Where have all the R lenses gone?

[Guest]

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10 months ago when I bought my R8, together with a Leica R 35-70 f4 ROM zoom, there seemed to be a good selection of R lenses for sale from various sources in the US - some at affordable prices. Now it seems like there are none, except for a few expensive ones from Asia on EBay. What happened?

[OR120]

Good question....

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[frame-it]

https://www.camerawest.com/products/system/leica r/condition/used

[LeicaR10]

ChrisL,  You can find a number of good sources for R lenses.  Stores mentioned above like Camera West, KEH, eBay all have listings or can find you R lenses.  SilverFancy, a US seller on eBay has been a good source for R lenses too.  For bargains you might need some patience.  Pristine R lenses can fetch a premium.

Try: https://www.ebay.com/sch/silverfrancy/m.html    Also...Try: https://www.leicashop.com/vintage/en/Leica/R-System/Lenses/   (Albeit in Austria)  

Hope this helps.  r/ Mark

Edited April 10, 2021 by LeicaR10

[Guest]

I know where to find used Leica gear (I mainly buy used gear), such as on EBay. Currently Adorama, B&H, KEH and the US Leica stores have not much to speak of in terms of R lens inventory. What I’m interested in is finding out the reason why there appears to be a run on R lenses in the US all of a sudden (or so it seems). 

Edited April 10, 2021 by ChrisL

[msh58]

vor 6 Stunden schrieb ChrisL:

I know where to find used Leica gear (I mainly buy used gear), such as on EBay. Currently Adorama, B&H, KEH and the US Leica stores have not much to speak of in terms of R lens inventory. What I’m interested in is finding out the reason why there appears to be a run on R lenses in the US all of a sudden (or so it seems). 

I have the same impression as ChrisL: at least on eBay the number of R lenses available especially in the US has gone down during the past year. Same goes for the  Leica Store Miami and SF. Maybe this has to do with the pandemic or perhaps the owners of Leica SL2 and SL2-S cameras have acquired R lenses. Another theory is that cinematographers use these lenses and have them converted to other mounts. 

As Leica LeicaR10 says, the best R lenses fetch premium prices. On the other hand, even a minor non-consequential imperfection can bring the price down substantially.  - Matti

[a.noctilux]

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They went to Europe ?

Leicashop, Vienna ?

[lct]

Several R lenses on e**y right now. Prices are higher than they used to be though. Mirrorless cameras are the main culprit i suspect.

[adan]

I think it is a mix of reasons.

Some demand fluctuation, perhaps, but also the "Covid economy" has likely made online stores a bit leery of investing too much money in orphaned lenses recently.

My local Littleton/Denver camera shop quit buying R gear 6-7 years ago. They will only take it in on consignment, in the store or to sell on ebay (no up-front investment).

And in this Covid-Year, they have even heavily limited buying M gear, unless it is current modern gear.

Even KEH has let their R gear inventory decline.

[pgk]

At least one dealer in the UK has run out of used stock. With Covid there has obviously been reduced opportunity to trade gear in (some things are better done in person) so one reason for a lack of used R lenses may well be that people have hung onto them until they can visit local dealers in person and negotiate deals themselves. Trade in via the web is certainly increasingly possible, but not so straightforward as there is usually a 'provisional' offer subject to confirmation or revision upon actual viewing after the item has been shipped to the dealer. Not everyone will be happy with this and R lenses are a bit tricky, in that there are all out of production and some can be quite old. They can also be expensive to repair so dealers may be a little wary of offering too much in part exchange.

[adan]

36 minutes ago, pgk said:

They can also be expensive to repair so dealers may be a little wary of offering too much in part exchange.

.....or even impossible. Leica won't touch them, and sold off all the parts (to Meister camera?).

But you are right - dealers often don't want to touch items they can't reliably warranty.

 

[pgk]

45 minutes ago, adan said:

But you are right - dealers often don't want to touch items they can't reliably warranty.

When I worked in R G Lewis camera store in London around 1980 when I was a student, the original Leicaflex was already considered dodgy to take in in part exchange, simply because any repair was already uneconomic by then, given that it was not a ttl metered camera and as such did not command a high price on the used market..

[AZN]

11 hours ago, msh58 said:

or perhaps the owners of Leica SL2 and SL2-S cameras have acquired R lenses. Another theory is that cinematographers use these lenses and have them converted to other mounts.

Strongly suggest it's something like this, although not just the relatively tiny number of SLx users, but all brands of mirrorless users.

When I bought my Sony A7RII years ago, I started purchasing a lot of used R lenses to use with it as my 24mm and 25mm M lenses had horrible corner issues.  I don't think I was utterly alone in doing this.

Mirrorless cameras, by any brand, work really well with R lenses, whereas it's a very limited game with M-lenses.  So if you want to use Leica glass then R is the "easiest" option, provided you can buy what you want at reasonable prices 😃

 

[hamey]

I also echo AZN, R lenses work very well with mirrorless and my own EOS  Canon camera, I have kept all my R lenses, however very rarely use them right now.

So I suspect people buy them and hold on to them, mine are locked away.

One thing for sure I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER  LEICA PRODUCT AGAIN.

 

 

[dkCambridgeshire]

https://www.ffordes.com/c/202/leica-r

https://www.reddotcameras.co.uk/251-r-lenses

http://www.peterloy.com/stock-list.php

https://theclassiccamera.com/product-category/used-leica/used-leica-r-mount-lenses/

https://www.apertureuk.com/pre-owned/leica/leica-r-series/

... fair number listed in UK ... including some 'hard to find'. 

Unfortunately, the 'R' lens collectors' "bible" , i.e., Leica Pocket Book 8th Edition, is now so scarce (no longer available new and commands too high s/h price) that new collectors / users have no ready reference guide to help them choose.  Can be a bit of a minefield separating the better R lenses from the 'also rans' ... latter include adopted Minolta and Sigma zoom designs.

 

 

Edited April 11, 2021 by dkCambridgeshire

[gowron808]

My impression is also that they are being bought up by mirrorless users. It is certainly my case, I am a Sony full frame shooter and use only vintage glass, mostly Leica (including a 35-70 f/4, a 21-35 and several R primes),  Contax and Minolta. By pure luck I built up this collection while supply and prices were still reasonably good, roughly 2014 to 2018. I will never let go of any of these lenses. Given the unpleasant ergonomics and huge size of modern Frankenlenses, the Damocles sword of electronic failures, the distatefulness of auto focus and the optical qualities of vintage glass, I suspect that I am far from the only one with a collection of old glass that will not move at any price. 

[masjah]

I agree about mirrorless cameras giving R glass a new lease of life. For me, IBIS equipped mirrorless (specifically the SL2) does the business. For my style of photography I can live perfectly well without autofocus, given focus confirmation and view magnification. So my rom R lenses (plus Leica adapter) now have effectively an indefinite lease of life, and are of a perfectly sufficiently good quality (though I'm happy to concede that native SL glass would be superior). I suspect that many others have cottoned on to the same thing. I won't be selling them even at the astronomical prices (in some cases well above what I paid for them brand new, and certainly well above what Leica charged for "ex-demo" samples) some of them now command. It's a bit like selling your house after a price boom - you've still got to live somewhere, so to realise the gain, you've got to trade down, which I won't do. After I'm dead, my family can do as they like!

[robert_parker]

I would agree that versatility is one of the major factors, as well as quality - R lenses can be used by mirrorless cameras, by M cameras using an adapter and live view or Visoflex and are apparently also prized in the cinema industry, so in reality there is a strong demand which naturally minimises the number of lenses for sale

[davidmknoble]

On 4/10/2021 at 1:46 AM, ChrisL said:

I know where to find used Leica gear (I mainly buy used gear), such as on EBay. Currently Adorama, B&H, KEH and the US Leica stores have not much to speak of in terms of R lens inventory. What I’m interested in is finding out the reason why there appears to be a run on R lenses in the US all of a sudden (or so it seems). 

I don’t know that it’s as much a run on buying the R lenses as it is less people selling their R lenses.  I’ve been watching several sources I trust for accurate descriptions and they just get less frequent items in.  Ebay is ok if you are careful because ratings and descriptions are not consistent.

I do think some really nice almost new R lenses are available, but at premiums and I worry about getting service if the lens lube has dried out...

i just keep watching.

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Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear

[davidmknoble]

On 4/11/2021 at 4:43 AM, dkCambridgeshire said:

https://www.ffordes.com/c/202/leica-r

https://www.reddotcameras.co.uk/251-r-lenses

http://www.peterloy.com/stock-list.php

https://theclassiccamera.com/product-category/used-leica/used-leica-r-mount-lenses/

https://www.apertureuk.com/pre-owned/leica/leica-r-series/

... fair number listed in UK ... including some 'hard to find'. 

Unfortunately, the 'R' lens collectors' "bible" , i.e., Leica Pocket Book 8th Edition, is now so scarce (no longer available new and commands too high s/h price) that new collectors / users have no ready reference guide to help them choose.  Can be a bit of a minefield separating the better R lenses from the 'also rans' ... latter include adopted Minolta and Sigma zoom designs.

 

 

Is it me or do all your links point to FFordes?