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SL3 cheapskate packaging


geesbert

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On 3/20/2024 at 6:53 PM, LocalHero1953 said:

I would rather buy a camera, not packaging, which spends all its life in the attic. As long as it protects the camera that's good enough for me. I thought the treasure box packaging, with little drawers, was way OTT.

My SL, SL2 and SL2-S came with no hotshoe covers, because they don't need one - the camera is weather resistant. My CL, TL2, M240 all came with hotshoe covers - they weren't weather resistant.

I mostly agree especially about the 'treasure box' designs, but I do feel annoyed when there is no charger and no instruction manual. That is cheap. Having to request a printed manual ( we don't all want to read it on a screen ) and wait when you have just paid Leica a whole lot of money isn't good. That's like me going to a Leica store and buying the camera but asking Leica to request payment from me online and wait for the money. How would they feel about that? I also see no reason for the batteries to be made in China but cost a 'made in Germany'  premium price.If the Leicas can be made in Germany so can the batteries. If it's cheaper to get the batteries made in China then why are they still a super premium price?

Leica is great but in these particular respects I do expect better.  

 

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On 3/20/2024 at 9:19 PM, Photoworks said:

I got the grey box at the store, but the best thing was that I got a halfar tote bag with all the Leicons on it

Much more useful.

Does the SL3 come with a Leicon card in the box so i can learn what they mean? Just curious. In case they don't give me a tote bag!

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On 3/20/2024 at 3:47 AM, geesbert said:

no hotshoe cover for someone like me who NEVER uses the hotshoe is noted

It’s an absolute disgrace that Leica doesn’t charge me more for the SL3 so they can fill the camera box with manuals that I can’t even bother to flip open, or include a hotshoe cover to protect my IP54 rated camera from dust so that I can truly feel like I’ve lived a full life by putting said hotshoe cover in a drawer of full of random crap.

How dare Leica deny me of such simple pleasures of collecting superfluous crap?

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Posted (edited)
6 hours ago, 2M6TTLs said:

I also see no reason for the batteries to be made in China but cost a 'made in Germany'  premium price.If the Leicas can be made in Germany so can the batteries. If it's cheaper to get the batteries made in China then why are they still a super premium price?

Yes. The inexplicably high price of the batteries does make one feel that one is being taken advantage of.

David

Edited by David Wien
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7 hours ago, 2M6TTLs said:

I mostly agree especially about the 'treasure box' designs, but I do feel annoyed when there is no charger and no instruction manual. That is cheap. Having to request a printed manual ( we don't all want to read it on a screen ) and wait when you have just paid Leica a whole lot of money isn't good. That's like me going to a Leica store and buying the camera but asking Leica to request payment from me online and wait for the money. How would they feel about that? I also see no reason for the batteries to be made in China but cost a 'made in Germany'  premium price.If the Leicas can be made in Germany so can the batteries. If it's cheaper to get the batteries made in China then why are they still a super premium price?

Leica is great but in these particular respects I do expect better.  

 

I doubt that Germany has production facilities to make Leica batteries, and it makes no sense for Leica to run their own battery production in Germany.

Often stuff gets made in China because they are the only ones who can produce items. Many European production facilities have closed.

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From an enviromental perspective, not including a battery charger is merely passing the carbon footprint for this device on to someone else. It will create another level of packaging and shipping - with the associated carbon footprint. I think it was simply a cost saving exercise, sold as an "environmental" savings. The SL3's power consumption will require multiple batteries for extensive use, and "requiring" the use of a new generation of batteries is not really "environmental". They should have increased the new batteries size & capacity, and reduced the need for multiple batteries... IMHO

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1 hour ago, Planetwide said:

From an enviromental perspective, not including a battery charger is merely passing the carbon footprint for this device on to someone else. It will create another level of packaging and shipping - with the associated carbon footprint. I think it was simply a cost saving exercise, sold as an "environmental" savings. The SL3's power consumption will require multiple batteries for extensive use, and "requiring" the use of a new generation of batteries is not really "environmental". They should have increased the new batteries size & capacity, and reduced the need for multiple batteries... IMHO

I think the overlap of people who buy new Leica cameras and people who do not own a laptop or cell phone charger (or a dozen) is very small. As others have pointed-out, there is a new EU regulation that specifically mentions cameras as device types that no longer come with generic chargers. I'm sure they could still include a USB charger in the rest of the world, but that brings us back to the first point: how many Leica customers do not have a cell phone or laptop?

They increased the battery capacity last year when the Q3 came out.

5 hours ago, SrMi said:

I doubt that Germany has production facilities to make Leica batteries, and it makes no sense for Leica to run their own battery production in Germany.

The batteries are made by Panasonic, who are a top-tier battery manufacturer. I'm sure the price has to do with custom packaging and low volume. I guess Leica could import the cells, and assemble the packs in Germany, but that seems like a distraction from their core business.

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13 hours ago, 2M6TTLs said:

I mostly agree especially about the 'treasure box' designs, but I do feel annoyed when there is no charger and no instruction manual. That is cheap. Having to request a printed manual ( we don't all want to read it on a screen ) and wait when you have just paid Leica a whole lot of money isn't good. That's like me going to a Leica store and buying the camera but asking Leica to request payment from me online and wait for the money. How would they feel about that? I also see no reason for the batteries to be made in China but cost a 'made in Germany'  premium price.If the Leicas can be made in Germany so can the batteries. If it's cheaper to get the batteries made in China then why are they still a super premium price?

Leica is great but in these particular respects I do expect better.  

 

No need to complain anymore, the SL3 comes with a printed manual in the Box. I am sure it will be out of date as soon as the new option comes with the firmware update, and you will all download the PDF to read it.

All new phones and cameras don't come with a charger in the box anymore if they want to sell in the EU. They offer new chargers for sale if you don't have one, reducing waste.

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2 hours ago, Planetwide said:

From an enviromental perspective, not including a battery charger is merely passing the carbon footprint for this device on to someone else. It will create another level of packaging and shipping - with the associated carbon footprint. I think it was simply a cost saving exercise, sold as an "environmental" savings. The SL3's power consumption will require multiple batteries for extensive use, and "requiring" the use of a new generation of batteries is not really "environmental". They should have increased the new batteries size & capacity, and reduced the need for multiple batteries... IMHO

They did give you an option to charge as you work over USB, you can save some money if you need to.
plus you can now shoot longer videos and timelapse without the need to change batteries.

The SL2 only trickle-charged when the camera was on, not enough to extend the battery duration for practical use.

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On 3/26/2024 at 11:52 PM, Photoworks said:

No need to complain anymore, the SL3 comes with a printed manual in the Box. I am sure it will be out of date as soon as the new option comes with the firmware update, and you will all download the PDF to read it.

All new phones and cameras don't come with a charger in the box anymore if they want to sell in the EU. They offer new chargers for sale if you don't have one, reducing waste.

That is good news! I don't care if the manual is a bit out of date as long as all the basics are in there. In the whole history of firmware updates for both computers and cameras there are very few updates that I felt I needed, same with current Leicas. In many cases features that worked before the updates suddenly stopped working and the updates were more trouble than they were worth. That has been my experience.Just read online about all the bugs every time a software update is released.

Yes, you are right about the no-charger- in -the- box thing.I just bought an electric toothbrush. No charger in the box.No problem, I have some Apple chargers- but wait, the manual states only to use a 5w charger which I don't have. In my opinion and you are free to disagree, not including a charger does little for the environment but simply cuts costs for the manufacturer and increases costs and  inconvenience for the customer. Would you buy a new car that doesn't have tires on the wheels because the maker considers you have already got tires and it reduces waste? What if it's your first car? What if you sold your previous car and the tires, what if they are a different size? It's a ridiculous example of course, but exactly the same kind of mentality. Not including the required parts to operate the device and then citing saving the environment sounds like a convenient excuse to me. Just like saying phones don't come with chargers so now  cameras shouldn't either. If you subscribe to this mindset the next thing you know, there will be no battery in the box either, because..hey, the manufacturer has decided you have some of those already..right? We are reducing waste and helping the environment by NOT giving you a battery.

To really save the environment we need to stop making power hungry products that constantly require charging, batteries etc. Phones are probably the best example of this and therefore the worst culprits, if you consider how many people now own one ( everybody! including sometimes up to six  or more in one family ) and each one of them charging them almost every day.  

Ok, I promise to stop complaining now, but just my opinion about the charger thing, which sad to say has already become an established trend with manufacturers.There is no going back.

 

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On 3/26/2024 at 5:03 PM, SrMi said:

I doubt that Germany has production facilities to make Leica batteries, and it makes no sense for Leica to run their own battery production in Germany.

Often stuff gets made in China because they are the only ones who can produce items. Many European production facilities have closed.

China are certainly not the only ones who CAN produce batteries but they are the only ones who ARE producing them. 

Have you never heard of VARTA, Ray-O- Vac, Ever Ready, DURACELL... ?

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Posted (edited)
15 minutes ago, 2M6TTLs said:

China are certainly not the only ones who CAN produce batteries but they are the only ones who ARE producing them. 

Have you never heard of VARTA, Ray-O- Vac, Ever Ready, DURACELL... ?

Varta produces only automotive batteries in Germany. Their consumer batteries (NiMh) are made in China, AFAIK.

Some Duracell are made in China.

Etc

If you need custom made, small production run batteries, I guess your only option is production in China.

Edited by SrMi
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Posted (edited)

A good many years ago, I had the job of investigating soil pollution beneath an old industrial site previously used by the well-known battery maker XXXXXX for making AA and AAA batteries. It was one of the most disgusting sites I ever visited, and one of the most fascinating from the point of view of obscure chemical reactions between substances that should never have come in contact with each other. The plating unit in itself could have been a doctoral research project. We are so fortunate that such manufacturing is now carried out on the other side of the world😜.

Edited by LocalHero1953
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8 hours ago, 2M6TTLs said:

China are certainly not the only ones who CAN produce batteries but they are the only ones who ARE producing them. 

In this case it's not "China" that is producing the batteries, but Panasonic. They are a top-tier battery supplier who produce batteries in several countries (including a Tesla "Gigafactory" in the US).

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