[Leica] will you ever buy another leica body?

[red735i at earthlink.net (red735i@earthlink.net)]

There are 3 camps of Leica users on this list, IMO.

Pros.  Pros need the best tools they can get FOR THEIR MARKET.  Different 
markets = different best tools.  Best is defined by the market.  ( best can 
be the fastest AF lenses arouond, the most accurate color of lenses, the 
most lines per mm, nicest bokeh, or other criteria) Cost is secondary, if it 
appears at all in the purchase decision.  They will buy new Leica products.  
I tried a couple of years ago to find out who on the LUG gets some or all of 
their revenue from photography without luck.  There were maybe 5 repsonses.  

Well heeled amateurs.. what I like to call "Doctors, Lawyers, and Indian 
Chiefs."  Disposable income is high.  Price is of basically no consequence.  
If desire warrants, new Leica products are no problem.  How many "Doctors, 
Lawyers, and Indian Chiefs" are on this list?  ( remember, the real criteria 
is not job related, but disposable income related... and Personally, I think 
if you are one, you should not admit to it.)

Amateurs with families, retirement income, or other criteria.  This group 
wants the best in imagery that they can afford.  This is what makes this a 
unified group... image quality expectations and lack of really high buying 
power.  New products can only be purchased if it can be fit into a budget.  
Used products are the normal purchased "new items".  

Yes, there are exceptions, yes, you can fit into more than 1 group or into 
none of the groups, yes this is not 100% scientific nor accurate.  But it 
maintains truth.

Which group is most active or vociferous?  hard to tell, but we hear a lot 
from those that think that a $5400 camera body plus a $7K lens is needed to 
produce images of top quality.  We hear "price be damned" as another 
campaign.  We also hear that if we actually mention that Leica is over 
priced, we get slammed for "dissing"....  Surely Leica loves to hear 
this.....   

However the truth is that a lot of us are in the third camp, where a $5400 
body is so far out of the realm of probability, that it offers little 
possibility of actually happening.  Oh, yeah, I forgot, the M8.2 is $6K 
plus......the S2 wwill be $15-20-30-some other big number.

Will I ever buy a new M8+ or R10 or S2?  Nope.  Not new.  M7 or MP?  Nope, I 
have a M6 contingent that works just fine.

Would I ever purchase a used M8+.. possibly, but not soon. ( I am not a R 
user, and I have a Hasselblad setup that serves me just fine).     Will that 
help Leica's bottom line.. indirectly, yes.  It will come from a Pro or 
"Doctor, Lawyer, or Indian Chief" that wants to dump his older product and 
buy a new one.  Leica gets HIS new purchase money, and I helped to finance 
it.

Ditto the lenses.  I have limits on what I can spend on Photographic lenses. 
 Is this years' 24 ASPH Elmarit ( the F3.8 model) so much better than last 
years ASPPH Elmarit ( F2.8 version) that I can afford to upgrade?  Should I 
get the best image quality by upgrading to a ASPH 50 Lux from a 50 Lux of a 
few years ago?  Is chasing THE WORLDS' BEST image quality something I can 
do?  No.

And I am not alone..... $5K, $10K, and $20K camera bodies and $7K lenses are 
in the hands of Pros and "Doctors, Lawyers, and Indian Chiefs".. and not the 
rest of us.  If it were not for used equipment, I would not be a Leica owner.

Frank