M8.2

[dalippe]

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Is that so? Safari-camps in Africa, that I could never afford, which charge from 1000 to 2000 USD a person a day (sometimes with a minimum of five days...) are booked solid for at least two years - by Americans..There still seems to be plenty of spare cash around with some groups.

Just for the record - my expenditure is a magnitude less.

 

Is what so? It is certainly true that many foreign companies are absorbing a large fraction of the dollar's decline rather than passing it on to customers, including companies that sell luxury goods. Only time will tell whether or not Leica makes this choice with future cameras. Have the prices of these Safaris gone up proportional to the dollars decline (assuming of course that the dollar declined against the local currencies of the safari providers)? Are the quoted in dollars or local currency?

[durangotang]

Is that so? Safari-camps in Africa, that I could never afford, which charge from 1000 to 2000 USD a person a day (sometimes with a minimum of five days...) are booked solid for at least two years - by Americans..There still seems to be plenty of spare cash around with some groups.

Just for the record - my expenditure is a magnitude less.

 

A safari trip is not a retail item intended to mass sell. The cost on sensor and electronics have surely come down over the last 2 years. What can the special sapphire glass cost Leica to put on the back LCD panel? $50? $100? I can see charging a premium for the upgrade to an existing product due to the intensive labor involved in changing the shutter mechanism, installing the glass, testing the product, etc. However, if you have to build the camera from scratch anyway (new), where is the extra cost?

 

Additionally, they are not substantially upgrading anything like the sensor to justify additional pricing. It is very common to charge more in Euros and less equivalently in Dollars to keep sales high in the U.S. due to the exchange rate. Let's hope for us in the US that they go this route ;-)

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[PATB]

For all we know, Leica is playing the Nikon game of intentionally leaking information to generate interest. Photokina is only a few days away anyways.

 

I just hope the pricing is not ridiculously high -- I have a 35mm Cron that I bought new last December but I hardly use because I find it too wide on my MP (I use the 50 lux 95% of the time). I wonder how the 35 cron would look on an M8.2

[andybarton]

The dollar is no longer in decline.

[jaapv]

I'm sure Leica is very aware of the crossing point of the price curve and the potential customer number curve. My point was that there is a substantial group of Americans for whom this kind of money is no problem.

[dalippe]

The dollar is no longer in decline.

 

That is a statement about the derivative of the exchange rate, not its level. The dollar is still weak by historical standards and prices of European goods that honored the exchange rate between euros and dollars would still look very high to most US consumers.

[ShyTot]

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Providing Leica update the existing M8 firmware to take SDHC cards, I can't really see any significant advantage in trading in the exisiting camera for a M8.2.

Tom Photography by Tom Lane

 

There is no significant advantage for a happy M8 user to trade up to the M8.2. Just a number of fixes and some upgrade features that can be added to used units.

 

However, it won't require the addition of many upgrade features to close the gap between the cost of the two bodies.

 

The M8.2 will appeal to those that want the latest/greatest and new digital M owners who want to kick off their experience with a second phase camera with a lower risk of the occasional bug.

 

The big M news is yet to come.

[andybarton]

The M8.2 was a "no brainer" as they say.

 

I agree, with ShyTot. There's more to Photokina than an M8 with the pre-announced upgrades built in.

[sdai]

The big M news is yet to come.

 

How big is it going to be?

 

M9, Digital CL, 50/0.95, 24/1.4 ... all has been beaten to death on this board.

 

Boring.

[durangotang]

The dollar is no longer in decline.

 

That's cute. Maybe not today. We have a national debt of $9 trillion and unfunded liabilities (including Medicare, Medicaid & Social Security) of $59 trillion dollars into the near future (as baby boomers age and draw social security and need medical attention). Do you think that the politicians are going to just stop writing social security checks to the baby boomers, who make up the single largest voting bloc? Yeah right.

 

There is only one solution. The dollar is backed by nothing and inflation can curb the relative costs of these programs (and our debt). The checks will still go out for the same amounts, never mind that they won't buy much. So the solution is to print more money and cause inflation. Notice M3 isn't published anymore.

 

There just isn't any other solution.

 

I could go on, but I don't want to turn this fine thread into a political discussion. If anyone wants to go there, send me a private message.

 

In the meantime, cool news for the M8.

[jaapv]

The M8.2 was a "no brainer" as they say.

 

I agree, with ShyTot. There's more to Photokina than an M8 with the pre-announced upgrades built in.

 

But not too much M body news,more like lenses I think.

[andybarton]

How big is it going to be?

 

M9, Digital CL, 50/0.95, 24/1.4 ... all has been beaten to death on this board.

 

Boring.

 

Well, the M9 is going to be the M8.2, that's clear. (At least this year)

 

The Digital CL is merely a "wish" item, from what I can see.

 

The new Noctilux was more or less described when we met in Hessenpark

 

And the 24 f1.4 is a rumour based on what we saw in Solms that day.

 

Neither the Noctilux, nor the 24 have been announced yet (neither has the M8.2...), but if you consider either of those lenses "boring", then that's fine. If Leica do announce both of these, I'd say it will be a pretty interesting show.

 

It will also be very interesting to see the first results from these two, as they come through.

[ShyTot]

How big is it going to be?

 

M9, Digital CL, 50/0.95, 24/1.4 ... all has been beaten to death on this board.

Boring.

 

Surprisingly big, IMO.

 

There's much to look forward to.

 

Stuff that will actually make a difference to the images you can take.

[sdai]

Neither the Noctilux, nor the 24 have been announced yet (neither has the M8.2...), but if you consider either of those lenses "boring", then that's fine. If Leica do announce both of these, I'd say it will be a pretty interesting show.

 

You know I'm not saying the lenses are boring in fact, the 50/.95 might be the last M lens I really want to "try" ... but, is there any SURPRISE?

[andybarton]

If you were told, it wouldn't be a surprise, would it?

 

 

"Patience, Grasshopper" as David Caradine's friend used to say in the 70s.

[sdai]

Stuff that will actually make a difference to the images you can take.

 

Are you only mentioning about the M system or something else? if the "difference to the images" I can take is just about a bigger frame size then it's beaten to death as well ... to say it's a surprise, it has to be a R providing native support to all previous R lenses.

[sdai]

If you were told, it wouldn't be a surprise, would it?

 

 

I was pointed to a rumor on canonrumours.com last night and in fact, it was about a teaser banner ad on Zeiss's web site in which they give a hint to an additional mount they'll add to their 35mm SLR lenses stable.

 

My first reaction was that they're going to built some ZR lenses for the defunct R mount and then I thought, who would blow some serious dollars on the Cosina lenses by the time when prices of genuine R optics will drop like a hard rock? LOL

 

Zeiss Teaser Ad

[andybarton]

Well, that's interesting.

 

And if Zeiss want to continue to support R users, when Leica have moved on to a super-R, or whatever it is that they have in mind, then I'm all for it.

 

Especially if Zeiss can make me a decent 24mm f1.4, or a 50 f 0.95 for my DMR

[ShyTot]

Are you only mentioning about the M system or something else?.

 

Purely a reference to M in the above.

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[sdai]

Well, that's interesting.

 

And if Zeiss want to continue to support R users, when Leica have moved on to a super-R, or whatever it is that they have in mind, then I'm all for it.

 

Especially if Zeiss can make me a decent 24mm f1.4, or a 50 f 0.95 for my DMR

 

The Zeiss announcement is scheduled on the 15th of Sep. as well ... how interesting is it?