Is Leica pricing insane?

[JLGF1]

Yesterday, I browsed over to B&H to check pricing on an accessory. The Home page had a big advert for a Leica Q2. Curiosity got the best of me and I clicked on the Learn More. While I know that Leica equipment is very spendy (the Q2 was $5K) what really caught my eye was the accessories in the side-bar.

A Leica "thumb rest" hot-shoe accessory cost more than many of my cameras! (I have a similar accessory for a Lumix GF1 that I think I paid $5 for).

WTH?

 

[RichardC]

Leica stuff has never been cheap. Doesn't stop people buying it.

I had the opportunity to try out most of the M and R body and lens combinations when I worked in retail - can't say I felt the price was justified versus Contax or Minolta CLE for example if German lenses/rangefinders were your thing.

But hey, what do I know? We live in an age where teenagers routinely lease/buy $1000 phones!

 

[jbinco]

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[pdk42]

Leica is about the brand. It's bought by the people who buy it because of its perceived luxury value and price tag. I'm sure they're well made, but the price is an essential part of their exclusivity. If they were cheap and everyone had them then there would be another brand to fill their place. It's just the way the world works and how the rich chose to spend their money.

 

[Mike Wingate]

The special edition models are very nice, if you like that sort of thing. A niche product. 80% of sales are to the USA. Some models come without the red dot.

 

[ralf-11]

Leica was formerly used by working professionals as an alternative to big cameras, esp. for street photography (say until the 1950s and the advent of Nikon), but is now "bought by the people who buy it because of its perceived luxury value and price tag." Thorsten Veblen described this phenomenon in Theory of the Leisure Class = it's to show-off, i.e. an ostentatious amount of wealth. Other species of monkeys use vocal or visual displays, birds mostly use the same thing, tho male bowerbirds build a fancy bower in the forest and stock it with found items (such as shiny gum wrappers) to impress females. The bower is used only for mating, not as a nest to raise offspring.

Feel free to print this out and hand it to the next person you see with a Leica...

 

[drd1135]

What well-known contemporary photographers shoot Leica?

 

[Serhan]

What about Panasonic SR1 + 50mm 1.4 for $6,000?

 

[RichardC]

What about Panasonic SR1 + 50mm 1.4 for $6,000?

Does that include a wheelbarrow to carry it around in?

 

[Rainman]

High price of entry, but cost of ownership is nil, from my experience with M mount. I actually profited significantly when I sold my Leica kit, especially the 75 summilux.

 

[Stanga]

What about Panasonic SR1 + 50mm 1.4 for $6,000?

I would still expect the SR1 to feature in a first time buyer initial observation on the forum soon after they go on sale.

 

[pellicle]

Yesterday, I browsed over to B&H to check pricing on an accessory.

I guess that its a weird concept but "if you can get it take it"

As they say in Finland "Its not the fool asking the price..."

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The Most Expensive iPhone XS Cases You Can Get

 

[Turbofrog]

The Q2 seems basically reasonably priced for what it offers.

If only because there is no competitor that is at least as good but costs less.

A Nikon Z7 + FTZ + Nikkor 28mm/f1.4 is $5400. You can save $1000 by getting the slower consumer-oriented 28mm/f1.8, but you're still nowhere near embarrassing the Leica on price, quality, performance, or form factor. Far from it.

 

[tkbslc]

Leica charges a lot for their products? What?!? This is the first I have ever heard of this!

 

[oldracer]

I was on at National Geographic photo tour a couple of years ago and someone asked the Nat Geo photographer what he thought of the B&W Leica. "Those are for people with too much money."

 

[Mike Wingate]

The new Lumix S1R and its 3 lenses are a snip compared to the Leica SL.£3865 for a 50mm lens!

 

[archaeopteryx]

Leica charges a lot of their products? What?!?

Actually, some of the non-Leica thumb rests cost more than the Leica one which prompted this thread.

 

[Turbofrog]

Actually, some of the non-Leica thumb rests cost more than the Leica one which prompted this thread.

Yeah, the Thumbs Up grips for Fuji are absurdly priced, too.

 

[TL Penberthy]

Does that include a wheelbarrow to carry it around in?

At that price, it should come with a Sherpa to carry it around for you!

 

[ralf-11]

I am happy to let Lecia design my lenses, with Panasonic manufacturing them.

The Q2 does seem unique - and that will last for several months...