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new upgrade prices


pat hattori

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So, what's the big deal? ......................................................................... If you have an M8 and you had the chance to upgrade in the last months but didn't do it yet, what were you waiting for? Did you expect Leica to lower the prices for the upgrades? Did you expect them to keep the upgrade prices stable for the next years? Did they promise that somewhere?.............

In my case the answer is simple. Before submitting two cameras for upgrade I was waiting for Leica to iron out any initial problems they may have had in implementing the upgrade program. Past experience where Leica is concerned has shown this to be prudent. In addition I had an assignment to photograph at a November convention in the US where backup cameras were necessary, so neither camera could be sent in for upgrading.

 

Bob.

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So, what's the big deal? If Leica lowers the prices for the M8, people who bought it a few weeks earlier also complain. Well, bad luck, but these things happen all the time.

 

I agree that a 50% increase is quite hefty, but who is really affected by this? If you don't have an M8 or didn't consider upgrading it, no problem for you. If you have an M8 and it was already upgraded, you're lucky. If you have an M8 and it is already scheduled for an upgrade, Leica will honor the old prices. If you have an M8 and you had the chance to upgrade in the last months but didn't do it yet, what were you waiting for? Did you expect Leica to lower the prices for the upgrades? Did you expect them to keep the upgrade prices stable for the next years? Did they promise that somewhere?

 

Some of the comments in this thread ("they should fix their mistakes at cost" or "they need to establish a global customer council") I can really only laugh about. After all, Leica is just a company trying to sell products. Does the maker of your car have a global customer council? When was the last time your TV set was "fixed at cost" because of design decisions you didn't like? Do you have the same love/hate relationship to the company that built your fridge? Do you think they owe you something 'cause you've bought the same brand of fridge for years? Hmm...

 

Are you working for Leica? If not you could send them your application. :D

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this is accurately your "management style"

accurately what I expected

 

nice grettings from the BILD newspaper

 

wls

 

I think I might be privileged to gain other knowledge here, other than photography, please enlighten me further Shanghai.

 

And I don't really understand the "greetings fro the Bild newspaper" either, but you might want to elaborate on that as well, as I said I am always very open to gaining knowledge from others.

 

Or should approach your thread as "cynical" in which case I don't fully understand the cynicism either, so also if this is the case please elaborate ....

 

 

 

what a way to get into a forum, some Leica users must be equally complicated as the leica marketing strategy.

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I apologize if it has already been posted, I have a moment by the computer and can't go over all the posts from today. I called Leica Germany today and was informed that my order, scheduled for Feb, will be old price (that far, I saw, someone else already figured). I also asked what about new upgrade requests and was told that any requests made before 1st of January will still be old price.

I decided, rather than to ban Leica, to consider the full upgrade, rather than merely the shutter as I planned. (A late professor I had in NY used to call it "Jewish Happiness". That's the type of happiness you get when after realizing you lost your wallet, you find out that you were too lazy to stick 50$ bill in the wallet so you still have it in your pocket. and the connection? I never realized just how cheap the full upgrade is...)

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@ WLS Shanghai .... on second thought, don't bother I doubt if any of us would become any wiser, and basically I'm not interested in what you think or don't think.

 

Want to talk about photography fine ... want to reach into my deeper self ... mail me and I will forward you my therapists telephone number.

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............... I called Leica Germany today and was informed that my order, scheduled for Feb, will be old price (that far, I saw, someone else already figured). I also asked what about new upgrade requests and was told that any requests made before 1st of January will still be old price. ............

Thanks for the information Rami. If what they say is true then Leica need to update their web site to reflect this.

 

Bob.

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It wasn't that long ago that you guys were screaming for that upgradeable Leica ...... you got it now pay for it! ps upgrades should be completed by the summer of 2009, as you will be waiting for the camera ........please buy a m8.2 to cater for your immediate needs

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I had got my head around paying for the upgrade but there's no way I would buy an M8.2 at this stage in the life of the sensor and processing electronics. It's old iron.

 

That's right.

 

Compare the RAW quality of the M8 at Welcome to dxomark.com (beta), a free resource dedicated to RAW-based camera image quality

 

It was good two years ago, compared to the Canon 5D, but at this moment it isn't, and even more if you consider the total cost of the system.

 

No upgrade, no M8.2 for me.

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Jes, rosuna- that is a good reason not to use M8- Dxo tests.

Have you ever compared M8 to 5D mk2? I have both, and (i haven't printed yet) the picture one can make about IQ of any camera is pretty distorted if you only look at that site. Not to mention lenses. Not to mention that handling and bq....

M8 was a very nice companion to my 1ds2, and now with 5d2- who is a nice companion to M8.

 

People often forget these days that CCD and some numbers about it (like Mpx) are just a part of the camera- in most cases.

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You know, Rosuna, I could also compare the M8 to every other camera that exists and is released, all the time, every day, but the M8 has given me a type of pleasure that no other digital camera has given me yet, and the lenses are to die for. Besides, I have a complete system in place, and I am happy with every piece (except the WATE, whose workflow I don't get along with, and which I will sell, maybe for the 21 Lux).

 

If I were to sell it and all the lenses, I could afford a really nice top-end DSLR, like the A900 or the D700/D3 or the 5D2 with a whole bunch of lenses, but the truth is that there are very few lenses for those cameras which I am interested in. For the Sony, the Zeiss 24-70, for the D700/D3 the 14-24 and the 24-70, and for the 5D2, the 35L, the 85L, and the 135L, and not a whole lot else. I don't really like the Canon system, but there are few decent primes for the Sony and the Nikon (and for the Canon, for that matter), so what to do?

 

If my future options with the Leica M get priced out of existence, I have the choice of selling it or just not buying anything more. If I can get the 21 Lux and the upgrades before the prices go insane, I can choose to keep and just use it. After all, that is what I have done the last year anyway.

 

What other system would you enjoy as much?

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My plan is get the 21 Lux and keep and just use my M8.

 

I like this camera, but the shutter is too noisy, and I noticed it from day one; and the image quality is good, but other cameras (cheaper) are much better.

 

In the film era you can buy a Nikon F5 or a Leica M. Ok, you prefer the Leica M. Then, the pure image quality from the two cameras was similar just because the film was the same. The F5 is faster, you can use superteles, macro lenses, etc. The M has different strong points. But the film was the same. This key factor wasn't different.

 

Now things have changed. The M8.2 is closer to rangefinder perfection, but the price is too high compared to state of the art reflex cameras, and the image quality is lower in many cases (noise, resolution, dynamic range). The sensor/electronics side of the equation is clearly outdated.

 

The "solution" to low-light photography cannot be lenses for 5,000 to 8,000 euros, when other systems have usable ISO values of 6400 and stabilized sensors for less than 3,000 euros.

 

The truth is I wouldn't buy a M8 or M8.2 at this moment, despite the uniqueness of the concept. The point is the relative advantages of the rangefinders are being eroding in the digital age. at this moment, they aren't the best low-light tools, or specially silent/discreet or remarkably small cameras.

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