The Hermes Leica M9-P unboxed!
Just a quick little piece about some pics that were sent to me. A good friend and great camera trader is one of the first people to get his hands on a Hermes Leica. Here are the pics.
Everyone knows about the Hermes Leica, and if you don’t know then you have certainly been living under a rock. This completely over the top camera was produced by Leica in conjunction with Hermes. Using the finest materials and artisan craftsmen, every aspect of this camera is handmade. It screams luxury (and a few other things if you ask me). Even the case and the paper inside is handmade. Completely mad. The price of this camera is also out of the realms of reality. Two versions were produced, the camera with the single lens set and the ‘Edition Hermès – Série Limitée Jean-Louis Dumas’, which comes with a 28mm f/2, 50mm f/0.95 and 90mm f/2 lens. It also comes with a handmade bag and presentaion case. Only 100 pieces of this exclusive set have been made and they have barely hit stores yet.
But, some people have them and one of those people is my good friend and camera trader Ming who runs the beautiful C9.99 store in Hong Kong. Ming has a skill, and that skill is finding the very finest Leica equipment. If you are in Hong Kong then you really should pop buy his store, it is a marvelous place to see. He has a total passion for this equipment and brand and he seems to be able to get the things that nobody else can get. And this time he has outdone himself.
I knew he was looking for one, as I was too, but he managed to get one before me, so he sent me the pictures for me to have a look at and I thought I would share them with you.
This camera comes with the matching lens set and they are beautiful.
The Noctilux is very pretty, but you would have to be a bit mad to use it.
In all honesty, this camera is a bit silly. You cannot really use it, unless you have an insane amount of money.And it is a digital camera, so after a few years it is going to be completely obsolete. I just don’t see the point in collecting digital cameras.
But, there are people who want it and Ming was able to get this for one of his discerning clientele. This certainly must be a milestone for him. I wouldn’t have been able to resist the temptation to put the lenses on the camera and take a couple of shots.
What do you think about this camera? Tell us in the comments below.
Thanks
Japancamerahunter
Such a sight restores my faith in the generosity of the human spirit.
By statistical definition, one percent-ers will exist in any society, but it is a sign of how greatly tolerant our society is that the people do not rise up and behead anyone seen flaunting their Hermes M9-P on the street while others struggle to make the mortgage payment on a 400sqft apartment.
I would use this collection daily and the wear and tear would look good.
Even with a ferrari why look at it just as a show car when you can drop the clutch and do a massive burnout ;-)
No thank you….. if a roll of film can’t fit into it, it is not for me……
InFrame –
A Ferrari will not be obsolete within five years – it will only appreciate with time and care. This absurd package will be just as cool as a Hermes branded Betamax player in fifteen years.
I’m with InFrame – I’d have to use it. Once it had a couple of scuffs on it, you’d just accept it and continue to use it all the time. I understand the concept of a collector, but I couldn’t spent that amount of money on such a beautiful piece of kit (that will also undoubtedly perform amazingly) and have it sitting in the box. I’m sure that’d make a collector’s skin crawl, but for me, cameras are for taking pictures.
IMO, it is the most beautiful camera (or set) ever produced, and it`s a pity because it means we won`t see this particular design / textures in upcoming regular Leicas.
They probably went as far as killing the designer and the rest of the workers that took part any part in this.
Digitalrev should paint it pink and set it on fire.
haha! YES! yes and yes again!
its an ego piece for Leica, not even a hot shoe pffft.
This is an almost ideal setup if they had a 50 ‘cron in addition to the noctilux. Very beautiful.
Challenge: What would the poor man’s version of this be, and what would it cost? Zeiss ZI, 28, 50 Planar, 85 f/2, custom camera leather, new lens caps, sachels for lenses and bag to match it all?
Anyone have pictures of such a well put together matching set at 1/4 the price of the Hermes?
Thanks for this article!
Its a little annoying they Leica would make 100 sets like this and 300 more with a summilux 50. Odd that they have enough time to rattle off 300 summilux 50s and 100 noctilux 50s, but not enough time to supply customers with these lenses that are on a 6-8 month wait list. As Bellamy said, many of these sets will NEVER be used
I saw a older gentleman with a beat-up black M8 sipping coffee. I wanted to ask if his coffee was as good as looking like a ‘real’ photographer. I didn’t. Instead I asked myself, what did his photographs look like?
I think the color is a bit garish and the silver is too bright in the sunlight. An all-black or olive or grey version would be tits (stealthy that is). Otherwise, given the Hermes collab, why not have a ridiculous ‘swatch’ color scheme with scarf patterns to distress the eye –a kind of uber camouflage?
Unboxed?!?! How could you?! That setup is supposed to stay factory sealed in a vault away from light where it can never be touched or seen. No no no no no, this won’t do at all. You’ve ruined it.
I wouldn’t begrudge someone that setup if they actually used it and did so with some skill (i.e. no shots of cats at F 0.95 and so on). Someone who had it and never used it would have no right to be called a photographer; rather, a collector. Not a bad thing in itself, but they’re two separate things.
I might have been the guy with the beat up M8. Like a friend that years ago bought a 360 Modena Ferrari – I told him I probably have a lot more fun in my Toy. MR2 that I had been driving sideways for years unable and unafraid to break. Would love to someday have a user Hermes ed. M9 but that glass will always be worth a small fortune. Love Hermes have sprayed it daily on my old body for most of my life. Leica/Hermes a beautiful collaboration.
Herein lies the reason to give up on Leica. Pandering to a market of people who have more money than sense while they lose sight of their core customer and produce substandard equipment. It’s nothing new, they did it time and time again with the M6, it’s just silly.
There is always a consistent resistance to Leica’s catering of the luxury market; but I don’t understand why that resentment exists. I think it is a good thing that a range of products are available for purchase. So long there is demand, who is to say there should not be supply? It’s one thing if Leica sacrificed the quality of their photographic equipment in pursue of a secondary luxury market, but the fact is as far as range finders are concerned and as lenses for RFs are concerned, Leica remains on the top of the list (perhaps, just not the top of biggest bang for your buck list). You can certainly save some money buying Fuji RFs, and the market gives you that choice.
Digital cameras are always suspect to collect, however those three lenses are certainly unique, and or anyone who owns the Hermes M9-P, or the Hermes M7, this set of three lenses would match those film bodies wonderfully.
However, I am curious as to how these sets can be traded or resold, given that Leica has prohibited and resell of these sets until 2014? I assume whoever sold it to Ming breached that agreement?
For the record, as of May 3 2013, there is a Hermes full set on ebay from Setadel Studio in Toronto. $85,000 USD!!!! Wow.