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Why Buy Leica?

250swb

Member
I can't reconcile the lazy use of the word 'luxury' with my camera. It doesn't feel luxurious to me. If 'luxury' is applied on price alone a Saturn 5 with a Lunar Module on top is on the luxury goods counter. Why not just say 'expensive' then you can say why it is expensive and not try to cloud the issue by equating a useful piece of photographic equipment with an over decorated handbag. 'Luxury' is when more than you need is purchased, so you don't need a drinks cabinet in a car, but you get one in a Rolls Royce. I'd like to know what you get extra with a Leica M9 to make it 'luxurious'??

Steve
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
One has to pay extra to get fewer features, it seems. That's the luxury ... ;-)

I don't see the M9 as being luxurious. I just see it as an excellent camera that happens to be very expensive.
 

4season

Well-known member
If a person simply wants a Leica M, fine, that's what they should get. But someone else who merely wants top notch results from a camera that's not too big or intrusive has a lot of alternatives these days.

Me, I want to see a return to more value-oriented Leica gear, and I think it can and will happen eventually: In the 1980s-early '90s, Japan seemed like a bottomless Leica market too. Until it wasn't.

Jeff
 

Double Negative

Not Available
All very good reasons to buy Leica. There is no right or wrong reason in the end, and the only one that needs to be happy with it is yourself. :)
 

Double Negative

Not Available
^ Same here, Stephen. I've got an M7, M8 and M9. :)

My first RF was my dad's Voigtländer Dynamatic II back in 1981 or so (the camera itself is from 1961-62).
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
...
Me, I want to see a return to more value-oriented Leica gear ...
Huh? Once I have been using a Leica after I've been using anything else, I have never once had even the passing thought that "this wasn't worth every penny of what I paid for it." That's the true value of Leica gear.

You just want it to be less expensive. That may happen.
 

4season

Well-known member
Huh? Once I have been using a Leica after I've been using anything else, I have never once had even the passing thought that "this wasn't worth every penny of what I paid for it." That's the true value of Leica gear.
I felt like that when I bought my M6, and still somewhat felt like that about the M8; the M9, not as much. Diminishing returns. Sub-$1K APS-C systems have gotten so good these days...
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
..
Sub-$1K APS-C systems have gotten so good these days...
They certainly have. If I couldn't afford the M9, I'd have stuck with the Ricoh GXR as it is a stunning performer for far less money and a delight to shoot with. I continue to appreciate and shoot with the GXR too.

I bought the M9 because a) I wanted a rangefinder like the M4-2, and b) I wanted the larger format camera, again as in the M4-2. It's the only game in town for a digital rangefinder camera with a 35mm sized sensor. As such, its price isn't really comparable with anything else since there is nothing else quite like it. I'd have loved to spend a lot less money, but to me that isn't the point of buying a camera at all.
 
Cant see why any no of alternative cameras with the appropriate lens can equal the images in the above link.
The images in that link are more to do with how well the user is skilled the camera.
The M9 itself just captures the image.
why don't you buy a Canon Ixus and do the same ?
 

Double Negative

Not Available
I'm pretty sure there will be an "M10" at some point (based on 24x36 clearly) but also some other options that are non-M (e.g. "mirrorless" cameras). Of course, whether or not they're actually *Leica* cameras (as opposed to re-branded Panasonic for example) remains to be seen. But Leica AG has teased us several times about 2012 being interesting...

What would really be interesting is an actual Leica mirrorless body that natively accepts M lenses. :p
 

KeithL

Well-known member
What would really be interesting is an actual Leica mirrorless body that natively accepts M lenses. :p
When I look into my crystal ball I see the M10 remaining true to the M rangefinder concept which would serve to keep the M devotees and purists on side. Perhaps the more radical approach will be left to a new mirrorless body at a mainstream price?

There again I also see my hair restored to the levels of luxuriance of my teens.
 
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