Don’t be a Red Dot Fool.

Despite all the publicity telling the world that all Leicas, save the M8, are made by Panasonic, there are still a lot of Red Dot Fools out there. You know, camera buyers who buy a Panasonic digital which Leica has emblazoned with its name and added a 2 cent red dot so that you can be sure everyone knows you are a Red Dot Fool. Both Panasonic and Leica buyers get to share the same excellent Leica designed (and Panasonic manufactured) lenses fitted to these cameras.

Here are the statistics on what that two cent red dot is costing these ill informed or delusional consumers:

So, even in the absence of any objective test data to indicate that the insides of these cameras differ one iota, consumers are willing to pay between $170 and $850 (!) for a two cent red sticker.

A fool and his money are easily parted.

I wish Leica lots of luck in selling these as they are going to need the money to fix all those faulty M8s they just had to recall, and they do actually assemble the M8 even if the only bit they make is the rangefinder. Maybe they should delegate manufacture of the M8 to Panasonic, though given that Panny would sell it for 50% less, maybe they couldn’t stand the cannibalization.