Today Leica has made an official statement on the status of the CS lens upgrade program (the lenses which allow you to sync with external flashes at 1/1000th of a second instead of the current 1/125th) for Leica S system lenses. As the CS lenses begin to ship (as of January 2013 the Leica Summarit-S 70mm f/2.5 ASPH CS is shipping with more lenses to follow soon) there have been many questions about the program. Here are the official details:
- The customer must have purchased a new Leica S-system lens without a central shutter on or before June 20, 2011.
- The customer has registered the lens in the Owner's Area on Leica's website.
- The customer has downloaded and printed out (or saved as a PDF) the CS Lens Trade-Up Voucher from the customer area of the Leica S-System website (see sample voucher later in this article).
- The customer takes (or emails) the the voucher to the authorized S-Systems dealer where the S-System lens was originally purchased and buys an S-System central shutter lens of the same focal length by paying the difference between the original purchase price of the non-CS lens and the price of the new CS lens. Customers must return to the original dealer to trade up to a CS lens.
- The returned lens must be in working condition, no scratches on the optical system, and include front and back lens caps and the lens hood. The original box and packaging must be included if available.
To summarize, any non-CS lens purchased brand new on or before June 20, 2011 can be traded back to the original dealer for a full credit of the original purchase price towards a CS lens of the same focal length. As there was a price increase on the S system lenses at the beginning of 2011, the amount credited towards the upgrade will be the actual price paid originally, as seen on the original purchase invoice. For example, if you purchased the 70mm lens at the 2010 price of $4,495, an additional $1,500 would be owed towards the CS version of that lens (which is $5,995). If you purchased the lens at the post-2010 price of $4,995, only $1,000 is owed towards the upgrade.
A sample of the CS upgrade voucher, in this case for a 120mm lens.
But what if you purchased a new S lens AFTER June 20, 2011? What if you purchased a used or demo lens? In that case, Dale Photo & Digital is still happy to accept the lens as a trade-in towards a CS lens, and we always provide fair trade values based on the current market pricing. Give us a call at 1-800-327-1776 or email us and we are happy to help how we can. This type of program is new for Leica and we are here to answer all your questions.
Sometimes I just regret that I invested in the Leica S-System 🙁
My next Leica S will be a Hasselblad. Really, they are kidding us. Not only we had to wait way to long, but this procedure is complicated and plain unfair ………..
I agree that it is not really fair – prices were increased in between. They should charge the price difference between non-cs-lens and cs-lens at the time of original purchase. And then they should include a gift to compensate for the long delay.
And in the future they should not announce products which are not yet fully developped.
Other than that I still like the S-System a lot!
Strike 1 – Bought a used 70
Strike 2 – Bought a demo 180
Strike 3 – Bought a 30 after the June 2011 cutoff date
Looks like I am out, of options . . . Even though I have the certificates.
It really is unfortunate when a program intended to benefit owners of the S system and encourage brand loyalty has the opposite result…at least in some cases. One could have hoped that S owners were a sufficiently small (and elite) family that something could have been done for all of them. I suspect that many early adopters purchased used lenses not so much out of a desire to save money…but because new lenses were in such short supply. And there really has been an inordinate delay in releasing the CS lenses.
Well said David. Also Leica’s been pretty vague about this program for a long time. Since the program is designed to promote the S system adoption before the CS lenses launch, one could even argue that when done unproperly this is essentially baiting strategy.
I wonder what will happen to the non-CS lenses that are being returned. Are they going to be refurbished and sold as such? Could this perhaps be an opportunity for would-be S photographers like me, to get in to the system with refurbished lenses with Leica warranty?
yes, probably. You can also suspect that there will be professionals that sell their lenses to upgrade to CS lenses.
I wouldn’t say they were vage, because long time resellers and the Leica Website stated clearly that an update to CS-lenses were possible later. There were no special conditions mentioned to do such an upgrade, so that even buyers of used lensed thought they may upgrade to CS later. Also it was always stated that the price of the update would be the difference between the standard price and the CS-price.
We should not forget that the CS-option on the S-system was one of the key-points of the S-system (beside weather sealing). Imagine a professional photographer who believed in the promisses of the marketing and had to wait all this time for his CS-lenses!
Personally, I’m a hughe fan of Leica, especially the m-System but I love the S as well. It is a intelligently designed camera. But the marketing strategy is desastrous, really. And we speak about a premium product here. At least this is what I understood so far ……….
Sorry Guys,
I knew when I bought my lenses used that they were not upgradeable to the CS lenses.
What has been overlooked in this discussion is Dale Photo’s offer to take your lens in trade and sell you a CS lens that you just cannot live without. That is a deal.
Thanks to David and Josh for the offer.
Now if that nasty Focal Plane shutter were not active I might just be interested!
Bob
Even following Leica trade in policy you can t register your equipment on the Leica website or print out the vouchers .
Bob you are too easily satisfied . D/J will take your used S lens in at FMV less 20% (an amount well below what you paid and subject to negotiation ). Now if you bought the lens used and obtained a good price you might be OK . They are just making you aware that they accept trade ins on high quality in demand items . This isn t a special dealer program .
Actually not but as I am not looking to upgrade to CS lenses makes the choice seem less stressful.
A lot of dealers are reticent to acquire any used product at this time…I always like to see those that will.
Bob
Typical arrogant German attitude. I bought the camera and all three of my lenses new, after June 20, 2011. CS lenses were not available. After that huge investment I still do not qualify for the upgrade. How stupid is this?