Reposting what I posted a year ago in the thread
" Why Leica? - a confession of equipment junkie"
You will find more stories there.
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One more Leica History.
I've always liked photography. As a kid I used my father's Pentax spotmatic with the standard 50mm lens. Limited equipmetnt but lots of fun.
When I left the parential house (at 17) I had to get a camera of my own.
Autofocus was just coming on the market, but it did not appeal to me
(and it still does not, since I believe manual focussing improves pictures, and 50% of the pictures I do not focuss but use the depth of field indicators anyway).
I saved what I could and bought a Pentax super A. Over the years good quality zoom lenses were bought to cover the 24 - 200mm range.
I have been using this pentax for 20 years. It has literally travelled all over the world and has never failed me. No repairs, maintenance or what so ever! Brilliant.
But..... in the mean time...... some 10 years ago I met my American cousin for the first time (I'm Dutch by the way), who owned a M6. Whooo I was impressed. I liked the looks, the feel, the whole lot. I went to the shop and was shocked. Convinced that only mad men would pay so much money for camera and lenses. Every now and then I went back to the shop and all the time came back empty handed; toooo expensive. The years passed on, I thought about it, talked about it but did not act. One day my lovely wife told me wisely:
"You know and I know that at some point in time you'll get one, Since they last forever and never will get cheap, you'd better get it now, thus you'll have more years to enjoy it".
Although I still thought that prises are crazy I decided that If i get one it would be a chrome M6 TTL with 0,85 viewfinder. Last year new ones were getting rare (with the M7 being out) but the old ones were still nowhere to find used in the local shops. Then I discovered e-bay and after a long search I found one with a 50mm Sumilux in mint condition. It was not cheap, but at least reasonable (For a Leica that is to say, still crazy of course). I discussed with my wife, and she decided to give it to me as a gift for the coming 5 birthdays, christmasses etc. For her it had advantages:
- 5 years no need to go and find presents.
- I would always think of her using the camera.
I have it for 3 months now and are very happy with it (I have not touched the Pentax since). The first roll of film I got back was an eye opener. The quality of the pictures was striking at first glance. Without any doubt much much better than the trustworthy Pentax. Handling and focussing of the M6 is not fluent yet, and I do miss quite some opportunities because of it. But the pictures that I make are much better, and that is what it is all about. The quest for lenses has begun!
Mad_boy
