thinking of jumping onto the leica band wagon after getting poisoned..any bros out there can advice wheres the best place to get one, like cheapest price and things to look out for and take note when going about doing so. Seeing how expensive it is in singapore,was thinking about getting in overseas like US or europe. Any thoughts?
Jumping onto the m9-p
- Thread starter grievor
- Start date
I think M10 is going to be announced at Photokina in September. When the actual M10 will be available is anybody's guess. I am assuming March to June 2013 for the first few to hit the market.
In my opinion, there will always be something better on the horizon. The question is, do you wait or do you buy what you want now and be happy using it. People have been predicting the M10 since last year and for those that waited they would have lost more than a year of great pictures.
This is a rangefinder forum and the normal rules of the latest and best don't really apply here. Talk to the people that still use a M8 or a Epson R-D1 etc.
Now for where to buy. Europe or the US have the cheapest listed prices. Australia has some really good bargains if you can get tax back and prices in Hong Kong for parallel imported sets (no Hong Kong Schmidt warranty but good for us since we have Leica AP located here in Singapore) have plummeted alot.
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There is really no right or wrong, it is a personal thing.
introspect
New Member
Just got an M9-P from HK (Tin Cheung @ K11) about 2 weeks back for HK48,000, body only. Would've paid cash if I had been carrying THAT much of an amount.. However, as I was with a friend that 'knows' the salespeople well, they took it by credit card absorbing the surcharge. At about SGDHKD6.09 thereabouts, the body alone cost me only ~ SGD7,880, vs Leica store in Spore for SGD10,500! Saving me a whopping SGD2,620. With international warranty.
However, I guess they 'whacked' me back on the lenses! Since I was in a rush, didn't get to do much research doing my comparisons... paid the same amount (HKD48,000) for a Leica Summilux -M f1.4/35mm ASPH.. it costs SGD 7400+ here at Mandarin Galleria, just checked today.
Anyway, considering the fact the savings was great on the body, overall it was cheaper despite the SGD 400+ more I paid for the lens! As for anywhere else around the world, that, I have no clue...
Hope this helps.
Just to add, you can get the 35/1.4 FLE in HK for ALOT less. Around 6K if you shop around.
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introspect
New Member
Thanks for the info... I may be heading back there soon again, any shops to recommend? There seems to be quite a huge 'used' online market there as well...
I wouldn't hold my breath on the used market. Turns out that there's such a gap between demand and supply that most people hardly lose much money on the lenses at all, especially the 'new' ASPH/FLE designs. The older lenses have already depreciated awhile back and even so, prices are not 'cheap' - go look for a 75 summilux and you'll see what I mean.
It really depends on what kind of lenses you are looking out for. I've only had my M9P for a week and my 35 cron v4 arrived a few days back. Didn't get the latest and greatest due to budget reasons but after oo many hours of reading up on the lenses, while there are incremental performance improvements in the new designs, one has to question if the price difference is worth it, especially since photographers in the decades past used the same lenses to produce amazing work. More importantly, what I've learned so far is that is more difference in the character of the lenses than there is in CA and contrast (both of which I tend to handle in post)
So far, I've come to the conclusion that I would rather spend SGD4k on new CV 35/1.2 ASPH-II + CV 50/1.1 + CV 75/1.8 lenses than SGD5k on a used 50/1.4 ASPH (I'd be lying if I said that budget wasn't a concern) and put the extra money into an M9M, than to get a 35 lux FLE and a 50 lux ASPH (both of which would set me back around $12k combined). This is, of course, assuming that there are no focus shift issues with the CV lenses. Time will tell which route I take.
Until then, I'm happy with the 35 cron IV I picked up, and have a 135/2.8 with goggles on the way. Can't imagine why people complain so much about the 135 being heavy
It really depends on what kind of lenses you are looking out for. I've only had my M9P for a week and my 35 cron v4 arrived a few days back. Didn't get the latest and greatest due to budget reasons but after oo many hours of reading up on the lenses, while there are incremental performance improvements in the new designs, one has to question if the price difference is worth it, especially since photographers in the decades past used the same lenses to produce amazing work. More importantly, what I've learned so far is that is more difference in the character of the lenses than there is in CA and contrast (both of which I tend to handle in post)
So far, I've come to the conclusion that I would rather spend SGD4k on new CV 35/1.2 ASPH-II + CV 50/1.1 + CV 75/1.8 lenses than SGD5k on a used 50/1.4 ASPH (I'd be lying if I said that budget wasn't a concern) and put the extra money into an M9M, than to get a 35 lux FLE and a 50 lux ASPH (both of which would set me back around $12k combined). This is, of course, assuming that there are no focus shift issues with the CV lenses. Time will tell which route I take.
Until then, I'm happy with the 35 cron IV I picked up, and have a 135/2.8 with goggles on the way. Can't imagine why people complain so much about the 135 being heavy
The usual shops to hit will be:
Tin Cheung, K11 in Kowloon, Sim City in Kowloon, Mody Road in Kowloon and Stanley Street in Hong Kong
L&H
9 Days
C9
Brequet
MK
Man Shing/Wing Shing
Champagne Court has a few shops
Sim City has quite a few shops
Stanley Road in Hong Kong has a few shops
Harbor City has a few shops (avoid unless last resort, extremely over priced and they get most of their stuff from the shops I listed above)
For current production models, you can buy used as there will be some discount. For out of production models, expect to pay a premium over the last list price.
haha.. if u want exotic leica stuff.. hklfc is the place to look for if ur not afraid of buying 2nd hand hk stuff.. iirc man shing/wing shing does not carry much leica M stuff when i last visited them in apr..
best bet is still tin cheung for big stores (sim city has alot of shops, as well as tin cheung is there , confirmed to have m9 for sale, check their website and price though)
champagne court sells alot of 2nd hand leica stuff, but i didnt really like the overall price (leica's a bitch to buy in hk at sometimes honestly.. esp for 2nd hand stuff), new lenses might be cheaper though in general due to exchange rate.
shops like 9 days, brequet have alot of 2nd hand stuff (personally i nv bought before from them, but the prices are not cheap in general imo since they carry stuffs like 35AA, 50 1.2 noct -,-)
if you want a general price reference, é¦æ¸¯æ ¼å¹ç¶² Price.com.hk is a good place for starters..
Leica M9 - DC æ¸ç¢¼ç¸æ© - é¨èº«æ¸ç¢¼ - é¦æ¸¯æ ¼å¹ç¶² Price.com.hk <-- M9
best bet is still tin cheung for big stores (sim city has alot of shops, as well as tin cheung is there , confirmed to have m9 for sale, check their website and price though)
champagne court sells alot of 2nd hand leica stuff, but i didnt really like the overall price (leica's a bitch to buy in hk at sometimes honestly.. esp for 2nd hand stuff), new lenses might be cheaper though in general due to exchange rate.
shops like 9 days, brequet have alot of 2nd hand stuff (personally i nv bought before from them, but the prices are not cheap in general imo since they carry stuffs like 35AA, 50 1.2 noct -,-)
if you want a general price reference, é¦æ¸¯æ ¼å¹ç¶² Price.com.hk is a good place for starters..
Leica M9 - DC æ¸ç¢¼ç¸æ© - é¨èº«æ¸ç¢¼ - é¦æ¸¯æ ¼å¹ç¶² Price.com.hk <-- M9
sinned79
Senior Member
wah this price is attractive but i guess i will be shooting film for now haha
agree... wait...
NazgulKing
Senior Member
Even if the M10 came out, the price tag would be so bloody exorbitant, only the rich would have cash to pay for it.
artspraken
New Member
Film is good coz u dun care what happens at photokina
Until either labs stop processing C41 as many have already done with E6, or Ilford, Fuji, Kodak, etc stop making film cos the margins don't justify the commercial risk against mass market demand. When that happens, we can start expecting prices of film to soar. $36 for a pack of 10 sheets of Impossible Project film, anyone?
Assuming that the R&D and production cycle of the M10 is like any other M and we're talking years here, and while it *may* be possible for Leica to produce a camera that uses a CMOS sensor with the dynamic range of the D800 (keeping in mind that the choice of using CCDs was to use microlenses at the extreme edges to compensate for severe light falloff due to the inherent design of rangefinder lenses), they would have faced a huge technical challenge ahead that demanded either a complete redesign of the M bodies or the lenses, which may or may not be as straightforward as we all hope.
What would you like to see in an M10? Live View focusing with focus peaking? Ability to use all existing M lenses?
The biggest challenge, IMHO, would still be how a sensor would work within rangefinder design constraints. Hopefully, the lessons learned by Fuji in the design of the X Pro 1 would make it viable and possible for a company like Leica to come up with a FF CMOS sensor and still be able to use existing M lenses. The reason M lenses work on the X Pro 1 is due largely in part to the cropped sensor, where the area that gets cropped makes up the bits that are pretty rubbish - color casts, heavy vignetting, etc that may or may not be correctable in software without compromising quality, hence the original design requirement to use a CCD sensor
NazgulKing
Senior Member
Just about any CMOS sensor these days have a microlens array. I don't think there's any technological advantage in CCD that cannot be matched by CMOS now. The Nikon D800 is an excellent example.
Then the more we should shoot film now! :wink:
sillbeers15
Member
Until then, I'm happy with the 35 cron IV I picked up, and have a 135/2.8 with goggles on the way. Can't imagine why people complain so much about the 135 being heavy
I've jumped on the same wagon earlier this year having taken on a M9 with 35LuxFLE, 90APO & 21SEM +SF58. The SF58 was a good buy from B+H new at USD$649 vs S$1200 in SG. With USD$38, B+H did an overnight delivery to my hotel while I was in States last month,...service was great and I saved S$300!
I also managed to successfully bid a Elmarit 135mm with Goggles in flawless cosmetic condition from e-bay 3 months back @ USD$472. I plan to get a used M8 utilizing the 1.33 crop factor to turn the Elmarit 135mm into a f2.8 180mm lens (cheaper than buying a new Leica glass) to supliment my M9 w. 21mm to 90mm coverage.
The Elmarit 135mm is difficult to focus but once spot on,...the results are as good as my cron 90 APO. So by sending to Leica to optimize the lens and camera can hopefully improve focusing.
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