Leica announces end of R line

Charles Trentelman , Mar 29, 2009; 09:30 a.m.

I was looking on line late last night to see what i would need to put my Leica SL2 onto a televid spotting scope and saw that Leica, on 3/25, announced it is discontinuing the R line of cameras and lenses. It will keep the information up on its web site about the cameras because of the vigorous second hand market, but it is official now.

I'm of two minds -- sorry to see the end of a grand marquee, but on the other hand not horrible suprrised. Canon has quit the film market, and Nikon barely pays attention to it. The Second hand market is more than adequate for the needs of the shrunken-but-vigorous body of users of film (God Bless Freestyle). This is also a chance to pick up some lovely gear, as others have noted, cheap.
The M continues, although I don't help them there because I'm still waiting for my M3 and M2 to wear out. In fact, except for the CL and the R3 (now deceased) I've actually bought almost nothing of their new.
We went through this same agony with the Minox a while back -- bottom line for me is that I was, this year, able to buy a Minox LX for under $200. Other dead brands -- Graflex -- are still popular, I imagine Leica R will stay so as well.
So keep shooting, people. That's the best guarantee that the brand will be around a long time.

Charlie Trentelman
Ogden, Utah

Responses

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Andre Sainderichin , Mar 29, 2009; 12:02 p.m.

Well you see, after I bought an M6 several years ago, and seeing as I won't be able to wear it out in my lifetime, I got myself a 1954 IIIf. I doubt if I'll wear THAT one out. So I got a 1936 II, and guess what? That looks like it's going to keep chugging along as well. This so-called old stuff simply won't quit, and will keep helping us making those wonderful silver-based photographs for quite some time.
Cheers, André
Antwerp, Belgium

Charles Trentelman , Mar 29, 2009; 01:00 p.m.

yeah, andre, that's always been Leica's problem -- they completely forgot to design in obsolescence, so nobody needs to buy new, at not if they're really serious about photography -- I should get my 1931 Model I-C out and exercise it -- no rangfinder, but is teriffic with a wide angle lens.

Ken Shipman , Mar 29, 2009; 01:59 p.m.

This topic was knocked around in early March...
http://photo.net/leica-rangefinders-forum/00Sel7

Michael Axel , Mar 29, 2009; 02:41 p.m.

It is sad. I had always hoped to own a new R series some day, but like Rolexes, the price kept growing faster than my income.

Mark Hahn , Mar 29, 2009; 05:22 p.m.

I'm still waiting for the prices to drop a little more before upgrading my R4 with an R6.2

...of course, with an R4, I might be forced into the upgrade just to keep shooting my lenses... one never knows with sketchy electronics... :)

Jerry Lehrer , Mar 29, 2009; 08:47 p.m.

List'

So they lied about a future R10 (digital) I'm glad I did not swap a few hundred rounds of .22 Match
ammo for a friend's R8.

Jerry

Joseph Wisniewski , Mar 29, 2009; 09:52 p.m.

So they lied about a future R10 (digital)

Not really. They made statements like "evaluating", and overenthusiastic folk (mainly at the Rangefinder Forum) turned that into "R10 on the way".

Ken Shipman , Mar 30, 2009; 12:47 a.m.

What are you guys talking about? What they discontinued is the production of manual-focus R9 and R lenses. The auto-focus R10 and auto-focus lenses are still in the works, now planned for 2010. Leica has stated the R10 will be able to use old manual-focus R lenses. This was hashed a few weeks ago, and I haven't seen anything to change it. Have you?

Joseph Wisniewski , Mar 30, 2009; 09:21 a.m.

The auto-focus R10 and auto-focus lenses are still in the works, now planned for 2010. Leica has stated

Can you provide any reference to an actual Leica document or transcribed interview where Leica "stated" this?

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