Fujifilm’s own Leica M-mount adapter for X-Pro1 now available

Adorama now has a listing for the Fujifilms Leica M-mount adapter for X-Pro1 camera. There is no picture yet and I am curious if Fuji’s adapter will be any different than the Kipon L/M-FX adapter.

Update: Fuji just made it official. The adapter has electronic connections for automatic lens profile selection. Here is the full press release and additional images:

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Posted in Leica Lenses| Tagged , | 9 Comments

Leica V-Lux 3 deal: free $150 gift card

Adorama currently offers a free $150 gift card with the Leica V-Lux 3 camera.

Posted in Deals, Leica V-Lux| Leave a Comment

Leica X2 listed for June 6 release

Amazon now lists the Leica X2 with a release date of June 6th, 2012.

Posted in Leica X| 8 Comments

New version of DNG to NEF file converter released

DNG2NEF v3.0 is now released. The software includes support for Leica M8, M9 Monochrom and S2.

As the name indicates, DNG2NEF is a free DNG to NEF converter for Leica users that already have an established Nikon Capture NX2 workflow.

Posted in Other Leica Stuff| 1 Comment

Leica M Monochrome, X2, 50mm Apo Summicron samples, reviews, etc.

An update to my previous list of links/reviews/samples of the new Leica products.

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Posted in Leica M Monochrom, Leica X| 3 Comments

Black and silver Leica 50mm f/1.4 Summilux-M ASPH lens now in stock

B&H currently has a black and silver Leica 50mm f/1.4 Summilux-M ASPH lens in stock.

Posted in Leica Lenses| 12 Comments

The Mystery of Leica Pricing Explained by J Shin

This is an interesting guest post on Leica’s products pricing by J Shin:

Every time there is any kind of a product-related announcement here and elsewhere, there are a number of invariable comments complaining about and/or defending Leica’s price strategy. In making these comments, people make references to various economic and noneconomic reasons why Leicas are priced the way they are. This essay is an attempt to show that, basically, almost everybody is right, at least when it comes to Leica’s profit motives. Rather than nefarious greed, devious psychological warfare, and, as some often mention, Dr. Kaufmann’s ignorance of Leica fandom, Leica prices are basically a function of mathematical inevitability.

First, a disclaimer. I am not an economist or an accountant. I have worked in marketing, and I do have a PhD in political science, but, really, I know more about macroeconomics, the economics of whole nations, than microeconomics, the economics of individual corporations. Still, I think I have some handle on the concepts involved, and much of it is intuitive, at least to me, so here we are. Please feel free to post any objections you have, since I’m basically making it up as I go. Also, I am leaving a lot of little details out, and keeping things simple; if there is demand for it (har-har), I will supply further elaborations.

The Basics

Here is a diagram explaining the basics of how to set prices of a product.

Figure 1. Cost, revenue, and profit

Again, this is a simplified graph that does not truck with the finer points of “marginal cost” and “marginal revenue”, which is difficult to understand for most people. It is also an illustration, rather than empirically accurate. If you want to be more accurate, be my guest; you can probably do a better job than I can.

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Posted in Leica M Monochrom| 68 Comments