Zeiss Ikon ZM not being produced anymore?

[jamais]

I just wondered if Zeiss/Cosina have stopped producing their complete Zeiss Ikon ZM lineup.
The SW has dropped in price dramatically (see http://www.rangefinderforum.com/foru...2&postcount=53).
Now I realized that some dealers do not have copies of the standard ZM black version on stock and discovered these quite interesting priced kits (with both of the standard ZM model, black and silver):
http://technologies-shop.com/index.p...59&language=de
http://technologies-shop.com/index.p...70&language=de

[kdemas]

I believed they stopped production of the SW and Silver ZI (ZM). To my knowledge the black is still being produced.

[BobYIL]

The SW only.. and don't believe in everything you read at such sites:

http://technologies-shop.com/leica-3...ter_name=leica

[Bob Michaels]

I do not think there ever has been a continuous production line spitting out finished ZM bodies at the end similar to the way others do Digital Rebels, Nikon d40s or Toyota Camry's. I believe the Cosina production line cranks up and builds a batch of ZM's, then a batch of something else. I think lens production is the same. This means there will sometimes be shortages of a certain product before they build another batch.

The officially discontinued products are just the ones they are sure there will never be another batch because they did not sell well or had production problems. Everything else falls into the realm of Cosina building another batch someday but they don't know when.

[EdwardKaraa]

What Bob says. Plus Zeiss can decide to make another batch of a discontinued item. For instance, my supplier informed me a few months ago that Zeiss will make a final batch of the Sonnar 85/2 that will be ready in December 2012. Recently the news came that Zeiss have cancelled this plan, not sure why, but probably they didn't get enough demand or have a more priority model to make.

[jarski]

agree with Bob & Edward. similar production on demand method has spawned a lot of discussion here like "Leica has stopped making MP?!?!"

there hasn't been any new rangefinder products announced for a while (besides Leica's), perhaps market is too saturated with film RF-gear.

[jultou]

I went to a local store here in Montreal - maybe the only one to have film rangefinders on the floor - and they told me that the Zeiss Ikon ZM is back order. For what it worth, they believe that it is discontinuous probably because new models will be released soon...