Well, again...it's a much smaller premium relative to the normal M10.
https://leicacamerausa.com/m10-p-black-chrome.html (body is $7,995)
https://leicacamerausa.com/35mm-f1-4-asph-summilux-silver-e46-m.html (silver lens is $6,095)
So if you buy the same kit retail, you pay $14,090. The Hodinkee premium is ~$900.
Well, again...it's a much smaller premium relative to the normal M10.
https://leicacamerausa.com/m10-p-black-chrome.html (body is $7,995)
https://leicacamerausa.com/35mm-f1-4-asph-summilux-silver-e46-m.html (silver lens is $6,095)
So if you buy the same kit retail, you pay $14,090. The Hodinkee premium is ~$900.
Regardless, for me, $14,090 is way more than I'm ever going to spend on any camera, no matter how good it looks or how good the photos are.
I use a now close to 10 year old Nikon D90...140,000 shutter count and still takes great photos for my job.
I totally agree with anyone taking this position, but if people want to get upset about a "$15K Hodinkee camera collaboration," they should be equally upset about Leica as a brand (not saying you were "upset," just speaking generally), which would be akin to being upset about Rolex or Omega as brands. That's all I was pointing out. 👍
Leica is weird thing. From a pure performance perspective there are a million camera that can do better what a Leica do but.......they don't feel the same way.
For some time I used an early 1950s Leica IIIf for casual use (with a separate Weston exposure meter of course). Lovely to handle but if I needed to take "proper" photos the Olympus OM4 was the tool of choice. In the paddock of a historic car race meeting toting an old Leica got lots of approving nods 😎
That "feel" thing -- SnapOn tools have it too. I suspect an LSD coating.....
The question is, why, and for whom.
There is a long history of people that set trends, and others that follow them. Look at fashion magazines or shows, and the buzz and sales that creates for the deep-pocketed who believe they are hip when they bought it first. So, while there is typically a disdain for any Hodinkee-tweaked item (particularly here), there are people out there who want to be told what is cool and fashionable, without putting a lot of effort into figuring out what that is. So, they find their guru and follow along.
And this explains, despite our mostly collective puzzlement, how these things sell, and why they continue to persist with the same business model for a variety of items. Did they do a fountain pen yet, or Hodinkee-inspired cuff links?
Sometimes i really can't get all that disdain that i see here for everything Hodinkee do. Oh well....
