[Leica] will you ever buy another leica body?

[ken at iisaka.org (Ken Iisaka)]

Agreed.  There are those who don't really fit in any of these categories,
and I don't like being stereotyped.

I am lucky and fortunate enough to have a job that provides an income that
is greater than that of many doctors and lawyers.  However, the average age
of the cars I own is 9+ years old, and I've bought all of my Leica excpet M8
on the used market.  I bought the M8 new because there was no used
alternative.  Even so, I did a cost/benefit analysis and seeing how much I
was spending on film, processing and scanning, the M8 made economic sense.

Let's say that the useful lifespan of the M8 is 5 years.  I will probably
take 20,000 pictures.  That would cost about $10,000 in film, processing and
scanning.  That's a no-brainer for me.


On Thu, Sep 25, 2008 at 1:24 PM, Alastair Firkin <afirkin@afirkin.com>wrote:

> I must admit I get a little sick of the Doctor Lawyer bit. My professional
> income is very good, but not a patch on money movers or CEO's. The reason I
> can afford things, is that I have good income and use it carefully. We 
> still
> save a few cents on many items but will splash out when we can afford it. 
> So
> for god's sake forget the labels. It shits me
>
> Cheers
>
>
> Alastair
>
> --- red735i@earthlink.net wrote:
>
> From: red735i@earthlink.net
> To: Leica Users Group <lug@leica-users.org>
> Subject: Re: [Leica] will you ever buy another leica body?
> Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2008 10:13:08 -0700 (GMT-07:00)
>
> There are 3 camps of Leica users on this list, IMO.
>
> Pros.  Pros need the best tools they can get FOR THEIR MARKET.  Different
> markets = different best tools.  Best is defined by the market.  ( best can
> be the fastest AF lenses arouond, the most accurate color of lenses, the
> most lines per mm, nicest bokeh, or other criteria) Cost is secondary, if 
> it
> appears at all in the purchase decision.  They will buy new Leica products.
>  I tried a couple of years ago to find out who on the LUG gets some or all
> of their revenue from photography without luck.  There were maybe 5
> repsonses.
>
> Well heeled amateurs.. what I like to call "Doctors, Lawyers, and Indian
> Chiefs."  Disposable income is high.  Price is of basically no consequence.
>  If desire warrants, new Leica products are no problem.  How many "Doctors,
> Lawyers, and Indian Chiefs" are on this list?  ( remember, the real 
> criteria
> is not job related, but disposable income related... and Personally, I 
> think
> if you are one, you should not admit to it.)
>
> Amateurs with families, retirement income, or other criteria.  This group
> wants the best in imagery that they can afford.  This is what makes this a
> unified group... image quality expectations and lack of really high buying
> power.  New products can only be purchased if it can be fit into a budget.
>  Used products are the normal purchased "new items".
>
> Yes, there are exceptions, yes, you can fit into more than 1 group or into
> none of the groups, yes this is not 100% scientific nor accurate.  But it
> maintains truth.
>
> Which group is most active or vociferous?  hard to tell, but we hear a lot
> from those that think that a $5400 camera body plus a $7K lens is needed to
> produce images of top quality.  We hear "price be damned" as another
> campaign.  We also hear that if we actually mention that Leica is over
> priced, we get slammed for "dissing"....  Surely Leica loves to hear
> this.....
>
> However the truth is that a lot of us are in the third camp, where a $5400
> body is so far out of the realm of probability, that it offers little
> possibility of actually happening.  Oh, yeah, I forgot, the M8.2 is $6K
> plus......the S2 wwill be $15-20-30-some other big number.
>
> Will I ever buy a new M8+ or R10 or S2?  Nope.  Not new.  M7 or MP?  Nope,
> I have a M6 contingent that works just fine.
>
> Would I ever purchase a used M8+.. possibly, but not soon. ( I am not a R
> user, and I have a Hasselblad setup that serves me just fine).     Will 
> that
> help Leica's bottom line.. indirectly, yes.  It will come from a Pro or
> "Doctor, Lawyer, or Indian Chief" that wants to dump his older product and
> buy a new one.  Leica gets HIS new purchase money, and I helped to finance
> it.
>
> Ditto the lenses.  I have limits on what I can spend on Photographic
> lenses.  Is this years' 24 ASPH Elmarit ( the F3.8 model) so much better
> than last years ASPPH Elmarit ( F2.8 version) that I can afford to upgrade?
>  Should I get the best image quality by upgrading to a ASPH 50 Lux from a 
> 50
> Lux of a few years ago?  Is chasing THE WORLDS' BEST image quality 
> something
> I can do?  No.
>
> And I am not alone..... $5K, $10K, and $20K camera bodies and $7K lenses
> are in the hands of Pros and "Doctors, Lawyers, and Indian Chiefs".. and 
> not
> the rest of us.  If it were not for used equipment, I would not be a Leica
> owner.
>
> Frank
>
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>
>
>
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>


-- 
Ken Iisaka
first name at last name dot org or com