The days of finding an M6 for $300 are long gone and they’re not coming back.įurthermore, complaining about the price of Leicas is like screaming at a rain cloud – you can do it, but buddy, you’re still gonna get wet. You can’t. Leicas cost a lot and you ain’t getting one cheap. And this is the important one – “ Where can I get one cheap?”
#LEICA M6 VS NIKON F6 FREE#
While this meandering preamble around extrinsic versus intrinsic value and the free market as it pertains to sixty-year-old film cameras answers the first part of the two-part question first posed by my hospitalized friend’s email as it appears in the opening paragraph of this article – “ Why are Leicas so expensive?” – it does little to answer the second part of that question. (The same can be said for other film cameras – the Nikon F3, Canon’s EOS 1, Hasselblads.) Leicas aren’t over-valued today – they were under-valued for two decades, and we got used to it. On the other hand, prices for well-made, reliable, and capable old cameras are now exactly where they should have been all along. While extrinsic prices for certain poorly-made, unreliable, or otherwise undeserved film cameras are unjustly outstripping their intrinsic value (hello, Mju II), the prices of classic, collectible, or exceptional film cameras are not inflated artificially.
#LEICA M6 VS NIKON F6 PROFESSIONAL#
I’ve said this elsewhere – some popular professional camera likers see the rise in film camera prices and say that it’s all built on undeserved hype.
Add to all of this that they’re simply beautiful objects that draw the eye and the hand – equal parts science, engineering, and art – and it’s easy to see why prices are up.īut just because they’re expensive, that doesn’t mean that they’re overpriced. A new generation of photographer (buyer) has entered the market, and noticed the unique quality of these old cameras. Particular models and variants which were made in fewer quantities are even rarer, and are now bought specifically for their rarity. They’re a finite resource, making them inherently collectible. They’re uncommonly well-made objects which have survived their original intended lifespan. Especially in the cases of mechanical cameras, which most Leica Ms are, these cameras are (still) useful tools. Prices are rising for specific and valid reasons. Think about it from a distance and through the prism of other “unnecessary things on which people spend money.” If we consider the trend objectively, it’s only natural that prices of film cameras should rise. I don’t see the rise in price as a bad thing (and not because I sell cameras for a living).
Twenty years ago, the Leica M6 was thought of as “the cheap Leica” and today it costs twice the price of an original M3 (a camera which is, according to the written gospel found in ancient Rockwellian tomes, “the world’s greatest 35mm camera”). Even the once-considered-lowly Leica M4-P and M4-2 each now cost over $1,000 on average (I used to buy these for $399).
People want cheap Leicas, even though Leica M film cameras cost more today than they have at any time since the “death of film.” Going back to as recently as 2014, when I launched Casual Photophile and opened my camera shop, prices for some Leica M models have tripled. I wasn’t surprised to read this email (I receive similar messages weekly). From the hospital bed where he spent his concussed convalescence, he wrote me an email which echoed a common question – “ Why are Leicas so expensive now, and where can I get one cheap?” When he saw the high prices that these cameras now command, he passed out and hit his head on his walnut desktop.
#LEICA M6 VS NIKON F6 SERIES#
After being away from the film game for a few years, a friend of mine decided to buy himself a Leica M series film camera.
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