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On 1/22/2025 at 3:04 PM, DigitalHeMan said:

600$! I was thinking it was more like a 25’$ thing. That’s a hefty Leica tax!

So apparently they are used to inflating everything they sell and thought to do the same with these.

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1 hour ago, T25UFO said:

Steiff bears are expensive - makes Leica look cheap.  The Louis Vuitton bear sold for €1,978,000 🤪

 

That’s true - they sell for between 37.90 to 109.00 Euro - https://www.steiff.com/en/stuffed-animals-toys/teddy-bears

Clearly, the Leica version was very hard to make …

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19 minutes ago, IkarusJohn said:

That’s true - they sell for between 37.90 to 109.00 Euro - https://www.steiff.com/en/stuffed-animals-toys/teddy-bears

Clearly, the Leica version was very hard to make …

Oh, come now, John; that's obviously a blatant excercise in cherry-picking preferrential facts to support a premeditated stance wouldn't you say?......😸......Steiff's 'Toy' bears might top-out at that price but the 'Collector's Bears' - into which category, clearly, at least two of the Leica items will reside - retail for a tad more than that;

https://www.steiff.com/en/exclusive-world-of-collectors?sort=final_price%3Adesc

Philip.

Edited by pippy
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7 minutes ago, pippy said:

Oh, come now, John; that's obviously a blatant excercise in cherry-picking preferrential facts to support a premeditated stance wouldn't you say?......😸......Steiff's 'Toy' bears might top-out at that price but the 'Collector's Bears' - into which category, clearly, at least two of the Leica items will reside - retail for a tad more than that;

https://www.steiff.com/en/exclusive-world-of-collectors?sort=final_price%3Adesc

Philip.

Good grief!

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On 1/23/2025 at 5:55 PM, Photoworks said:

the last good edition was the 60. they didn't put in much effort into 100

Piling on…just watched an older video by RedDotForum guys on the M11-D where they talked about the M Edition 60, what a contrast to the current 100 edition, and how special the M60 was compared to just engravings of the 100.

My impression of Leica has always been it’s a Product driven company. Quite disappointing to see how Leica seems to have separated Marketing as something so discrete from Product. 
 

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On 1/24/2025 at 1:55 AM, Photoworks said:

the last good edition was the 60. they didn't put in much effort into 100

 

2 hours ago, o2mpx said:

…just watched an older video...where they talked about the M Edition 60, what a contrast to the current 100 edition, and how special the M60 was...

Going back beyond the M240 era to the M9 days there was a wish within Leica to create something where the quality of craftsmanship was truly outstanding. OK, it might be not to everyone's taste but I doubt that anyone would deny that this 'Special Edition' really was something special.

Spend three-and-a-bit minutes of your time to enjoy this little clip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAfSfnykXfo

Mind you; whereas quite a few M 60 cameras get 'playtime' I doubt that many Hermès cameras will ever acquire a patina through being used...which is a pity.

Philip.

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Here's an idea as to what Leica might have done for the Centenary...

15 years ago (or so) Leica offered a choice of little compact digital cameras such as the the D-Lux 4 and the X-1. Despite neither of those mentioned being Full-Frame they were lovely, truly pocketable little cameras which could provide very nice photographs indeed.

Some ten years earlier Leica had released a replica edition - Cat. No. 10500 - of their famous 'Nullserie' which, as we all know, was the direct ancestor of the Leica 1 whose anniversary is being celebrated.

I think that it would have been a nice idea to fit a greatly simplified collection of electrical gubbins from the X-1 type of camera into a 'Nullserie' styled body. How hard could it be? The lens fitted would be of fixed focal length of 50mm equivalent. This would be retracted inside the body as per the 'Anastigmat' of the original and would extend when the camera is switched on. There would be no screen; the camera would function in much the same way as an M 60 / M-D Typ-262. The camera would retain the fold-up-frame-with-target of the original.

Concessions to modernity, however, would be made. There would be a full range of shutter speeds from 1 second to 1/1000 and on the centre of the rear of the camera there would be three small LEDs which would be linked to a light meter indicating Under / Correct / Over exposure.

Would such a camera have been a success? I rather think that it might have been.

Just for fun here's a link to one of the replicas which was being offered by Leitz Auctions

https://www.leitz-auction.com/en/Leica-O-Series-10500/AI-15-19044

Philip.

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3 hours ago, pippy said:

Here's an idea as to what Leica might have done for the Centenary...

15 years ago (or so) Leica offered a choice of little compact digital cameras such as the the D-Lux 4 and the X-1. Despite neither of those mentioned being Full-Frame they were lovely, truly pocketable little cameras which could provide very nice photographs indeed.

Some ten years earlier Leica had released a replica edition - Cat. No. 10500 - of their famous 'Nullserie' which, as we all know, was the direct ancestor of the Leica 1 whose anniversary is being celebrated.

I think that it would have been a nice idea to fit a greatly simplified collection of electrical gubbins from the X-1 type of camera into a 'Nullserie' styled body. How hard could it be? The lens fitted would be of fixed focal length of 50mm equivalent. This would be retracted inside the body as per the 'Anastigmat' of the original and would extend when the camera is switched on. There would be no screen; the camera would function in much the same way as an M 60 / M-D Typ-262. The camera would retain the fold-up-frame-with-target of the original.

Concessions to modernity, however, would be made. There would be a full range of shutter speeds from 1 second to 1/1000 and on the centre of the rear of the camera there would be three small LEDs which would be linked to a light meter indicating Under / Correct / Over exposure.

Would such a camera have been a success? I rather think that it might have been.

Just for fun here's a link to one of the replicas which was being offered by Leitz Auctions

https://www.leitz-auction.com/en/Leica-O-Series-10500/AI-15-19044

Philip.

Great idea. Sadly, that would have taken lots of pre-planning and re-tooling etc on Leica's part, and I just don't think that's where they are at these days. It would actually be a lot more complex than just re-shelling a Panasonic and writing some new code for the menu and sensor output as they usually do with their compacts. 

I know, how about a re-release of batteries for the existing  M cameras? They could proudly stamp the continent on them where they haven't been available for so long... 😏 

Personally, I think an M3 styled version of the M11 would have been the ticket. A big 50 or 35mm finder, with an add on metal clad EVF that mimics the MR meter. Maybe an actual wind on to re-cock the shutter (or at least pretend to). These bodies with city names are going to languish on the shelf. Esp since they now have what, like four or five versions already? 

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5 hours ago, pippy said:

 

Going back beyond the M240 era to the M9 days there was a wish within Leica to create something where the quality of craftsmanship was truly outstanding. OK, it might be not to everyone's taste but I doubt that anyone would deny that this 'Special Edition' really was something special.

Spend three-and-a-bit minutes of your time to enjoy this little clip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAfSfnykXfo

Mind you; whereas quite a few M 60 cameras get 'playtime' I doubt that many Hermès cameras will ever acquire a patina through being used...which is a pity.

Philip.

Thanks for sharing.  What a difference, albeit at a completely different price point, but it does show what Leica could [should] have done.  The exquisite leather work reminds me of Arte di Mano videos.  

Now, in addition to a totally naff camera, we get a collection of useless trinkets, a £425 pencil and £520 teddy bear.  Even the little animation on the website is so amateurish, I could have done something better with iMovie.  There is nothing, absolutely nothing, to like about this 100 year anniversary.  Let's hope the marketing team that thought this was a good idea will be looking for alternative employment soon.

It just shows that Leica has completely lost its way.

Edited by T25UFO
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11 hours ago, o2mpx said:

Piling on…just watched an older video by RedDotForum guys on the M11-D where they talked about the M Edition 60, what a contrast to the current 100 edition, and how special the M60 was compared to just engravings of the 100.

My impression of Leica has always been it’s a Product driven company. Quite disappointing to see how Leica seems to have separated Marketing as something so discrete from Product. 
 

The m60 was a trial to see the desire for a new kind of camera: the m-d. It got its following.

May be the m100 is a trial to see the desire of a freezingless camera. We don’t yet if we want that (what could we discuss here afterwards), so we still need to see if it will get a following resulting in a m12-a (anti-freeze).

one never knows with Leica..,

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Has anyone seen the bears for sale online anywhere? I clicked through as soon as I got the email, but they were already showing as sold out. Did they actually release? Any online releases still coming up? I'd love a New York edition M11, but I feel like the price will be out of my range. 

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Leica seem to be making a big thing of this in Dubai, with a light show on the Burj, so I checked the price of the Dubai edition on the local website.  It’s around £7,950 at current FX rates, so no premium.  Of course, VAT is only 5%, but even so . . . 

You can choose your number edition from 10 on the website.  No bears for sale!

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