People complain all the time these days about inflation. But when I went to buy a better, more powerful camera battery to use across four different Leica cameras I found that the new battery had several advantages over the old battery. The new SCL-6 battery now has a capacity of 2200mAh while the previous SCL-4 battery only coughed up about 1850mAh. The new battery has approximately 15% more available power!!! But here's the real shocker, the old battery cost $285 per. That's a tidy sum for a mid-range camera battery. Part of what some people call, "The Leica Tax." The new battery has been selling at retail for the past year at $170. That's about 40% less than the original battery that was introduced along with the original Leica SL back in 2015.
A 40% drop in price is nothing to sneeze at. That's real money. Now those poor, cash-strapped Leica owners will save about $115 every single time they need to buy a new battery. A voracious battery user might save thousands over the life of his or her camera. Even better, the new battery will work in a wide generational swath of Leica cameras. Good news for owners of the Q2, the SL, the SL2, the SL2-S, the Q3 and the newly announced (and much anticipated) SL3. At least three generations of cameras at my count. Forty percent deflation on an improved product. Has that ever happened before?
It's positively DeVeblen.
Mein new battery ist charging on the corner of my desk as I write this. Ich bin putting it in an SL2 and taking it out for a nice adventure tomorrow. The video improvement alone in the SL2 probably makes the upgrade worth it (using the older, original battery caused the camera to drop to a lower video output when the remaining power was less than half...).
Paying only 60% of the previous new price for a better product while using inflated dollars against a weakened Euro. Amazing. Macro economics at work...
Now... let's see if we can get Leica to drop the price of the new camera by 40%. That would be a really neat trick. Then the whole system would be nicely DeVeblen-ized. So many happy dentists and hedge fund managers... Or would they all just rush to buy up new Hasselblad stuff before those prices fall?
19 comments:
I bought one of these new batteries for my Q2. Too bad it doesn’t work in the M240. Had to pay full freight ($215) for a second SCL-2.
Leica SL3: Even if I could afford the camera and its uber-priced lenses, would I walk around the streets of any city, U.S. or foreign, carrying a large camera conspicuously branded "LEICA" and with the big red dot? Uh, no. I guess if you can afford the thing you can afford to lose it.
I like the 'DEnglisch'. Made me laugh.
Nigel from Hamburg.
Now that charger is labelled properly. When the different coloured lights come on you know what they mean because it says so right next to the light. Over the years I've seen all sorts of charger behaviour. Flashing while charging, steady when mostly charged and lights out when fully charged; I've seen lights that change colour; some use red, some use amber, some use green; some use flashing modes, others don't. I'm sure that they each think that their design is more intuitive and easier to use. The craziest thing I've read is that some cameras don't come with chargers. Are they kidding?
Btw, are people giving you grief because you're buying expensive Leicas? Vleben sure comes up a lot.
Robert, nearly every time another blogger writes anything about Leica. At all.
Gary, move to a safer city.
But not to worry. We have plenty of back ups in case we lose one... 😄
'Struth! I was obliged to adopt the Top Ramen diet by the purchase of a SL2-S last year, but the savings on the new batt means I can now afford more substantial fare!
Gary, Kirk owns a Leica Q2 which takes this battery. It is not a big camera. If you are paranoid enough about camera brands showing you can always put a piece of black tape over the logo. By your logic though if you are wealthy enough to own a Leica why wouldn't you just hire a bodyguard to walk around all day with you?
Where can I buy this battery for $170? It is now $200, and going up in anticipation of all those ultra-rich SL-3 buyers who will buy 3 or 4 extra batteries without any regard to the cost.
A philosophical question: are camera batteries worse than printer ink, or is printer ink still there biggest gaff.
Jeffrey, sadly the price has gone up since I wrote this. I had checked on the price on Wednesday and it was still $170 at B&H. I should have bought several more. Do you really have to be "ultra-rich" to afford $7000 for a camera? The average American spends nearly $50,000 on a new car purchase. The interest alone on one of these cars would be enough to buy a Leica SL3. That's the real irony in people's gauge of what might considered extravagant... When the original SL was introduced in 2015 it was priced at $7450. The newest camera (SL3 in 2024) with many, many new features and improvements is currently listed at $6995. The difference in price, not even recalculating for inflation, is about $450. With this lower price nine years after the SL introduction lucky new SL3 buyers will additionally be able to afford two extra batteries. Which are also improved. Win-win-win. I bought four SCL4 batteries last year. I still consider the SCL6 battery, even at $200, a relative bargain.
JC, ounce per ounce? At least the batteries are re-usable. Ever tried to re-use the inks? 😆
Maybe Leica should open a chain of grocery stores.
Inflation, shrinkflation, its all on the grocery isles.
aisles?
Dein Denglisch ist super :-)!!!
Danke.
A friend DOES hire a guard when he photographs in Jackson, Mississippi. The thugs would not care about a Leica but about all his other possessions and credit cards.
A quick question. How does Leica keep battery makes like Wasabi from making knockoff batteries like they do for every other camera? I am sure the other camera makers grind their teeth when they see batteries selling for less than half of theirs with a free charger thrown in. Does Leica just have better lawyers>
James, absolutely no clue. Wish at least that Leica and Panasonic would share batteries. Panasonic makes the Leica batts. It's a lot extra to pay for their clever release mechanism...
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