RE: Buying an M6

[Simon Ogilvie <simon_ogilvie@ionica.co.uk>]

On Thu, 23 Oct 1997 14:35:04 CDT, n5xrd@juno.com (Richard W. Hemingway) 
wrote:
> If you want an investment buy a CD or put it in your retirement fund,
> etc. If you buy new  Leica's the value will go down about 20% right off
> the bat as the passport warranty can't be transferred. However, I
> understand that the due to the exchange rate the price of M's is now
> going up some.

I'm in the UK where the economy is currently very strong, so new Leicas are
very good value at the moment.  I visited a local Leica dealer yesterday who
had a v.good condition M4 with MR4 meter for just over 1000 UK pounds.
By contrast he could also sell me a new M6 body for around 1300 pounds.
The M4 is obviously worth a lot more than it was when it was new, so in
that sense it was an investment for the person who bought it new and
subsequently sold it on.

> I do know you will enjoy photography with them and they will keep more of
> their value than about anything else photographic you can buy

This is the crux - I want to buy an M6 because I want to take photographs
with it, but persuading my wife that spending 1300 pounds on a 35mm camera
body is a good idea is not going to be easy!  The Mamiya 7 that I bought new 
lost
a lot more of its value the day I took it home than a Leica would, but I 
know
that if times get hard I could sell the Mamiya and write off the "loss" as 
the
enjoyment I got from using it and seeing the results.  I would assume the
same could be said for an M6, but my case would be strengthened if by
careful selection of the "right" camera and lens, the eventual loss would be
a minimum.

Out of interest, I recently saw advertised in the UK a mint Titanium M6 for
nearly 6000 UK pounds!  I don't understand who would buy that when they
could by two new ones for the same price...  I guess I'm a photographer at
heart and not a collector, but it makes financial sense to keep the 
interests
of a collector in mind when choosing what equipment to buy to photograph
with!

Thanks for all the replies to my question - it's certainly giving me 
something
to think about!

Simon.