M 8.2 Appreciating ?

[Merv-O]

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I have an M 8.2 (among other Leica's), with about 1,600 shutter clicks and recently went on eBay and was surprised that M 8.2's in excellent condition (mine is Mint) are selling for $2,300 to $3,300, average. I couldn't believe it. That's M240/262 & M 9 (new sensor) territory. Could it be that the once maligned "S" mode is now in demand. Honestly, I didn't. use the 'snapshot' mode much, but recently used it in a direct comparo with the "A" mode and I have to say, it worked well...particularly with 6-bit encoded lenses....the JPEG color was natural and required little post-production. My 'A' mode photos required more.

Made me think; is it possible that Leica was on to something 10 years ago? a semi-auto M camera with a beautiful Kodak CCD sensor? 

I think so....it's given me a reason to pull the old lass out of the closet, polish up the Luigi half-case and start shooting....

[silverchrome]

1 hour ago, Merv-O said:

I have an M 8.2 (among other Leica's), with about 1,600 shutter clicks and recently went on eBay and was surprised that M 8.2's in excellent condition (mine is Mint) are selling for $2,300 to $3,300, average. I couldn't believe it. That's M240/262 & M 9 (new sensor) territory. Could it be that the once maligned "S" mode is now in demand. Honestly, I didn't. use the 'snapshot' mode much, but recently used it in a direct comparo with the "A" mode and I have to say, it worked well...particularly with 6-bit encoded lenses....the JPEG color was natural and required little post-production. My 'A' mode photos required more.

Made me think; is it possible that Leica was on to something 10 years ago? a semi-auto M camera with a beautiful Kodak CCD sensor? 

I think so....it's given me a reason to pull the old lass out of the closet, polish up the Luigi half-case and start shooting....

I doubt it.

I've been thinking of selling my M8.2 and have been watching finished sales on the Uk site.  There, they sell for about £1000 to 1200 depending on condition and shutter count.  M9 prices are now at about £1700, so it's unlikely that an M8.2 is worth more than an M9.

I think there is some price manipulation going on on eBay as well.  You often see cameras being sold several times over often over the course of weeks and sometimes months.  Each time, the seller claims the buyer backed out, and while possible, I just can't believe a person can be so unlucky.

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[Gavbo]

I also love my M8.2 and prefer it over M9. As time goes by it will be harder to find those mint but only appeals be the M8 die hard fans. Those ones with fixed high prices on ebay unlikely to sell any time soon. I say tops $22000, similar to a bottom line m9.

[andrea-i]

As pointed out, ebay high prices are just seller's net traps waiting and waiting, maybe someone falls in there, maybe not.
That being said, Leica was surely onto something with the M8, there's just nothing like it around, and if people are still willing to pay more than 1k for a used one, it surely means someone could take that market with a good enough product made in china.

[Merv-O]

I bought my M8.2 with 1200 clicks on it from an eBay seller for $2,200 who originally listed it at $2,500. It included all original boxes, materials manuals, etc., a Luigi Half-Case and strap,  2 original batteries and 2 B&W UV IR filters. All in all a great deal (the outer box still had the UPC code from Adorama on it). The previous owner had just bought an M10 and was moving on. I love the camera. It is absolutely spot-on with all 6-bit coded lenses, even the ersatz 7artisans 35mm--for $300 it is more than acceptable. With my Summarit 50mm, ridiculous. 

I think a CCD sensor camera with a APS-h sensor in 2019 would sell like hot cakes. If it took M-mount and/or R mount lenses, it would be a feast. I think Andrea-i is on to something there.

[adan]

I'm sure the IR "capability" and compact files  with the Leica imprimatur (and fitting Leica lenses) all give the M8 some staying power. Of course, it was also rather inexpensive to begin with ($4495 US new for mine, plus free lens coding for 2 lenses).

I'm a 21mm guy who likes available darkness, so I moved to the M9 et seq. when they arrived. But some of my best-selling prints are still from the M8's 10 Mpixels and a 90mm, printed 21" x 14." Sold out of this one - need to print some more:

A Hand Up, 2009, M8/90 Summicron

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[Merv-O]

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On 4/24/2019 at 1:06 AM, adan said:

m sure the IR "capability" and compact files  with the Leica imprimatur (and fitting Leica lenses) all give the M8 some staying power. Of course, it was also rather inexpensive to begin with ($4495 US new for mine, plus free lens coding for 2 lenses)

Andy: quite correct. The CCD sensor is my best, efficient way to continue 'film-like' renderings (particularly with soft lenses like the 25 f/4 Voigtlander) without the need to keep up my dark room (which I have since scuttled and now use a 3rd-party developer). 

[lenticularis]

On 4/19/2019 at 10:51 PM, silverchrome said:

...I think there is some price manipulation going on on eBay as well.  You often see cameras being sold several times over often over the course of weeks and sometimes months.  Each time, the seller claims buyer backed out, and while possible, I just can't believe a person can be so unlucky.

Unfortunately, I've recently had my own M8.2 up for auction twice on eBay and each time the winning bidder has simply not paid. It's still for sale but not currently listed on eBay.

Edited June 28, 2019 by lenticularis

[Peter_S]

I used M8, M8.2 and M9, T, X1, X2 and a bunch of film-Ms. Overall my favorite was the M8.2, and I cannot even tell you why exactly.
If I was not saving for a Monochrom, I would get an M8.2 again.

[rivi1969]

On 6/28/2019 at 5:26 PM, lenticularis said:

Unfortunately, I've recently had my own M8.2 up for auction twice on eBay and each time the winning bidder has simply not paid. It's still for sale but not currently listed on eBay.

Did you sold your M8.2?

[tommonego@gmail.com]

On 6/28/2019 at 6:26 PM, lenticularis said:

Unfortunately, I've recently had my own M8.2 up for auction twice on eBay and each time the winning bidder has simply not paid. It's still for sale but not currently listed on eBay.

On the M8 I just bought I Paypal had restricted my account, because I hadn't used PP in 7 years, try to avoid them at all costs, thought I was going to be one of the people that didn't pay. It got worked out, had to have the old account dissolved and made a new one. Seems all EBay payments are going through PayPal now.

I was noticing that the local (US) and European sellers were charging less that the Japanese and Hong Kong sellers, so M8s were around $1500 +/- from the US they were 2300 +/- from Japan and HK. So if you are watching prices take that into consideration, I was looking for a month or so.

 

Edited September 19, 2019 by tommonego@gmail.com

[J.Nordvik]

I bought my used M8 in july 2011 for 14000,- NOK. 2 years later I tried to sell it/trade it for 9000,-. The best offer was 8500,-.  I said no.

6 years later I think I can get 8000,- here in Norway.

In 6/2011 14000,- NOK was 2550,- USD. Today that is 1550,- USD.

8000,- NOK is today 885,- USD.

For a small currency like NOK the value of M8 relative to the USD goes up and down, or at least it does not go down as much as it would in a closed marked.

 

A test picture from my M8 today. I wanted to test how many pictures I could get from the battery. Answer: 6 (I took 2 last week also)

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[J.Nordvik]

The battery says 14/07 and the guaranty card says it was sold on 22/12-07. So I guess it is the original battery. 12 years and 42000 exposures.

[J.Nordvik]

I recharged the battery and got 73 pictures. Recharged it again and got 158 pictures. Taking the pictures as fast as the buffer could take them.

The battery is obviously too old, but if I could get 50 pictures with it when walking around I would be satisfied with that.