More Desperate Promotions from Leica UK

[dorman]

In this morning's post I received details from Leica of another special offer on the Digilux 3.
Not only do you get the £565 discount off the RSP of £1790, but you get a free C-Lux 2 as well!.
Is this aggressive pre-Christmas marketing, or what?

[marknorton]

Just received a mailing from Leica UK repeating the offer of 33% off the price of a Leica Digilux 3 for existing Leica owners but now adding a free Leica C-Lux 2 into the deal as an existing M owner.

That makes the pair £1225 including tax. At list prices, that amounts to a crazy 45% discount. Presumably, they are still making money but it can't be much.

I'd quite like a C-Lux 2 actually, but can't bring myself to do a Digilux 3. It does make you wonder though where 4/3 is headed within Leica.

[stunsworth]

Or maybe they have a warehouse of them they need to empty?

I received the same mailshot.

I think we can infer something about Leica's commitment to the format. I wonder what the next offer will add? An M8 perhaps?

[topoxforddoc]

They just can't shift the digilux 3. With the new pana coming out soon, they'll end up with a lot of dead stock.

Charlie

[marknorton]

I agree, it does make you wonder. You can imagine the sales forecasting which went on: "We sold out of Digilux 2s" so maybe we need to order a few thousand extra Digilux 3s".

Perhaps they should rename it the "Onion Camera" - because any mention of it brings tears to their eyes...

[mym6is12]

I'm not sure that even if they bundled in a free 25 f/1.4, it would be enough to tip the balance.

I had been hoping the E-3 would be more OM1..4 like, and make a good Leica M compliment, but it's as big as APS-C DSLRs and there are still no compact primes.
If the Digilux 3 had been launched with a 20 f/2.8 pancake - I would have fallen for it.
But now 4/3 is looking a lost cause - akin to APS film.

At least no temptations means I can keep saving up for a M9.

[rob_x2004]

What was teh panasonic worth? In that market Leica probably need to remain price competative. Sounds like they dropped a bundle.

[marknorton]

Originally, the Leica D3 was £1790 including tax. Currently, the Panasonic L1 from Amazon is just £749, so even £1225 for the package is not that great.

I think Leica need to get out of the mind-set that they can charge a huge premium over the Panasonics on which their cameras are based and get away with it. The Panasonic DNA is well-known and plain to see...

[rob_x2004]

Travelling through a lot of Asia, panasonic has a huge presence. Its only a small niche that is prepared to pay the Leica premium. Easy to get burried.

[suilvenman]

If I read this correctly, this offer is open to existing Leica owners? Well, I still exist and I own two Leicas, albeit a 37 year-old Leicaflex SL and a 15 year-old R-E. Would that qualify? But then, how would Leica know that anyway?

Cheers, Ken.

[karlitos]

Originally Posted by marknorton

I think Leica need to get out of the mind-set that they can charge a huge premium over the Panasonics on which their cameras are based and get away with it. The Panasonic DNA is well-known and plain to see...

I agree, their 'premium' price is getting out of hand. The shelf price for the C-Lux 2 is ridiculous. nearly £200.00 more than the Pany equivalent. That's just plain daft with the current retail climate. They may still be making a margin with these deals but I bet it ain't much. That said I'm getting some lovely results from the D3, it has it's limitations (it's not an M8) but enjoyable all the same. I will be really narked if they ditch the system.

On another note, if I have a camera with a two year warranty and it becomes faulty within that period it should expect to have it repaired, shouldn't I? This is not the case apparently with Leica, I have to spend more money on the current equivalent as there are 'no more spares'.
My camera ends up in the bin and I've laid out more money when it was in warranty? Doesn't sound right to me.

Karlitos

[karlitos]

And another thing This new offer is a bit of stab in the heart for those of us who paid full wack for the D3 when it was launched. I know it is the way of things in this business, but this does appear to be harsh depreciation.

karlitos.

[marknorton]

I agree, those who paid full price initially must be hurting. No-one buys a digital camera - any digital camera - as an investment but nevertheles, at least some value retention is useful towards a trade in. How much is a Digilux 3 worth at trade-in now? £500? 70% depreciation is less than a year.

In theory, the lenses survive but how useful are the Leica 4/3 lenses going to be in 10 years time when 4/3 has gone, as someone here eloquently said, caught in the impossible conflict of the need for more pixels and bigger pixels. At least in M (and R and Nikon F land) we now have the opportunity to grow to FF sensor size, though even Nikon led us up the garden path with their DX lenses which I regret buying into as they are going to be compromised on the D3.

Time and again, we see so-called "standards" strangling instead of promoting progress with untidy add-on after-thougts to move the game forwards. 640k MS-DOS memory limit? 44.1 KHz 16 bit CD Audio Sampling? And so on...

I suspect all the Digilux 3s that will ever be made have already been made, churned out by the phenomenal Panasonic production machine, and now languishing in a warehouse somewhere.

[ptomsu]

Originally Posted by mym6is12

I'm not sure that even if they bundled in a free 25 f/1.4, it would be enough to tip the balance.

I had been hoping the E-3 would be more OM1..4 like, and make a good Leica M compliment, but it's as big as APS-C DSLRs and there are still no compact primes.
If the Digilux 3 had been launched with a 20 f/2.8 pancake - I would have fallen for it.
But now 4/3 is looking a lost cause - akin to APS film.

At least no temptations means I can keep saving up for a M9.

You know what - I would not just wait for the M9 but better for the M11 or M13 or something like that.

[karlitos]

Originally Posted by marknorton

In theory, the lenses survive but how useful are the Leica 4/3 lenses going to be in 10 years time when 4/3 has gone,.

Sadly I think your right, but 4/3 won't be the only system that's been binned. And it's not because of a lack of quality. I wager that most amateur users of 4/3 don't get the best potential out of their equipment now and wouldn't know a 22m pixel image if it bit them on the end of the nose. The system is very good for most of the market and excellent in the right hands.

Karlitos.

[hamey]

I don't want to laugh, but when I first looked at the D3 I just wondered who was this idiot
who designed this monstrosity.
A body in the shape of an Leica M and a R lens attached to it.( it's also large))
I said at the time on this forum, it had the same weight to about my 1A filter on my 28-90mm lens, and personally don't hold much future for it.

Many on this Leica forum continue to push Leica forward on it's future existence by taking on board fully this Electronic medium.

.................................................. ........WELL...................................... .................

Leica should be more careful about treading on this Digital bandwagon, it could be more harm then good, remember Minolta.
In my view, they should be more astute in selecting in what models they market and sell.
Stick to what they know best, thats making quality products like in the M and R range.
Sure make Lenses for Panasonic, but not take on board some of their fly by night wonders.

.................................................. .....KEEP OFF............................................... ............

In making and marketing mickey mouse cameras, otherwise they will need to convert Solms or Wetzlar to Werehouses to store the spare parts for them.
These modern Electronic cams are not designed to last, and thats contrary to Leica's ethics.

Ken.

PS..... How about a film scanner, I am sure there will be a market for that.

[graeme_clarke]

To paraphrase the old adage:

I wish I'd bought my new digital camera (i.e Digilux 3) tomorrow and sold my shares (i.e in Northern Rock Bank) yesterday!

Yes I'm one of the ones smarting having paid full price for the Dilgilux 3 last May (even though a Billingham bag and R lens adapter were included "free").

It seems to me that there's very little equity in digital cameras at all now, compared to the situation with the old film ones yesteryear - before the digital revolution knocked the bottom out of their value. The moral seems to be 'enjoy using them - whilst they work'.

Graeme

[rob_x2004]

Either you cant put brains in statues.
or;
Anyone buying the Leica equivalent of a Panasonic knowingly attributes their dollars value to the red dot the colour scheme and the mystique of the Leica badge. That isnt wrong. Its just buscuits to complain about it later.

[sdai]

Originally Posted by hamey

How about a film scanner, I am sure there will be a market for that.

Ken, I have little doubt that a Leica film scanner will charge you the same as Hasselblad do for their 949 if not more expensive so what's the point ... one of my friends has once said, the red dot on every Leica is a blood drop. LOL

[sdai]

FYI ... Henrys in Toronto has recently put up a bunch of L1s on eBay ... brand new ones incl. the 14-50 Panasonic lens, the going price seems to be between 700US and 850 US.