B&H just confirmed what Stefan Daniel said about the M8.2: "It will be phased out and we’re clearing stocks"
The Leica M8 is currently selling for $3,499.99 @ Adorama, Amazon and B&H still has the black M8 model in stock for $3,995.00. The price of the Leica M8.2 is still $5,995.00 in Amazon, Adorama and B&H.
Related posts:
One Comment
The reality is, all cameras that are digital have a very short life cycle compared to their film equivalents. What will have staying power though, will be the lenses. It has oft been said that your investment in lenses should well out weigh your investment in camera bodies – and this is why. Apparently most of the purchases of the Leica M9s so far have been body only. This tells you that Leica M users keep their lenses and just upgrade the body every few years. I predict an M10 in about 3 years time with higher ISO (similar to D3 or better) and faster processing. I am not sure how much more you could improve the M9 other than these two things.
So if you are going the M way now for the first time, buy the most expensive lens you can and get the M9, then after 3 years (estimated) sell your M9 body for about £1,000 and pick up the M10 (body only) for about £5,000 (net cost is £4,000 – for 3 years of heaven) which works out to £1,333.00 per year to use Leica M, state of the art. But remember if you were shooting film, and developing all those rolls…you might not have to upgrade your M7 body but I bet, if you shoot a lot… your cost per year, would be pretty close. Me, I would prefer to stay with the latest technology of the M. Not only does that help with workflow, but it helps keep Leica in business, creating better and better equipment to ride along with us in the crazy game of life.