rramesh Posted May 30, 2012 Share #1 Posted May 30, 2012 Advertisement (gone after registration) Photographers rush to snap up £36k Leica | Photography news - Camera news, photo news and photography events | Amateur Photographer Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted May 30, 2012 Posted May 30, 2012 Hi rramesh, Take a look here Do we know such photographers?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
jaapv Posted May 30, 2012 Share #2 Posted May 30, 2012 Yeah - so what? These special editions always get snapped up pretty soon. Big money-earners for Leica, but hardly anything to do with photography. You have got to hand it to Leica - a few years ago everybody was saying that digital cameras would never make collectables or high-level desirables because of the fleeting nature of digital technology. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
philipus Posted May 30, 2012 Share #3 Posted May 30, 2012 I'm not sure I understand the question. I, personally, don't know any such photographer. I think though that one would have to define "photographer" in your question as someone who owns a(nother) camera as opposed to use it/the Hermès edition, because I can't imagine there would be (m)any photos taken with these cameras. Philip Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
250swb Posted May 30, 2012 Share #4 Posted May 30, 2012 Like Limited Edition cars, there are probably collectors who have a few million pounds spare to buy as many examples as possible just to stop their rivals getting one. Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lars_bergquist Posted May 30, 2012 Share #5 Posted May 30, 2012 Right, the salient point is Amateur Photographer's unthinking use of 'photographer' for 'camera owner'. Some of these kits will not even have their shrink wrapping broken because intact wrapping will increase the collector value. I have seen such cases. To the purchaser, it is of course completely irrelevant that the object that is slowly dying a horrible death inside the wrapping is a camera. It is a Very Expensive Limited Edition Object, period. It could just as well have been a uniquely preserved piece of Adolf Hitler's poo. As long as an admirer or prospective buyer (more likely) believes that what is presumed to be inside the box actually is there ... I hope that Herr Kaufmann gets a laugh out of it. The old man from the Age of Photography Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruhayat Posted May 30, 2012 Share #6 Posted May 30, 2012 Why wouldn't there be photographers who also happen to be wealthy enough to be collectors? Same goes for comic books, incidentally: I was in the local Borders just yesterday and they were having a promotion for the movie The Avengers. Among the merchandise on sale was a foot-high statuette of Thor. Price? RM900 (US$300), which is close to a month's salary for many factory workers here. Most expensive toy I have seen. And I was told it's not even close to the higher prices. There's no accounting for taste, sure. But there are collectors in just about any field of hobby that you can think of who are wealthy enough to keep the industry running for the benefit of the rest of us. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lars_bergquist Posted May 30, 2012 Share #7 Posted May 30, 2012 Advertisement (gone after registration) Such people do exist, but then they will probably use a plain M9 to actually take pictures with. Horses for courses. They can afford an extra horse. At gun exhibitions and fairs in the U.S.A. you can, I have been told, buy expensive limited editions of some guns, e.g. single-action revolvers. But these have a specially applied strap that prevents the hammer from moving. This is because just one single actuation of the mechanism would mean that the gun is no longer MINT and will drastically drop in value. Perish the thought. Would anybody buy such a gun to SHOOT with? Are you crazy? The old man from the Colt Age Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wattsy Posted May 30, 2012 Share #8 Posted May 30, 2012 It is a Very Expensive Limited Edition Object, period. It could just as well have been a uniquely preserved piece of Adolf Hitler's poo. Could involve both – I think I read somewhere that one of the well known independent Leica repair specialists was allegedly a keen collector of Nazi memorabilia. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rramesh Posted May 30, 2012 Author Share #9 Posted May 30, 2012 I wonder what you will do, if after 50 years you do have the courage to take a pristine camera out of a pristine case only to see a cracked sensor? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wattsy Posted May 30, 2012 Share #10 Posted May 30, 2012 I wonder what you will do, if after 50 years you do have the courage to take a pristine camera out of a pristine case only to see a cracked sensor? It wouldn't matter. The battery will be dead and there won't be any viable alternative to power it up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil U Posted May 30, 2012 Share #11 Posted May 30, 2012 I have heard that when the sensors crack in the Hermes Editions, they do so in a very attractive and gentle curved shape rather than the sharp angular style you get with the standard M9. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruhayat Posted May 31, 2012 Share #12 Posted May 31, 2012 Such people do exist, but then they will probably use a plain M9 to actually take pictures with. Horses for courses. They can afford an extra horse. At gun exhibitions and fairs in the U.S.A. you can, I have been told, buy expensive limited editions of some guns, e.g. single-action revolvers. But these have a specially applied strap that prevents the hammer from moving. This is because just one single actuation of the mechanism would mean that the gun is no longer MINT and will drastically drop in value. Perish the thought. Would anybody buy such a gun to SHOOT with? Are you crazy? The old man from the Colt Age I was told by a comic fan friend who was at the same bookshop, that no one buys these "action figures" to actually play with them, either. (Thank God for that, given that they tend to be 40 year olds. ) And there are many comic collectors who buy first editions for 1,000x their original cover price and never open the original wrapping because that would depreciate the value significantly - if they want to read it, they buy the cheaper, standard editions or reissues. I guess collectible Leica M's are not unique nor unusual, in the world of collectibles. I don't understand it, either, but it's there. And if that helps keep Leica running, I have no problems with it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SJP Posted May 31, 2012 Share #13 Posted May 31, 2012 It wouldn't matter. The battery will be dead and there won't be any viable alternative to power it up.As far as I know the battery is not only dead - but nonexistent. Probably, at that time, you can get one via a specialist dealer, but it is not part of the Hermes package. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
algrove Posted May 31, 2012 Share #14 Posted May 31, 2012 I was at a Leica Akademie workshop in Washington DC a few weeks ago and saw my first special edition M9 with lenses in person. It was a light tan color with silver lenses. He had a Summilux 50/1.4 and a Noctilux 0.95 that I saw. The gentleman was actually taking photos on the street! In fact his photos were very good which we all saw during our critique session and later during a summary of our favorite images taken on the street. His half case and shoulder strap looked well used. I never gave it a second thought that he only collected the camera and was not a photographer. Thus, let's not rush to judgement. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alun Posted May 31, 2012 Share #15 Posted May 31, 2012 I don't even know such *people* let alone such photographers... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kokoshawnuff Posted May 31, 2012 Share #16 Posted May 31, 2012 I doubt I know any of the people buying one or more of the 400 sets. I don't understand the purchase of these unless you keep them as part of a very large (near complete) collection not intended to be broken up. I can't see any profit being made on these in the next 15 or 20 years, so those trying to sell them after the 2 year contract is up--like those recent sellers of the titanium edition--will be in for a loss. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Messsucherkamera Posted June 1, 2012 Share #17 Posted June 1, 2012 I was going to buy one of these Hermes M9 kits but they are too accessible to the unwashed masses. I'm holding off till Leica and Bugatti release the Hermes M9/Veyron special edition set. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pico Posted June 1, 2012 Share #18 Posted June 1, 2012 Aw heck, I'm making a pinhole camera from an original Faberge egg. not Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted June 1, 2012 Share #19 Posted June 1, 2012 I was in the local Borders just yesterday and they were having a promotion for the movie The Avengers. Among the merchandise on sale was a foot-high statuette of Thor. Price... Ah, where there any statues of Emma Peel in her one piece leather jump suit getting into her Lotus? Or, do I have the wrong Avengers? Never mind... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rramesh Posted June 1, 2012 Author Share #20 Posted June 1, 2012 Now I know why Leica wants to print their own books. It's for those photographers buying the Hermes and other limited editions to see better the photographs they could have taken. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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