New edition of the Leica Summilux-M 1.4/35mm ASPH.

[Jeremy Bunting]

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5 minutes ago, Jeff S said:

A good purchase price, if no significant custom charges.  But seemingly not a very good sale price on the FLE, if it was in excellent condition, which Leica Miami has recently listed for around $5300 (at least before the new FLE was just announced).  Even with dealer commissions, a net closer to $4k would be fair (Miami returns 80% in trade; others can be found for at least 75%). 
 

Jeff

I think you touched on the issue, though--the new FLE 2 lists new for $5400. Sure, they're hard to find, but I found one--it's not impossible. I don't know who in their right mind would pay $5300 for a used FLE 1 right now. Even if you were in desperate need of a 35mm lens surely you'd be better off picking up cheaper non-Leica glass while you wait for the FLE 2's to become more accessible.

But yeah, I was really hoping to get $3600 to $3800. It was in ~8.5/10 condition with the original box etc etc. I was quoted even lower by KEH ($3100) and MPB ($2850)...

[Jeff S]

2 minutes ago, Jeremy Bunting said:

I think you touched on the issue, though--the new FLE 2 lists new for $5400. Sure, they're hard to find, but I found one--it's not impossible. I don't know who in their right mind would pay $5300 for a used FLE 1 right now. Even if you were in desperate need of a 35mm lens surely you'd be better off picking up cheaper non-Leica glass while you wait for the FLE 2's to become more accessible.

But yeah, I was really hoping to get $3600 to $3800. It was in ~8.5/10 condition with the original box etc etc. I was quoted even lower by KEH ($3100) and MPB ($2850)...

I assumed you sold yours before yesterday or today, the first time the new price was revealed.  If not, you missed out.

Jeff

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[phototrope]

5 minutes ago, Jeremy Bunting said:

I think you touched on the issue, though--the new FLE 2 lists new for $5400. Sure, they're hard to find, but I found one--it's not impossible.

The  35mm FLE V2 will be nowhere near as hard to find as the APO 35mm cron. Mainly because there have been no changes to the optical formula. All the tolerances have already been worked out while producing the FLE V1, and it's pretty much business as usual.

The problem with the APO lens, according to my Leica dealer, is that the tolerances are so high that Quality Control has to recycle a huge number of lenses that come of the assembly line, and it takes a long time to optimize this process.

Edited September 15, 2022 by phototrope

[Jeremy Bunting]

Just now, Jeff S said:

I assumed you sold yours before yesterday or today, the first time the new price was revealed.  If not, you missed out.

Jeff

Unfortunately not. I sold the FLE 1 today. I only heard that a new Summilux 35 was going to be released yesterday, and I couldn't say whether I'd purchase it or hold onto the FLE 1 before I knew the price. If it was going to be another $8-10k lens I planned to sit it out. My timing was very bad, but I'm not sure how I could have played it smarter given that I expected the FLE 2 to be much more expensive that it is.

[Jeremy Bunting]

4 minutes ago, phototrope said:

The  35mm FLE V2 will be nowhere near as hard to find as the APO 35mm cron.

Precisely why it felt like it was now or never on selling the FLE 1.

I sold my Q2 last week, coincidentally, because I haven't touched it since I got my M11, and I'm expecting the Q3 to be released in the next six months or so which will cause secondhand prices on the Q2 to plummet. I didn't have that level of foresight on the lens.

[Jeff S]

Just now, Jeremy Bunting said:

Unfortunately not. I sold the FLE 1 today. I only heard that a new Summilux 35 was going to be released yesterday, and I couldn't say whether I'd purchase it or hold onto the FLE 1 before I knew the price. If it was going to be another $8-10k lens I planned to sit it out. My timing was very bad, but I'm not sure how I could have played it smarter given that I expected the FLE 2 to be much more expensive that it is.

Well, even if the FLE v.1 were now selling at a dealer like Miami for only $4600, the net would still be close to $3700 (although Miami might have refused yours based on condition, or offered less and sent it to DAG or Leica for CLA). But if one is in a rush, then the best deals are harder to find.  Sometimes users prefer original versions. In any event, I would never sell to the last two dealers you cited.

All that matters, though, is that you’re satisfied, and seems you are.  Hope you enjoy the new one.

Jeff

[Jeremy Bunting]

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4 minutes ago, Jeff S said:

Well, even if the FLE v.1 were now selling at a dealer like Miami for only $4600, the net would still be close to $3700 (although Miami might have refused yours based on condition, or offered less and sent it to DAG or Leica for CLA). But if one is in a rush, then the best deals are harder to find.  Sometimes users prefer original versions. In any event, I would never sell to the last two dealers you cited.

All that matters, though, is that you’re satisfied, and seems you are.  Hope you enjoy the new one.

Jeff

I should be able to let you know whether I'm satisfied in about a week.

[V23]

3 hours ago, maxpower said:

Weird question but I actually never looked into this and realised I don't actually know this for sure, it's not really specific to this topic but since we're talking about it a little bit I started wondering: the minimum focusing distance is measured from the sensor right? or is it from the front glass of the lens?

It is measured from the sensor, both of my cameras SL2-s and X-T4 have a mark on the body indicated position where sensor is situated within the camera body.

[grahamc]

Due to the strong US dollar , in Australia this lens costs equivalent of USD $6300, at today's rate.   "Crikey" !

Edited September 15, 2022 by grahamc

[Ken Abrahams]

36 minutes ago, grahamc said:

Due to the strong US dollar , in Australia this lens costs equivalent of USD $6300, at today's rate.   "Crikey" !

Its about the same price here in Australia if you convert English pounds to AUD

Edited September 16, 2022 by Ken Abrahams

[Ken Abrahams]

Leica Australia are selling the new Summilux for $9290 and the older version still in stock at its normal price of $8590 so there is a $700 AUD increase for the newer lens. 

[archive_all]

1 hour ago, Jeremy Bunting said:

I've never been hit by customs before and I do a fair number of shoe and clothing purchases from UK stores (who all seem to ship DHL). I hadn't even considered it as a possibility but I'll update this thread either way.

Please do. I thought the customs threshold was $800 but I'd love to hear otherwise. I haven't wanted to test the waters myself.

[Studienkamera]

16 minutes ago, Ken Abrahams said:

Leica Australia are selling the new Summilux for $9290 and the older version still in stock at its normal price of $8590 so there is a $700 AUD increase for the newer lens. 

Funny how we all did the same thing this morning - go to their webpage and compare prices. I did this even though I knew in advance that I will be staying with my silver chrome pre-FLE version. I wonder which behavioural bias explains such behaviour.

[grahamc]

1 minute ago, Studienkamera said:

Funny how we all did the same thing this morning - go to their webpage and compare prices. I did this even though I knew in advance that I will be staying with my silver chrome pre-FLE version. I wonder which behavioural bias explains such behaviour.

confirmation bias perhaps 

[grahamc]

Presuming that the US prices of $5400 here are quoted without Tax (?) what is a typical add-on tax across the US ? (presuming that it changes state to state ) ? 

Our Aussie price converted back to US or EUR seems very high but if US taxes are in the region of, say, 15% on top then it matches up 

Edited September 16, 2022 by grahamc

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6 minutes ago, grahamc said:

Presuming that the US prices of $5400 here are quoted without Tax (?) what is a typical add-on tax across the US ? (presuming that it changes state to state ) ? 

Our Aussie price converted back to US or EUR seems very high but if US taxes are in the region of, say, 15% on top then it matches up 

It does vary between 0-7.25%. It's common to pay tax from online purchases now even if purchased from an out of state store. However some stores still don't collect that tax so depending on which store it's purchased from it may be tax free even if one's state does have sales tax.

[Jeff S]

10 minutes ago, grahamc said:

Presuming that the US prices of $5400 here are quoted without Tax (?) what is a typical add-on tax across the US ? (presuming that it changes state to state ) ? 

Our Aussie price converted back to US or EUR seems very high but if US taxes are in the region of, say, 15% on top then it matches up 

Varies greatly, but averages roughly 7%.  It’s 6% in mine.

https://www.salestaxinstitute.com/resources/rates
 

Jeff

[rtai]

15 minutes ago, grahamc said:

Presuming that the US prices of $5400 here are quoted without Tax (?) what is a typical add-on tax across the US ? (presuming that it changes state to state ) ? 

Our Aussie price converted back to US or EUR seems very high but if US taxes are in the region of, say, 15% on top then it matches up 

How common is it for Aussies to fly to Hong Kong for that Leica or Rolex? Would the tax man know? 

[Ken Abrahams]

58 minutes ago, grahamc said:

Presuming that the US prices of $5400 here are quoted without Tax (?) what is a typical add-on tax across the US ? (presuming that it changes state to state ) ? 

Our Aussie price converted back to US or EUR seems very high but if US taxes are in the region of, say, 15% on top then it matches up 

Yes, the Leica Australia store prices are always tax included so it works out pretty much the same.

 

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[jakontil]

1 hour ago, Ken Abrahams said:

Leica Australia are selling the new Summilux for $9290 and the older version still in stock at its normal price of $8590 so there is a $700 AUD increase for the newer lens. 

If i were to buy now, the new version it is..