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After less looking than I expected and expending less patience than I held in reserve, I purchased a mint 35mm on Ebay for $2700. Not only was it some $4k less than new, it was about $1k less than the new 50mm Summilux I bought four years ago for my M9. This purchase followed on the heels of my certified 006 I got 10 months ago for $6500 from a Leica store. I am sure that my purchases are not the subject of conversation in Wetzlar boardrooms. But perhaps they should be. Every used body and every lens was bought new by someone who came to the conclusion that the product was worth the price of admission. Perhaps that person was not moved by the price because it was company money, Or perhaps the idea of secondary value was of no concern because it was a forever purchase. But those must constitute a minority of sales given our collective penchant to flip gear with every new iteration or leap-frogging until the spirit moves. I have not been a Leica person long enough to remember those days, as I have read, when some bodies and especially lenses could be purchased with the confidence that at best, the little gems would increase in value, especially if demand exceeded supply. And at worst, you could get your money out. As for me, I feel a bit of a carpetbagger, stepping in only with the expectation that much of the intolerable depreciation preceded my ownership. And that even if the body sheds half its $6500 value, I will have gotten my money's worth in pleasure. Indeed, I am so smitten with this camera, I see this as the beginning of a a long term relationship. But then, I have never sold any of my cameras - separation anxiety. Oh, to be a fly on the wall in the halls of Wetzlar as they contemplate the future of the system that we own in common, with varying degrees of investment. Agenda item one: Brand battery from excoriating reports on this site from the heart-broken to the righteously pissed off over failed motors, diseased sensors and a constricted lens quiver. Item two: Market poaching from Pentax (at a fraction of the price) and new offerings from Hasselblad (at a larger fraction of the price) and Fuji. Item three: Lunch. Item four: The M is still iconic and unique and can trade on that for the foreseeable future. The SL is new and shiny and a must-have for the must-haves. Ultimately, Item five: What is the next step in the S bloodline - evolutionary or revolutionary, and at what price point. And can Leica afford to release another camera with flaws that cannot, with a straight face, be called exceptions to the rule. Meeting Summary: What does Leica have to do to produce a new S camera that people will be willing to buy at what will undoubtedly be at a premium price point - one that will enhance the Leica brand, and not dilute it with another slow bleed and bucket of apologies. Your thoughts? David