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I have now seen it mentioned twice in local media over here that Leica restarted production of film cameras with the introduction of the new M6. Are there any facts backing up this statement? If I have understood it correctly both the current MP an M-A have been in production since they were introduced (2003 and 2014 respectively).

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1 hour ago, mujk said:

I have now seen it mentioned twice in local media over here that Leica restarted production of film cameras with the introduction of the new M6. Are there any facts backing up this statement? If I have understood it correctly both the current MP an M-A have been in production since they were introduced (2003 and 2014 respectively).

You are correct - all they did was dress up the still in production MP to look like the classic M6.

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On 10/28/2024 at 7:46 AM, mujk said:

I have now seen it mentioned twice in local media over here that Leica restarted production of film cameras with the introduction of the new M6. Are there any facts backing up this statement? If I have understood it correctly both the current MP an M-A have been in production since they were introduced (2003 and 2014 respectively).

It may depend on the context of the word 'restarted', there is plenty of scope for misunderstanding. Leica build cameras in batches then send them out to the dealers, so if one dealer sells all their allocation it may be a long time before another batch is produced to fill more orders. Further it is said that production shifted for a time to the new M6 to build up enough stock to meet the initial demand. So for somebody waiting for an MP just before the M6 was released there may have been a longer than usual gap in supply, and the dealer may have told that customer 'good news, Leica are making the again', which is both true yet not giving the full context. So essentially the MP and M-A have been continuously in the catalogue since they were released given they've never made them day-in-day-out anyway and only built when the next batch was scheduled.

Edited by 250swb
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14 minutes ago, 250swb said:

It may depend on the context of the word 'restarted', there is plenty of scope for misunderstanding. Leica build cameras in batches then send them out to the dealers, so if one dealer sells all their allocation it may be a long time before another batch is produced to fill more orders. Further it is said that production shifted for a time to the new M6 to build up enough stock to meet the initial demand. So for somebody waiting for an MP just before the M6 was released there may have been a longer than usual gap in supply, and the dealer may have told that customer 'good news, Leica are making the again', which is both true yet not giving the full context. So essentially the MP and M-A have been continuously in the catalogue since they were released given they've never made them day-in-day-out anyway and only built when the next batch was scheduled.

Yes, I was thinking about that something like this could be behind the stories (which were about the revival of film photography). And then the journalists who wrote them got it slightly wrong. One of them even a bit more so, stating that the production of all film cameras had ceased completely on a global level and then it started again with the new M6 😁.

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1 hour ago, mujk said:

Yes, I was thinking about that something like this could be behind the stories (which were about the revival of film photography). And then the journalists who wrote them got it slightly wrong. One of them even a bit more so, stating that the production of all film cameras had ceased completely on a global level and then it started again with the new M6 😁.

Perhaps the date of the information you’re going on would be revealing given not long before the M6 release the world had gone through Covid and no doubt production at Wetzlar did stop for a time.

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1 hour ago, 250swb said:

Perhaps the date of the information you’re going on would be revealing given not long before the M6 release the world had gone through Covid and no doubt production at Wetzlar did stop for a time.

The source of the information in the two news stories was not disclosed, but it may have been someone the journalists had interviewed. In any case they were no experts on the subject and might well have misunderstood what they were told. Both stories were on websites of reputable local media (largest newspaper, national broadcasting corporation). One of them was published last week and the other less than a year ago, so I guess they were written quite recently. I just got curious whether there could have been some real information behind that I had missed. 

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44 minutes ago, mujk said:

The source of the information in the two news stories was not disclosed, but it may have been someone the journalists had interviewed. In any case they were no experts on the subject and might well have misunderstood what they were told. Both stories were on websites of reputable local media (largest newspaper, national broadcasting corporation). One of them was published last week and the other less than a year ago, so I guess they were written quite recently. I just got curious whether there could have been some real information behind that I had missed. 

There is no real information behind it and if written by 'journalists' they should understand the basic principles of information in a story which are 'who, what, where, when, why' and if they can't provide that information to their readers it's likely to be 'fake news'.

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vor 13 Stunden schrieb mujk:

Yes, I was thinking about that something like this could be behind the stories (which were about the revival of film photography). And then the journalists who wrote them got it slightly wrong. One of them even a bit more so, stating that the production of all film cameras had ceased completely on a global level and then it started again with the new M6 😁.

Which other film cameras beside Leica your „source“ is talking about?

Large scale like Linhoff or the one way plastic cameras from China?

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2 hours ago, Helge said:

Which other film cameras beside Leica your „source“ is talking about?

Large scale like Linhoff or the one way plastic cameras from China?

Exactly.

As I mentioned this statement was in one of the news stories only. The other one mentioned only Leica. Unfortunately they will not reveal their sources. The first one also ignored my attempt to correct the information. This is unfortunately how also reputable media works these days. @250swb wrote a good summary above.

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On 10/30/2024 at 12:37 PM, 250swb said:

Perhaps the date of the information you’re going on would be revealing given not long before the M6 release the world had gone through Covid and no doubt production at Wetzlar did stop for a time.

Possibly, but my MP was manufactured in June of 2021, so even if it did stop during COVID, it restarted again before the new M6 was introduced.

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2 hours ago, armadsen said:

Possibly, but my MP was manufactured in June of 2021, so even if it did stop during COVID, it restarted again before the new M6 was introduced.

I think you only know when the certificate was signed after the camera had its final checks. Leica serial numbers aren't even sequential so there's no reason to believe specific dates relate to actual events.

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On 10/31/2024 at 4:52 PM, Helge said:

Is there a link available to those two stories?

Both are in Finnish. The newer one is here:

https://yle.fi/a/74-20119886

The older one is behind a paywall:

https://www.hs.fi/visio/art-2000009644607.html

Both stories have interviewed people from https://kamerastore.com/, the largest local trader in used photo gear, including Leica. At least they should have been able to provide correct information.

I agree with @Anbaric that these are most likely inaccurate reporting.

 

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15 hours ago, Helge said:

No translation in any other language available?

 

No, sorry. But you can always use Google translate. When using Chrome the whole page can be translated directly in the browser.

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