[Leica] Used M9 prices

[hopsternew at gmail.com (Geoff Hopkinson)]

Frank that's a lot of assumptions and interpretations!
I had a read on the Student Assistance program. That is by Leica USA only
(The USA is an important market obviously but it is not the world) and only
for full or part-time students in an accredited photography program in an
accredited academic institution (higher than high school level) plus
educators teaching photographic courses in an accredited photography program
in a college or university setting. Sounds like a good deal for those folks
but it is not for the general public.  Nothing wrong with going and pursuing
an accredited course to qualify of course, but I bet there are many students
taking advantage of that for obvious reasons.

If you purchase a used M9 (assuming you could readily source one) and it was
originally from an authorised dealer with purchase receipt and registration
you should be able to have the balance of the warranty transferred. You
could check that first with Leica in your country if that was your
situation.

Any future M10 is very unlikely to have physical sensor dimensions different
from the M9 ~24x36. The image circle and M lens mount preclude anything
larger.
So sensor size will have nothing to do with any future possible price
difference. A new one of course certainly could be of a different type
and/or photosite density (MP count)

The list price M9 on release was not 30% more expensive than the M8.2
either. In Europe the difference was, I think, 500 EUR.

Lens prices certainly keep going up. Once you have something it is likely to
retain its value well though, should you elect to sell and buy something
else later on. Our currency is more volatile than yours but I can tell you
from recent personal experience that the newest lens I bought here was 83%
of your US price (both before tax) on a direct conversion on mid-rates
between our dollars. I don't mean that it was 'cheap!' here, only
that prices vary in different markets and for various reasons and you can't
directly relate lens prices to camera prices.

Cheers
Geoff
http://www.pbase.com/hoppyman