The GetDPI Photography Forum

Great to see you here. Join our insightful photographic forum today and start tapping into a huge wealth of photographic knowledge. Completing our simple registration process will allow you to gain access to exclusive content, add your own topics and posts, share your work and connect with other members through your own private inbox! And don’t forget to say hi!

monochrome availability

gooomz

Member
any of these bad boys in stock?

long wait lists for sure?

any idea if the inventory will catch demand or does history say it going to be a while before they are readily available?
 

wattsy

Well-known member
They seem to be coming in reasonably steadily into the UK. One dealer had two in at the end of last week and has another (now spoken for) arriving in a few days time. If you are desperate you might want to try some of the less well known EU dealers.

I'm not convinced by the "only 500 made" that seems to be doing the rounds of the internet. The source of that claim appears to be a dealer rather than anything that has come from Leica.
 

gooomz

Member
is it a pain to buy from uk dealers from US?

for b&w, will the new "M" equal the monochrome's performance or best it?

guesses?

maybe just wait for the new "M"?
 

ashwinrao1

Active member
Barely available in the U.S. I doubt the 500 count limit...I am waiting patiently for mine. Only 2 have been delivered in the Seattle area to date.
 

glenerrolrd

Workshop Member
You have to enjoy the information that comes from dealers . Leica has historical produced about 1000 M products a month and recently increased that with the M9 about 50% . So you can assume that they need to be making something? Lets say they are back to 1000 as they retool for the changes to the M10 .

The M10 does not appear to be in production yet ..from statements at Photokina ..they might not even be in beta .

The M9 and M9P surely must be out of production (who would buy them new ) . So its the MONO and the M-E . You can guess at the production rate ..factories don t sit idle long .

Once the M10 gets rolling ..do you expect many MONO s ? I wouldn t ....so you should get a flurry of new MONO between now and year end and then maybe a long wait .
 

StephenPatterson

New member
I agree Roger that Leica should be able to substantially increase Monochrom production now. Dealers are still stocked with M9s and M9-Ps, even at the discounted prices.

It will be very interesting to see how the new M-E with it's lower price does in the market. I would imagine that there will be some people who would rather purchase a discounted M9 or M9P than an M-E, before NOS is depleted. Taking away the frame preview lever on the M-E is very disappointing to see.
 

algrove

Well-known member
Had confirmation at Photokina that most US dealers got one copy of MM in first batch. That is slim to me, but seemed to be the case.

Also, dealers not getting them in France. Leica Rep from France at Photokina confirmed any order made now would be a very LONG wait.

Considering that not one Leica person I talked with had seen an M in a customer's hands until mine showed up, told me deliveries are slow, slow, slow. All the logic above makes sense, but where are they going? To the UK only? Those are the only ones I hear about.
 

glenerrolrd

Workshop Member
Please ask you dealer what the H%^* they are making . In August they slow down for vacations ..this year I understood they keep going . So if you went to Solms today what would they be making ? They can t piss away millions of dollars of production capacity . OK so what is ?

M10 doesn t seem to be done ..maybe some prototypes being made .

M9/M9P ..can t buy this one .

M-E ...quite possible but there isn t a great clamoring for this camera . There are too many deals for used M9/M9P bodies .

MONO..for which there seems to be a decent backlog .

The MONO is the horse Leica will ride until the M10 is available . They have a whole schedule of Leica Akademie shows in the USA .

But they have to make a few to have a market . So lets hope your dealer is wrong .
 

wattsy

Well-known member
Can confirm another arriving to UK dealer.:)

I agree with Roger that Leica must be using the production capacity for something and the M-E doesn't seem to be a camera that is creating much of a buzz. I suppose it is possible that Leica consider that the M is beyond the prototype stage – at least from a hardware perspective – and are busy ramping up production of a large stock of bodies that will be flashed with the production firmware when that is finalised in early 2013 but my guess is that Leica are not at that stage yet. The absence of performance proofs, etc. at Photokina suggests to me that the M is still someway from serial production.
 

algrove

Well-known member
Roger-To one point. Got confirmation in Europe that they DID NOT work through the August holiday period to produce MMono's. So that is another internet rumor I guess.

It was mentioned at roll out evening that many people worked tirelessly for 6 months to put together the Leica booth at Photokina. Cannot believe that took production people away from that effort, but it must have taken big efforts from every level of the company. Just think how many people t took to glue in the SD cards into the new M model.
 

ghoonk

New member
A friend in Dubai just got one, which was the second delivery for that dealer.
Yeah, it was a pretty snap decision for me, seeing that the next expected shipment that has an MM in it would be in Feb/Mar 2013. Still, no regrets, it really does deliver even more sharpness and the high ISO performance is nothing short of impressive (beats out my X100 for sure). Files even look good on the crappy LCD.

Here are some test shots - I'm not labelling them to see if you guys can tell the difference







 

ghoonk

New member
Something else to consider - from what I suspect, the MM might be produced in far smaller quantities than the M-E or the new M.

Put yourself in Leica's shoes as a business owner - you have finite resources, and you need to allocate resources to producing

- the new M (Type 240) which is a highly anticipated camera that is supposed to appeal to a larger audience

- the M-E which is targeted at people who want to get into the M system without breaking the bank, and

- the MM which is really an exotic camera. Chris Weeks basically put it out there last night when he said that these were basically enthusiast cameras and no working professional would bother with one. While I can see people like us wanting one (an MM), I can somehow see more people demanding the new M and the M-E

Also, the M-E might be more help to Leica than we think - if more people buy into the system, there's an increased demand for lenses and accessories, and I suspect Leica does make a pretty penny off these things - read: profitability and good margins is good business. This would hopefully jumpstart a Leica resurgence, seeing that many people out there have bought into the retro rangefinder trend. Guess what the X100 and X Pro 1 look like?
 

Paratom

Well-known member
Roger-To one point. Got confirmation in Europe that they DID NOT work through the August holiday period to produce MMono's. So that is another internet rumor I guess.

It was mentioned at roll out evening that many people worked tirelessly for 6 months to put together the Leica booth at Photokina. Cannot believe that took production people away from that effort, but it must have taken big efforts from every level of the company. Just think how many people t took to glue in the SD cards into the new M model.
I think there were only 12 new Ms.
 

D&A

Well-known member
Ghoonk,

From the quick look, the 1st full frame image you posted was from the MM...better DR, smoother tonal gradations, less noise and more.

Looking at the LR crops, it's reversed, the 1st crop is from the M9 and 2nd from the MM. The MM obviously has all the benifits I mentioned but also superior resolution and lower noise resulting in revealing detail that's obscured with the M9.

Dave (D&A)
 

ghoonk

New member
That's right, Dave :)

That's why i didn't label them, so no preconceptions. I have a bunch of shots coming up soon, will share in a bit
 

ghoonk

New member
oooh, found an interesting glitch

The lens info isn't being captured in the M Monochrom EXIF. No automatic lens profile applied in LR4.1. Firmware 0.017
 

D&A

Well-known member
That's right, Dave :)

That's why i didn't label them, so no preconceptions. I have a bunch of shots coming up soon, will share in a bit

Ohhhh, do I win a Monochrom? OK, how about a monochrom brochure...LOL!

Actually interesting comparison that does an excellent job of delineating some of the image differences and characteristics between the two cameras.

Dave (D&A)
 
Top