How are M8 sales lately?

[cam2000]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Hi there......

My name was on a list since early Dec 2006 ..... yesterday I bought the Summicron asph 35 F2..... and I told my dealer that I was keeping my Leica rep's camera until mine comes in! ( I guess if he is anxious to get his camera back... he wiil do good for next week)

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[wattsy]

If people have to get on waiting list to purchase the M8, that is a good indicator that sales remain high.

 

Not really. It can simply mean that supplies are absurdly low. I suspect that sales of the M8 are actually more than satisfactory for Leica but the recent recall (1,500 bodies is the commonly quoted figure) will have involved a significant cost for Leica - not just in terms of various logistical expenses and previously unplanned technical man-hours associated with fixing the first generation bodies but also the general disruption to the production schedule.

[wattsy]

There're 11 AF points in the D2X, you don't know how to switch from one to another with the joypad or simply program the group focus points?

 

Sorry, but what James heard from the "Pro" fondling with his M8 was completely BS IMO ... hang on a sec, I forgot that many RF shooter never cared whether their photos are in focus nor not.

 

It's good to read some more balanced comment in this forum for a change. I love my M bodies as much as the next man but to pretend that they can be focussed as quickly as a top of the line modern SLR is absurd. Apart from the speed, the other advantage of having multiple focus points (and a good ground glass screen) is that you are less likely to suffer from the 'focus and recompose' inaccuracies that can bedevil M focussing wide-open in the close-range.

[marknorton]

Not really. It can simply mean that supplies are absurdly low. I suspect that sales of the M8 are actually more than satisfactory for Leica but the recent recall (1,500 bodies is the commonly quoted figure) will have involved a significant cost for Leica - not just in terms of various logistical expenses and previously unplanned technical man-hours associated with fixing the first generation bodies but also the general disruption to the production schedule.

 

Ball-park, it's €1-2m to fix a problem which should have been picked up by the "professionals" testing the camera who didn't have the guts to question Leica's "we'll fix it in firmware" mantra.

 

As we say in England, "Err in haste, repent at leisure".

 

You still come back to the thought that if Pascal can find the problem in 24 hours, what, exactly, where these guys doing apart from wanting to protect their discounts by being nice to Leica?

 

Spineless is one word to describe it.

[ho_co]

I'm also just a teensy bit skeptical about sales. The cameras sell out quickly, when they come into stock -- but it's apparent that there are no longer waiting lists at places like B&H.

John--

Your analysis is right, but one correction: I don't think B&H keeps a list. When I once asked them to put my name on a waiting list, they said, "Okay, but we charge your credit card today, not when we ship." Oops! I decided to skip the wait list.

 

But with Leica's small volume, no matter how you cut it, the M8 is a hit.

 

"How are M8 sales?"

 

Minuscule compared with Canon and Nikon; incredible, even lifesaving for Leica.

 

--HC

[blakley]

I love my M bodies as much as the next man but to pretend that they can be focussed as quickly as a top of the line modern SLR is absurd.

 

My M8 focuses MUCH faster than ANY autofocus SLR, including the D2X, which I've used but don't own. Of course, most of my shooting is at ISO 400-800, around 1/15 - 1/30 @ f/1.2. Not many photons for the AF to grab onto...

[Enoteca]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Paul,

don't care.

The workflow on C1 is easy to learn and handle. And if ever you need to proceed in/to CS2 that will be no challenge.

But an "urgently" tip: do not hesitate getting the new 28 elmar. It's an outstanding lens and - compared to the others - kind of cheap.

Manfred

[jrc]

I love my M bodies as much as the next man but to pretend that they can be focussed as quickly as a top of the line modern SLR is absurd.

 

My M8 focuses MUCH faster than ANY autofocus SLR, including the D2X, which I've used but don't own. Of course, most of my shooting is at ISO 400-800, around 1/15 - 1/30 @ f/1.2. Not many photons for the AF to grab onto...

 

Then you are an extraordinarily fast focuser. I just put my 17-35mm on my D2x, f2.8 @ ISO 800 in my slightly darkened kitchen/dining room, and repeatedly focused on the end of the house and then back to a wall five feet away -- I'd say that the average time to full-lock focus, from one wall to the other, was less than half a second (too fast to be reasonably timed by hand.)

 

JC

[earleygallery]

Well, what a fuss! I was only passing on what this guy had said from his experience, but some have taken it totally out of context - the situation was a crowded gallery, low lighting apart from the spotlights on the exhibits. He was using a fast wideangle lens obviously - I can't recall which. The other photographers had those enormous zoom lenses on their DSLRS. He was taking all photos from roughly the same distance and had therefore pre-focussed and didn't need to change that given the DOF of the lens, although he could fine tune the focus within a fraction of a second if he needed to.

 

If he was shooting a football match, or motorsports then he'd no doubt be using his Nikon/Canon, but in the given situation he was finding the M8 quicker to use.