[Leica] Old Leica prices

[henningw at archiphoto.com (Henning Wulff)]

In the early 60's, when I was starting to pay attention to this, the 
US dollar got you about 4 DM, equivlalent to 2 Euro. For a Canadian 
dollar you got about 4.60 DM. Now you get 0.7 Euro for a US Dollar, 
or about a 3:1 difference from the early 60's. Certainly makes a 
difference and skews any calculations seriously.




At 6:30 PM +0100 6/17/11, Frank Dernie wrote:
>How has the Dollar done against the DM/Euro?
>That may make more difference for US buyers than anything Leica have done.
>FD
>
>On 17 Jun, 2011, at 16:25, Lawrence Zeitlin wrote:
>
>>  Coincidentally, I just came across this post in PhotoNet. I have the same
>>  Leica catalog and the prices he quotes are correct. In 1954, eleven years
>>  earlier than the date on the poster's catalog, I bought a new, just 
>> issued
>>  M3 with an f2 Summicron directly from Leica for the princely sum of 
>> $254. I
>>  still have the receipt. Given the average inflation rate of the USA from
>>  1914 to 2010 of 3.34%, my camera and lens would have cost $1652 in 
>> today's
>>  dollars. Had the poster bought an M3 and f2.0 Summicron at the $406 price
>>  listed in the catalog, today's value, given inflation, would be $1828. So
>>  clearly Leica's prices have risen faster than the rate of inflation. 
>> Better
>>  quality, I don't know. I have yet to find anyone who claims that an M6 
>> or M7
>>  will take better pictures than an M3 with the same lens or that the build
>>  quality of the newer cameras is better.
>>
>>  Just more fuel for the fire.
>>
>>  Larry Z
>>
>>  sonny Chastant <http://photo.net/photodb/user?user_id=838404>
>>  <http://photo.net/member-status-icons>,
>>  Feb 11, 2011; 04:30 p.m.
>>
>>  I purchased a lens on Ebay and the seller sent along gratis pamphlets in 
>> the
>>  box...one is very interesting. It is dated 1965..."Leica dn Leicaflex
>>  Cameras and Accessories", interesting that the book lists the prices of
>>  Leica Equipment, that date.
>>  Leica M3-$288.
>>  Leica M3, with 50mm Summicron F2-$406.
>>  Leica M2-$243.
>>  Leica M3, black finish-$273., with black 50mm F 1.4, Summilux $400.
>>  35mm Summaron F 2.8-$120.
>>  35mm Summilux 1.4-$198.
>>  28mm viewfinder in Chrome-$30.
>>  35mm viewfinder in Chrome-$28.50
>>  21mm F 3.4 -= $270.
>>
>>  Leicaflex (standard)/body only-$549.
>>  For your viewing pleasure!!!!!
>>
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>
>
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       Henning J. Wulff
  Wulff Photography & Design
mailto:henningw at archiphoto.com
   http://www.archiphoto.com