Re: Leica M9 schedule for September 2009?
I have pre-ordered a M9 to my european dealer. The price is 5500€, I have to choose between three colors (black, chrome, anthracite grey) and the dealer will only have ten !!!
It will be delivered at the end of september or early october ; and according to the dealer ( not so far from Solms) the leica M9 IS a Full Frame 24X36 sensor with 18 MP.:thumbup:
We are now waiting for the full specification and pictures of the beast !
As Mr. Spock used to say on the old
Star Trek TV show: "Interesting, if factual."
It still stretches my credulity to think that:
(a) They've really solved the problem of shallow flange distance on a 36x24mm sensor when other makers with much more sensor knowledge and bigger R&D budgets have not.
(b) That they actually are far enough along to deliver
finished cameras by the end of September (which would almost certainly mean that component orders would have had to be placed, field testing completed, and publicity materials printed many months ago, and that actual production would be happening right now) without having made any announcement. Maybe they didn't want to steal the S2's thunder, but it still seems implausible.
On the other hand, I can't imagine that dealers would want to hack off good customers by taking deposits without being pretty sure they'd have something to deliver! True, habitual Leica buyers seem to be more tolerant than most (e.g. their willingness to go through the M8 "customer beta" phase) but on the other hand, they're also affluent, privileged-class people who aren't accustomed to being told "No, you can't have it"! So I'd think the dealers must be pretty convinced there's some fire behind all that smoke.
Maybe I'm just in an unusually euphoric mood (brought on by the thought of how cool an anthracite-gray M would look) but on this particular day it seems possible that such a camera might actually even
sell beyond the M8 customer base of plutocrats, celebrity hobbyists, and Middle Eastern nobility. Although loyal M8 owners rationalize otherwise, the practical reality was that it was a dubious value proposition in terms of picture-taking capability, which is a polite way of saying you were being asked to pay a helluva lot of money for a 10-megapixel camera with mediocre high-ISO performance and lots of operational limitations.
If they can actually do it, an 18-megapixel M9 at 5500 euros (which is a nice, round US $ 7,777 at today's exchange rate) sounds a lot less crazy compared to what Nikon and Canon get for their top-end DSLRs.
Such a camera might be semi-reasonable enough to tempt mainstream photographers who could benefit from the "rangefinder aesthetic" ... especially now that Zeiss and Cosina offer lower-cost lens alternatives, and Micro Four Thirds provides a cheap way to get a "digital Visoflex" for occasional close-up or tele shooting with your M lenses.