[Leica] Leica prices (formerly M9)

[mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner)]

A lot of people are in the outs category.
I just by the way checked something.
An M9 cost 7 grand now in 2011.
In 1975 money according to CPI Inflation Calculator that's
$1,666.64
Now what camera cost  $1,666.64 in 1975 I'm trying to think?
I picked that date became for me that was when I was getting my first SLR.
It was also the hear the first digital camera was invented.
I think a Leica M was not that many hundred bucks. Less than a thousand.
I also think a Linhof was less than a thousand.

I bought a Hasselblad EL/M body in 1979 for$1250.00
The 150 f4 T* C Sonnar C lens cost me $1100.00
Total $2350
$7,314.26 in today's money.

So I guess its not the first time in history anyone spent that kind of cash
for a camera. With a lens.
If I got an m9 I already have a lens or two.

Mark

--------------------
Mark William Rabiner


> From: "Peter A. Klein" <pklein at threshinc.com>
> Reply-To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
> Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2011 22:10:17 -0700
> To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
> Subject: Re: [Leica] Leica prices (formerly M9)
> 
> Darn it, Larry. :-)  Looks like I'll never afford an M9. Whatever I can
> possibly afford, the price will have to be jacked up that much higher
> for the cachet to be maintained.  I hope my M8 lasts a long time.
> 
> I was under the mistaken impression that a Leica was a photographic
> tool, not just a status touchstone for people who make gazillions more
> than I ever will.  I'm glad Leica is staying afloat. But I guess in
> their scheme of things, I'm not a real customer, just a bottom-feeding
> social climber.
> 
> My question is, what about photographers? I guess we'll have to do what
> we always have--buy mostly used, and hope that the bloody collectors
> don't price us out of that market.
> 
> (This is just my mildly grumpy way of complaining about the particular
> "reality tunnel" you've described. No personal invective intended or
> implied).
> 
> --Peter
> 
> - - - - - -
>>    In marketing speak this is called "inverse price elasticity."
> Normal price
>>    elasticity implies that when the price of a product is reduced
> demand and
>>    sales go up. Certainly this is the case for most consumer items.
> But there
>>    is a group of products where the prestige of the product is more
> important
>>    to the consumer than the actual quality. Included in this group are
>>    cosmetics, wines, designer clothes, jewelry. fine arts, antiques,
> and of
>>    course Leica cameras. The main determinant of prestige is price.
> The more
>>    expensive the item, the better and more prestigious it is deemed
> to be.
>>    Raising the price often acts to increase the perceived value, and,
> at least
>>    for affluent consumers, increase the demand.
>> 
>>    Years ago I consulted with a several firms in the cosmetics
> industry. The
>>    ingredients of lipstick, no matter what the price, are mostly the
> same, a
>>    stiff greasy base, pigments, and scent. With the exception of the
> case, the
>>    contents of a tube of lipstick cost about a nickel to make. Yet
> the retail
>>    price of lipstick varies over a 100 to 1 range. And in department
> stores the
>>    expensive brands far outsell the cheaper ones. "It costs more but
> I'm worth
>>    it."
>> 
>>    My son in law owns a wine shop in an upscale suburb of Washington
> D.C. He
>>    tells me much the same story about the relationship of wine quality to
>>    price. Is a bottle of wine really worth the cost of a Leica M9?
> Some sell
>>    for as much.
>> 
>>    My wife sells paintings in a New York Gallery. When a painting
> doesn't sell,
>>    the owner marks up the price. Visitors to the gallery say "That
> painting
>>    only cost $3000 a week ago. Now the price is $4000. I better snap
> it up
>>    before the price rises again."
>> 
>>    Ans so it is with Leica. There is precious little objective
> evidence that a
>>    Leica is a better camera than one substantially lower in price.
> (See the
>>    current Pop Photography comparison of the Fuji X100 and the Leica X1.)
>>    But the higher Leica price adds prestige to the product and
> increases demand
>>    among those who feel that "they are worth it."
>> 
>>    Viva inverse price elasticity. It has kept Leica alive.
>> 
>>    Larry Z
> 
> 
> 
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