RexGig0
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Nielk Mike wrote:
The price for the M series is high - and I always justified it because of the rangefinder OVF. The M-EV is basically no different from the Q - but comes without a lens. What justifies the price?
For a number of years, the cost of the rangefinder mechanism was quoted as being a reason that Leica M cameras are so costly. For this reason, I would have hoped that an rangefinder-less M-mount Leica camera could be priced lower than the rangefinder M line. My disappointment at the pricing of the M EV was, therefore, quite pronounced. My smaller budget, due to being in retirement, has removed me from being a buyer of any new M camera.
My response, in Summer 2026, was to buy an EVF-less rectangular camera, the Nikon ZR. If attrition claims my M Type 246 and M10 camera bodies, I will adapt my most-favored M lenses to Nikon Z. (Nikon was already the shared “household” brand, due to my wife, the more-senior photographer, being a die-hard Nikon shooter, but whereas she added a Z6 in 2018, I had not bought a Z camera until until only recently.)
The only Leica M camera body I have bought new was my M10, in April 2018, at $6895 US, if I recall correctly. My Nikon D5 cost cost $6495, at the time. Today, I can buy a new Nikon D6, for $6495.
So, whether or not the M EV is over-priced, by Leica standards, it is certainly over-priced, by my standards. My intended tone is one of lament, rather than a rant.
I did spend just a bit more for a newer Leica M model, the M10 Monochrom, Leitz Wetslar Edition, in perfect condition. It will probably remain my high-water-mark, among Leica camera acquisition, and, TBH, I may not keep it. I am going to have to sell some Leica lenses, to help my budget recover, and just might part with the camera, too, as part of a general down-sizing, unless the M10 Monochrom can convince me that it sufficiently out-performs the much-loved M Type 246 Monochrom, already on-hand.
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