Amazon starting to ship Leica M9 to existing pre-orders

3 Comments

1. NikoDoby
   Posted October 15, 2009 at 7:44 pm | Permalink

   Any other dealers receiving their shipments yet? Yoshitoshi want’s his already

2. David
   Posted October 15, 2009 at 9:03 pm | Permalink

   I can’t verify this but I heard that Leica had initially allocated 1,000 M9 for the first round of U.S. shipment; I imagine Amazon is getting their share of that first shipment along with the other dealers.

   The 1,000 number was told to me by Pop Flash Photo in Thoudsand Oaks, CA. Then OC Camera told me that “one very influencial customer” has written a letter to Leica complaining about the lack of availability of the M9. I am guessing that individual is Ken Rockwell, who of course promptly got his about two weeks thereafter but no word as to whether he was able to convince Leica to increase allocation to the U.S. My German source tells me that demand for the M9 is very heavy in Germany and cameras are literally getting picked off from the factory line before they are getting on a plane for anywhere else. The same German source tells me Leica can crank out only three M9s per day (whereas he alone gets over 10 calls a day asking to buy one).

   I know this totally doesn’t answer your question, cause we don’t know how many people placed an order on or before September 9th . . .

   BTW I’ve been watching the used market for 50mm Summilux/Summicron. Not surprisingly, the availability of that lens in the U.S. is running much lower than usual (no used ASPH version of this lens on eBay, KEH, Adorama, B&H, or Craig’s List the last time I checked).

3. NikoDoby
   Posted October 15, 2009 at 10:46 pm | Permalink

   Thanks for the info David