 itself) - no AA and no Bayer should yield stunning resolution - better than from a sensor with twice as many pixels that still needs to rely on Bayer interpolation?</p>

<p>Does anyone have any production numbers on the M9/M9-P - did Leica produce 50,000 so far? 75,000?</p>

 

[lex_jenkins]

<blockquote>

<p>"Seriously, how complete a douchebag- or douchèbag- would you have to be to buy a camera at a Hermès Botique?"</p>

</blockquote>

<p>One about my size. If I had the money, I'd buy one just for laughs.</p>

<p>And I don't even have a wardrobe on that color to go with it. Whatever that color is. Is there even a word for that color? Whatever, I'd buy it if I was fabulously wealthy.</p>

<p>But I'm also that guy who bought a $10,000 Macintosh IIIfx... a decade later, for five bucks at a thrift store. Just because it amused me.</p>

<p>Also, I do like the idea of a dedicated b&w digicam. Because my color perception is getting worse with age. Apparently that's the market for the Hermes orange Leica - people with no sense of color. On the other hand, with age I seem to perceive increasingly complex shades of gray.</p>

[mark_amos]

<p>I was never in the market for new leica lenses because of price, but I am just so tickled that I was able to get the 4 Leica lenses used that I have (plus I have some Voigtlander new) about six to eight years ago and paid less than half of what they are going for now used. It is kind of sad that now I am about priced out of used Leica lenses also, but fact is that I don't need any more. I don't mock anybody, but its hard not to marvel or in my case just delight in how Leica (and the people willing to pay in particular) are just "driving up my stock." The unforunate irony I must admit is that I am finally getting almost uncomfortable carrying my 35 summicron aspherical around with me. I never leave it in the car unless I can see my car at the curb like at the cleaners. I have "personal articles insurance", but I need to have my insurance company up the value, and I have to wonder if they would ever really pay what it's worth without balking if it were stollen. My agent probably doesn't expect that I guy like me (not using for business purposes) might have a camera bag stollen with 4 lenses worth at least $6,000 together.</p>

[philip_wilson]

<p>I think that the mocking is not really at the silly specials. Leica has done these for years and I assume made lots of profit from people who believe their image (or perhaps even their images!) are significantly improved if the camera they use is made of depleted uranium and covered in leather made from fish lips!<br>

I think the issue some of us are concerned about is that the M series is starting to drift out of a price range that we would be prepared to pay. This makes us concerned that we will not be able to take advantage of Leica lenses or bodies in years to come.<br>

I do think that $7,000+ for a 50 F2 is getting a bit steep. The highest priced lens from any other 35mm lens vendor is about $850 for the Zeiss 50 F2. All the SLR makers charge $100 - $200 for theirs.</p>

<p>I was also rather hoping for an M10 although M9 and M9-P owners will be happy there isn't one yet.</p>

[mark_amos]

<p>In response to John Robison's post, I have this theory, which somewhat hinges on the following question: How many lenses does Leica make today compared to the sixties and seventies? Is it possible that they make about the same, but that by population growth, including wealthy people, that there are two or three or four times as many people willing to pay a lot for the same size relatively small batch of product? ...and now there are all these digital bodies that by way of adapters can use Leica lenses. How many times over has that increased their market? I don't know. Does anybody know how many lenses they are making now compared to decades ago?</p>

[mark_l6]

<p>If we've reached the point where niche digital products are viable, we could be in for some interesting times, how about a digital x-pan anyone?</p>

[luis_rives]

After reading the nonsense in today's Leica product announcement, I dropped some b&w film in my M3, attached my 'cron 50/2 that I purchased new in 1983 for $389, went to take some photos and when I finish the roll will develop it at home myself. One of the few genuine experiences left in this increasingly chaotic and vapid world.

[bms]

<p>I felt guilty and decadent when I splurged on my 50 'Lux, the only Leica lens I ever bought new (I got some CV's new). I thought the price was crazy and still think it is steep, though I love the lens. I reserve final judgement on the new 'Cron, but doubt I'd ever spent $7k on it... no matter how good it is.</p>

<p>Though my initial peek at sample images was intriguing, $8000 for an MM seems definitely a "niche product", the rest of us can stretch the expense over the next 20 years buying 12,000 feet of film....</p>