Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/09/16

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Subject: [Leica] RE: contax guessing game...
From: lambroving at worldnet.att.net (William G. Lamb, III)
Date: Thu Sep 16 06:26:20 2004

Greg,

There may be more than just the special coverings, engravings
etc. to this custom ordering process. It would appear that Leica
has been sitting on large inventories of .58 and .85 cameras which
move much more slowly than the standard .72. Between M7 and MP,
black paint, chrome and black chrome there are twelve variants. It
would be much cheaper and easier to stock four.

It is my understanding that .58 and .85 cameras will only be available
in future via the custom ordering process which will be more profitable
for both Leica Camera AG and the dealers.

So..., if you want that .58 or .85 without paying a premium, you
might want to grab one now.

After using a chrome .58  MP for a month on trial, I picked up a "Leica
Demo" for a reasonable price. (I shoot mostly 35/2 and 28/2 and my
black chrome M7 and M5 are .72.) It might have been nice to have the
MP in custom black chrome, (I hate black paint! :-), but not enough to
pay an extra $1K for it.

Based upon solid rumors from a number of sources you may also be
offered a new lens this month in a focal length which has been ignored
for 20+ years. If it is relatively compact and light, and not as harsh as
the 90 APO ASPH, I may need a Christmas present! :-)

William

At 10:00 AM 09/16/2004 -02-30, you wrote:
>That's interesting, Karen....
>
>..and when you think of it, a very logical step for Leica.
>The M is a "high end" product that now is available in various
>configurations so why not offer a "custom" camera ordering service.
>
>As I was discussioning with Emanuel earlier, my next Leica buying decisions
>will be centred around matching viewfinders to lenses.
>
>Greg Locke
>St. John's, Newfoundland
>http://blog.greglocke.com
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: lug-bounces+locke=straylight.ca@leica-users.org
> > [mailto:lug-bounces+locke=straylight.ca@leica-users.org] On
> > Behalf Of Karen Nakamura
> > Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 2004 9:24 PM
> > To: Leica Users Group
> > Subject: RE: [Leica] RE: contax guessing game...
> >
> >
> > My guess is that Leica will be officially announcing their
> > custom-order program where you can get an MP or M7 in your
> > choice of covering (leatherette, sandpaper, etc),
> > magnification, wind-lever type, and rewind-lever type. They
> > had hinted at this in the last LFI.
> >
> > Karen