Market Digest

Market Digest: May 2026

Market trends and Leica sales from the past month

Market trends and Leica sales over the past month

This month, we analyzed 284 transactions across the secondary market. The story this May: legacy digital M bodies surged roughly 20% across the board, the MP posted its highest monthly average in our database, and the Q2 Monochrom quietly became the best buyer's window in the Q family while the rest of the lineup held flat.

If you've been watching the Typ 240 as a budget digital M, the window is closing; May's $3,245 average is up 22% from historical levels and climbing. If you've been waiting on a Q2 Monochrom, the 10.6% dip makes this month worth acting on. And if you're sitting on a film body, the numbers confirm what you already suspected: the market wants what you have.

Speaking of the Q2: there's one live on Summimarket. Browse the live auction before reading on.

Ready to see the trends in action? Explore our interactive database at Summimarket and gain an edge in your next Leica purchase or sale.

Q Series

The Q family put up 66 sales in May, holding its position as the most liquid fixed-lens segment on the secondary market. Pricing was essentially flat across the lineup after the softening we tracked through late 2025, with one exception: the Q2 Monochrom dropped 10.6% while everything around it stayed put.

Q3 28mm:

19 sales
Price range: $3,469–$6,000
Average: $5,097
Monthly trend: -1.1% vs. historical

The standard Q3 held just above the $5,000 line and barely moved from April's $5,197. Boxed mint examples still clear $5,800+, while user-grade copies settle toward $3,500. Steady demand, stable pricing, no urgency in either direction.

Q3 43mm:

8 sales
Price range: $5,175–$6,299
Average: $5,893
Monthly trend: +0.2% vs. historical

After three consecutive months below $5,000 and trading under the 28mm, the 43mm bounced back sharply to $5,893, reclaiming an $800 premium over its sibling. Whether this is a correction or a single-month anomaly depends on June's data, but the April inversion appears to have reversed for now.

Q2:

20 sales
Price range: $2,600–$4,650
Average: $3,356
Monthly trend: +1.4% vs. historical

The Q2 led volume in the Q family for another month. At $3,356 it sits within $60 of April's number and continues to cluster tightly: standard black bodies land between $3,200 and $3,500 with remarkable consistency.

Q2 Monochrom:

4 sales
Price range: $3,250–$3,700
Average: $3,562
Monthly trend: −10.6% vs. historical

The Q2M was the lone decliner in the family. April's $3,644 average has dropped to $3,562, and the range tightened: no copies above $3,700 this month. For buyers who've been watching the dedicated monochrome compact, this is the softest pricing we've tracked.

Original Q (Typ 116):

15 sales
Price range: $1,658–$2,800
Average: $2,212
Monthly trend: flat

The original Q came back to earth after April's 4.7% gain, settling flat against its historical average. Clean standard bodies sit at $2,150–$2,400, consistent with what we've seen for months. At 15 sales, demand at the sub-$2,500 level remains solid.

Digital M Series

The digital M segment is where May's most striking price action happened. Legacy bodies posted double-digit gains across three models while the current-generation M11 standard body slipped below $6,000 for the first time in our tracking window. April's story was the M11-P premium collapse; May's story is the market reassigning value to older sensors.

M11 Family:

M11: 8 sales | $5,700–$6,300 | $5,933 avg (−5.8%)
M11-P: 5 sales | $6,700–$9,400 | $8,040 avg (+10.3%)
M11 Monochrom: 1 sale | $8,500

The standard M11 dropped to $5,933, down from April's $6,279. The M11-P moved sharply the other direction to $8,040, but context matters: a new Safari edition at $9,400 and two warranty-backed US bodies near $8,400 pulled that average up. The April premium collapse hasn't necessarily reversed; the May sample is skewed by variant mix. The single M11 Monochrom sale at $8,500 sits close to April's $8,334 average.

M10 Family:

M10: 4 sales | $4,150–$4,250 | $4,200 avg (+2.0%)
M10-P: 2 sales | $5,100–$5,199 | $5,150 avg (+7.0%)
M10-R: 2 sales | $5,600–$5,800 | $5,700 avg (+4.0%)
M10 Monochrom: 5 sales | $5,000–$7,096 | $6,214 avg (+14.4%)

The M10 Monochrom rebounded hard after April's $4,000 average, jumping to $6,214 on five sales. That April number reflected a sharp pullback from late-2025 levels; May's figure puts the M10-M back closer to where it traded through most of the winter. The standard M10 continues to hold right around $4,200 with little volatility.

Legacy Digital:

M (Typ 240): 7 sales | $3,000–$3,700 | $3,245 avg (+22.3%)
M (Typ 246): 7 sales | $3,499–$5,589 | $4,087 avg (+19.6%)
M9: 3 sales | $1,500–$4,000 | $3,033 avg (+3.8%)
M8: 4 sales | $2,480–$2,600 | $2,560 avg (+22.3%)

The Typ 240 at $3,245 is the headline: a 22.3% gain over its historical average and a step up from even April's already-elevated $3,484 when you strip out that month's Mr. Porter Edition outlier. The M246 Monochrom gained 19.6% to $4,087, and the M8 matched the Typ 240 at +22.3%. The M9 sample was thin and ranged wide ($1,500 to $4,000), so its modest 3.8% figure reads as noise rather than signal.

Film M Series

Film bodies posted 135 sales in May, accounting for 48% of all transactions. That share is down from April's 73% of M-series sales, partly because digital M volume was stronger this month and partly because lens and SL sales picked up. Within the film segment, nearly every classic body gained, and the MP set a new record in our data.

M6 (Non-TTL):

25 sales
Price range: $2,133–$3,500
Average: $2,884
Monthly trend: +1.5% vs. historical

The M6 cooled after April's $3,093 peak, settling back to $2,884. Clean 0.72 examples in standard finishes cluster at $2,700–$3,000. No Titanium or special-finish sales pulled the top of the range this month, which explains most of the drop from April.

M6 TTL

11 sales
Price range: $3,000–$4,550
Average: $3,678
Monthly trend: +10.7% vs. historical

The TTL variant outperformed the non-TTL again, gaining 10.7% and holding a roughly $800 premium. That gap widened from April's ~$500 spread. The 0.85 finder examples continue to anchor the top of the range.

Classic Film Bodies

M3: 27 sales | $1,150–$2,600 | $1,806 avg (+18.6%)
M2: 7 sales | $1,400–$2,890 | $1,904 avg (+16.1%)
M4: 11 sales | $1,295–$3,300 | $2,280 avg (+22.1%)
M4-P: 15 sales | $1,699–$2,600 | $2,223 avg (+3.3%)
M5: 12 sales | $1,267–$2,099 | $1,570 avg (+6.2%)
M7: 9 sales | $3,000–$4,000 | $3,650 avg (+0.2%)
MP: 10 sales | $3,186–$6,000 | $5,154 avg (+24.1%)

The M3 remains the volume leader at 27 sales and recovered to $1,806 after April's $1,496 pullback, a gain of 18.6% over historical. Black repaint bodies topped the range at $2,895 against a chrome average closer to $1,700; the finish premium persists. The M4 gained 22.1% on the back of late-model black-chrome bodies and a serial-matched KE-7A-prototype example at $2,800.

The MP is the biggest number in the film segment: $5,154 average on 10 sales, up 24.1% from historical levels and well above April's $4,058. Silver chrome bodies and a limited LHSA hammertone edition pushed the ceiling to $6,000, while standard black-paint copies landed in the $4,500–$5,000 band. The M7 went flat after April's 12.3% decline, suggesting $3,600 may be its new floor.

SL System

The SL system saw 19 sales in May, a step up from April's 13, with mostly positive movement outside of the SL3-S.

SL Family

SL3: 5 sales | $5,080–$5,669 | $5,262 avg (+0.4%)
SL3-S: 5 sales | $3,601–$4,590 | $4,088 avg (−7.2%)
SL2: 2 sales | $2,150–$2,500 | $2,325 avg (+8.0%)
SL2-S: 5 sales | $2,000–$2,469 | $2,216 avg (+6.6%)
Original SL (Typ 601): 1 sale | $1,650 (+17.2%)

The SL3 settled into a tight range around $5,200 on standard bodies, a pullback from April's $6,148, which was inflated by a Reporter Edition. The SL3-S softened again at −7.2%, extending April's −18.0% decline. The SL2 and SL2-S both gained, and at around $2,200 the SL2-S remains one of the better value entries into L-mount. A single original SL sale at $1,650 puts it back above January levels after April's dip below $1,300.

Hidden Market Trends

1. Legacy Digital M Bodies Are Repricing Upward, and Fast

The Typ 240, M8, and M246 Monochrom each gained roughly 20% over historical averages this month, while the current M11 standard body fell 5.8%. This accelerates a pattern that's been building for months: April's Typ 240 spike looked like it might be a single-month anomaly driven by a Mr. Porter Edition, but May's $3,245 average on seven standard sales confirms the move is real. A body that historically traded near $2,650 is now firmly in the $3,000–$3,700 range. The M8, at $2,560 on four tightly clustered sales, has gained over 22% with almost no price variation between units. For sellers of these bodies, the market is paying a premium it wasn't six months ago. For buyers who've been treating the Typ 240 as "the cheap digital M," the repricing is already underway.

2. The MP Just Recorded Its Highest Average in Our Database

May's $5,154 average across 10 sales marks a 24.1% gain over historical levels and a 27% jump from April's $4,058. The driver is mix: silver chrome bodies and limited editions (an LHSA hammertone at $6,000, a warranty-backed silver at $5,999) pulled the ceiling up, but standard black-paint copies also landed at $4,500–$4,850, above prior months. The MP occupies a unique position as a current-production film body with no meter and no electronics, which makes it both a working tool and a collectible, and the secondary market is pricing in both of those roles. For sellers, the $5,000 level is now realistic for clean black-paint examples with box. For buyers, the standard black-paint copies in the $3,200–$4,500 range represent value relative to where the model is heading.

3. The M6 TTL Premium Widened Sharply in a Single Month

The price gap between the M6 TTL and non-TTL has been steady for most of our tracking period: $466 in February, $474 in April, with a brief compression to $209 in March. May broke the pattern. The TTL averaged $3,678 versus $2,884 for the non-TTL, a $794 premium that's roughly 68% above the prior norm. Volume was solid on both sides (11 TTL, 25 non-TTL), so this isn't a thin-sample artifact. The 0.85 finder examples anchored the top of the TTL range at $4,550 and pulled the average up, but even mid-range TTL copies cleared $3,400. For sellers with a TTL, the premium over its non-TTL sibling hasn't been this wide in our data. For buyers who consider the two interchangeable, the non-TTL at $2,884 is now almost $800 cheaper for a functionally similar camera.