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THE LEICA M8 IS STILL MY FAVORITE “PRO” CAMERA

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The most under-rated front-line digital camera today. Somebody was trying to convince us the Fujis were better not long ago LOL.

Also the thinnest cover glass over any digital sensor. :)

Fantastic value at just over the cost of an M6 today.
 
Pity you don't see many around nowadays.
 
Very beautiful BW and great photos !!

Glad to see someone putting that camera at a great use ... i also love immensely my M8 :)

Regards , Gianluca

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Nothing to explain.....
 
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Nice pix!

Nothing wrong with the M8, nothing wrong with using "old" cameras. I still love and use my Olympus E-1 ... it still makes superb photos and works as well as it did when I first got it in 2008 (which is perfectly; it was manufactured in October 2003 and had only 3200 exposures on it when I bought it—I've pushed that up to 17,000).

As long as your M8 remains reliable and produces the results you want, keep on going with it.

G
 
I sold my M8 to buy an X-Pro1 and instantly regretted it....from a functionality point of view the M8 is severely limiting, but the image quality from that CCD sensor at base ISO is just awesome.

I often see used M8's selling on CL for $1400-$1900....I myself bought one used in 2008 for $2000 and sold it 2 yrs later for the same amount of money. Then there's my X-Pro1....paid $1600 new for it and would be lucky to get $500 today.
 
Godfrey said:
Nice pix!

Nothing wrong with the M8, nothing wrong with using "old" cameras. I still love and use my Olympus E-1 ... it still makes superb photos and works as well as it did when I first got it in 2008 (which is perfectly; it was manufactured in October 2003 and had only 3200 exposures on it when I bought it—I've pushed that up to 17,000).

As long as your M8 remains reliable and produces the results you want, keep on going with it.

G
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Well said, Godfrey. Cheers
 
Clint Dunn said:
I sold my M8 to buy an X-Pro1 and instantly regretted it....from a functionality point of view the M8 is severely limiting, but the image quality from that CCD sensor at base ISO is just awesome.

I often see used M8's selling on CL for $1400-$1900....I myself bought one used in 2008 for $2000 and sold it 2 yrs later for the same amount of money. Then there's my X-Pro1....paid $1600 new for it and would be lucky to get $500 today.
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Thanks for posting my article alohakid. Now I know why I've had so many readers in recent days! :)
/Mikael Good
 
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Clint Dunn said:
I sold my M8 to buy an X-Pro1 and instantly regretted it....from a functionality point of view the M8 is severely limiting, but the image quality from that CCD sensor at base ISO is just awesome.

I often see used M8's selling on CL for $1400-$1900....I myself bought one used in 2008 for $2000 and sold it 2 yrs later for the same amount of money. Then there's my X-Pro1....paid $1600 new for it and would be lucky to get $500 today.
Click to expand...
 
AlexisH said:
Clint Dunn said:
I sold my M8 to buy an X-Pro1 and instantly regretted it....from a functionality point of view the M8 is severely limiting, but the image quality from that CCD sensor at base ISO is just awesome.

I often see used M8's selling on CL for $1400-$1900....I myself bought one used in 2008 for $2000 and sold it 2 yrs later for the same amount of money. Then there's my X-Pro1....paid $1600 new for it and would be lucky to get $500 today.

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Clint's Flickrstream
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I think that is one of the key points why Leicas hold their price better:

The functionality is limited and limiting and there is no big difference in this area from one model to another.
  • This means that these cameras appeal to a certain type of users that particularly value them and value the experience they provide. If these users would care about features and obsolescence they would not buy such a camera in the first place.
  • This also means that users don't have as much incentive to upgrade to a more recent model.
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Actually, it's more like that there isn't another camera company competing in the rangefinder world.

Leica is really the only game in town, so if you want to play you got to pay. Fortunately, there are enough people that want to play and a relatively low number of cameras.

That's the magic of supply and demand.

If Leica oversaturated the market then you would see prices drop considerably. Also, if Leica kept advancing the technology at a price point that was within reach of more people you would see a higher turnover of product changing hands and a subsequent drop in price - as you correctly noted below.

AlexisH said:
On the other hand, consumer cameras lose in value because their functionality gets expanded and refined with each new (and more frequent) iteration and because their users are looking for the latest features, there is inherently less resale value for older models.

The other key point is that consumer cameras are built in larger volumes, so their production usually exceeds demand, whereas Leicas are pretty much handmade to satisfy demand and you never see one on fire sale to liquidate stock.
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I think that the idea that any camera company usually outproduces demand is a misnomer. I think occasionally that may happen, but companies (marketing) work extremely hard to meet demand, not exceed it.

Companies with high volume consumer goods will try to sell as many units at the highest price point possible with a new product. They need to pay off the NRE (non-recurring engineering costs). Once that passes there is much more wiggle room for fireside sales to push product through a pipeline and get ready for the next release of product.

However, one must be careful about dropping prices to dump product. If that happens more than once then the company has set a precedent that the consumer expects to repeat itself. Once that happens consumers start getting stingy with their wallets and companies are almost forced to capitulate and the cycle continues.

AlexisH said:
Hence, resale price will be lower for consumer cameras than for Leicas because they are a niche, high-end product, in limited supply.

This actually can be seen even within consumer cameras: the expensive ones (niche, high-end, small production volumes) will hold more of their value than the inexpensive ones. Point and shoots lose most of their value, but high end FF DSLRs hold their value much better - not as much as Leica, but trending in that direction.
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user_name said:
Actually, it's more like that there isn't another camera company competing in the rangefinder world.
Click to expand...
But why is that the case? I think that happens because there are not enough people interested in a digital rangefinder.
user_name said:
I think that the idea that any camera company usually outproduces demand is a misnomer. I think occasionally that may happen, but companies (marketing) work extremely hard to meet demand, not exceed it.
Click to expand...
Of course nobody wants to overproduce, but it is very hard to determine the demand for inexpensive products in a market with many competitors. I used P&S cameras from many companies - the fact that I purchased Canon one year didn't guarantee that I would still buy Canon the next. With high end products, the situation is better because people don't replace high end equipment with that from another manufacturer as easily, so it is easier to estimate demand.

And of course, the market shrinking in recent years has made this an even more difficult issue for manufacturers.

The point is that companies often end producing X units, sell a good chunk at the price they anticipated, but then are left with some stock that they have to discount and that will obviously pull down the resale price of used units. The reason they need to discount is because they need to clear space for their new models.
user_name said:
However, one must be careful about dropping prices to dump product. If that happens more than once then the company has set a precedent that the consumer expects to repeat itself. Once that happens consumers start getting stingy with their wallets and companies are almost forced to capitulate and the cycle continues.
Click to expand...
And that is exactly what I have seen with camera products. A lot of people prefer to wait a year to buy a model at the discounted price before the new model gets announced.
 
AlexisH said:
user_name said:
Actually, it's more like that there isn't another camera company competing in the rangefinder world.
Click to expand...
But why is that the case? I think that happens because there are not enough people interested in a digital rangefinder.
Click to expand...
Because the market is small and a niche market. Also, the cost to manufacture a rangefinder is exasperated by the lower production numbers.

AlexisH said:
AlexisH said:
I think that the idea that any camera company usually outproduces demand is a misnomer. I think occasionally that may happen, but companies (marketing) work extremely hard to meet demand, not exceed it.
Click to expand...
Of course nobody wants to overproduce, but it is very hard to determine the demand for inexpensive products in a market with many competitors. I used P&S cameras from many companies - the fact that I purchased Canon one year didn't guarantee that I would still buy Canon the next. With high end products, the situation is better because people don't replace high end equipment with that from another manufacturer as easily, so it is easier to estimate demand.
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High end DSLRs usually have a complement of lenses and other support gear. So jumping to a different manufacture is more complex and more costly than a point and shoot camera with little or no accessories.
AlexisH said:
And of course, the market shrinking in recent years has made this an even more difficult issue for manufacturers.

The point is that companies often end producing X units, sell a good chunk at the price they anticipated, but then are left with some stock that they have to discount and that will obviously pull down the resale price of used units. The reason they need to discount is because they need to clear space for their new models.
AlexisH said:
However, one must be careful about dropping prices to dump product. If that happens more than once then the company has set a precedent that the consumer expects to repeat itself. Once that happens consumers start getting stingy with their wallets and companies are almost forced to capitulate and the cycle continues.
Click to expand...
And that is exactly what I have seen with camera products. A lot of people prefer to wait a year to buy a model at the discounted price before the new model gets announced.
Click to expand...
I am sure that is true, but there is always a wave of new adopters chomping on the bit to get the next new things.
 
Clint Dunn said:
I sold my M8 to buy an X-Pro1 and instantly regretted it....from a functionality point of view the M8 is severely limiting, but the image quality from that CCD sensor at base ISO is just awesome.

I often see used M8's selling on CL for $1400-$1900....I myself bought one used in 2008 for $2000 and sold it 2 yrs later for the same amount of money. Then there's my X-Pro1....paid $1600 new for it and would be lucky to get $500 today.
Click to expand...
 
meagre offerings said:
Clint Dunn said:
I sold my M8 to buy an X-Pro1 and instantly regretted it....from a functionality point of view the M8 is severely limiting, but the image quality from that CCD sensor at base ISO is just awesome.

I often see used M8's selling on CL for $1400-$1900....I myself bought one used in 2008 for $2000 and sold it 2 yrs later for the same amount of money. Then there's my X-Pro1....paid $1600 new for it and would be lucky to get $500 today.

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Clint's Flickrstream
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on the price of the xpro1, it looks like you need to take more care of your money, i got my xpro1 new with two lenses for £995, take away the price of the two lenses and i got my brand new xpro1 for about £130. its still worth about 250% more than i paid for it.

very best

pc
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Take better care of my money??? Maybe you mean I shouldn't of bought the X-Pro the first month it was released, which you would be correct in saying. You actually just brought up why I will never buy new Fuji products again...within a short period of time Fuji offers bundles and insane sales that devalue the gear others bought not even 6 months earlier...

The flip side of that is that there is a tonne of GREAT Fuji gear you can buy used for next to nothing.

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Clint's Flickrstream
 
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