How did you come to use Leicas?

In 1971 (aged 16) I entered the photography class of the Rietveld Akademie in Amsterdam. There was only one 35mm set, an M2 with 35mm f/2.8, 50mm f/2.8, 90mm f/2.8 (only to be used with a Visoflex II) and a 135mm f/2.8 lenses. I knew Leicas from books, but this was the first experience in real life.

Erik.
 
When I was in college around 1960 became interested in photography and landed a part time job at the University Photographic Service. It was a job that anyone interested in photography would kill for. There were a couple of photographers there and one used a Leica a lot of the time. I soon bought a IIIf with a Elmar lens. I sold it a few years later and started using Nikon SLRs which I used for years. A couple of years ago I wanted a small light weight camera and bought M4 and loved it. I now have 4 M film cameras and 3 SM Leicas. That's all I use now. Jim
 
One of my professors gave me a Leica iii with Elmar. I bought a summar and a 9cm Elmar (coated) for it and the VIOOH finder. 3 years later I got the bug to try out an M, and now I shoot a lot with a M3 and M6. I still have and love the iii, but man, it's no comparison in use to the M3 or M6.
 
When I was in college in 1968 I was hired on as a photographer for the university daily paper and year book. The fellow who hired me used Leica M's. Another college friend used a Nikon S3 and SP and shot for a paper in his near by home town. I considered both systems and would have gone with SP's except for that focusing wheel that I hated. I traded in my Minolta system and bought three M's over the coming year and a nice complement of lenses. I'm still shooting M's after forty three years.
 
My girlfriend talked about Leica's and how they were the best, so when I started getting more into taking photos I decided to buy a Leica.
 
i am a late developer. i was never into photography and i couldn't figure what the fuss was. my first overseas attempt was a om-10 with 35mm lens. I never figured out how to use it properly. but with that camera, i captured some nice snaps of the refugee camp in the thai-cambodia border near surin. Many years later, fast forward oct 2009, i was suddently curious why my compact camera could not capture fast moving objects. I started learning about apertures and exposure. And my first Leica was a Leicaflex SL. Four months later I was developing film for the first time.
 
I was out shooting some landscape with a Nikon F90x when I ran into a gentleman with an M6 around his neck. It looked like my grandfather's hi-matic, but with a red dot...
A couple of years later, I saw a book by Kertesz and again ran into "Leica"... then HCB, then Winogrand.... etc... all with these photogs with a little red dott-ed hi-matic.
Checked out a used M2.... and I was hooked!
 
Nikon D50 -> Mamiya RB67 ->(discovered that that thing I inherited and had sitting in a drawer was a Bessa RF folder) -> Linhof Technica -> Bessa R4A -> Mamiya 7 -> Leica M6 -> Leica R8.

Looking through the thread, there are others like me who started with digital then moved to film.... then discovered rangefinders and moved there. Interesting.
 
I got into photography back in the late '80s, my first camera being a Nikon FE. I used my newfound hobby as an excuse to explore the city and countryside for interesting things to photograph. I was not all that good of a photographer, but I had a lot of fun. I used all types of Nikon gear, mainly because I was familiar with it.

A busy life and career took me away from photography, but I jumped back in with two feet about 10 years ago when digital began to become popular. I got some digital gear and began playing at photography again, eventually moving up into a Nikon DSLR system.

My interest in film was rekindled when I came across a very nice old Canon F1 at a junk shop. The old MR9 battery that was in it was still good, so I put a roll of film in it and took a hike in the nearby hills. I was surprised by the wonderful results I got on that first roll of film.

My interest in rangefinders was piqued when I found an old Yashica CC at a flea market for $10. The camera was small, quiet, and simple to use, but it also took great pictures. A little internet searching about rangefinders led to information about street photography and Leicas.

A couple years ago I got into the part-time business of trading in film cameras. A lot of gear came through my hands, some of which I kept and used. I have a few Leica bodies and lenses which I regularly use.

I am not a Leicaphile, a camera is simply a tool used to take pictures, and it is the results which matter, not so much the means used to obtain them. A carpenter is not judged by the quality if his tools, but by the quality of his work. I use Leica cameras and gear because I can afford to monetarily, but if that were not the case, I would be equally happy using my old Nikon FE.
 
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I was given a Leica M2 when I was 16. My science teacher in middle school had had an M4 and 1972 or 73 he got an M5. I was allowed to use this, under supervision, on school camps. Compared to my mother's fixed lens scale focus Zeiss Ikon this was an amazing advance. When my father looked into the recklessly generous present of a second hand Leica he told me to go into the city and choose between two kits he'd researched. One was the M2 with 50mm Summilux, filter, hood, case, box and original instructions, or a Leica CL with 40 and 90mm lenses, built in meter, more modern etc. It took me 5 seconds to decide. That was 35 years ago. The M2 is in slightly better condition than when I got it.
 
Loved the idea of rangefinders but found every fixed-lens rangefinder to be flawed in some critical way. There's really not much choice in rangefinders after that.
 
I was taking photographs for money and realised I was losing my love of the medium. I sold everyy piec of equipment I had and bought an M4-P and two lenses. This extravaganza was a last ditch attempt at rekindling the fire. It worked.
 
The first time I read about Leica, was with some reviews for the R8, and I began reading up on Leica. I was shooting with Canon SLRs, and later got my Zeiss contaflex and other random cameras. Then I found my BP M4 for a ridiculous price, and that's where I got hooked. I'm picking up a IIIC with a bunch of lenses and accessories on Monday :D
 
I struggled for years trying to make a print from my Pentaxs with the same nice tones as the paper sample books then in the camera stores.

One day I found a used 125 mm Hector at a camera store, I made an adapter with a Pentax A thread adapter and took some slides while interspacing them wi th Pentax lenses.

OH MY is all I could say. That is the secret.

A friend loaded me his M3 and a few lenses. Same film, same paper, as before, and now I can get the same as the sample books.

No turning back now. The genie is out of the bottle. 30 years with Leica.
 
I had been shooting with 35mm and 645 slr cameras as well as 35mm fixed lens RF cameras for a long time. And I still do! (I love my large Nikon system, as well as my small Olympus and Mamiya systems.) But in 2007, two acquaintances - Ned Bojic and Ralph Gibson both recommended Leica cameras to me. Ralph's made quite a name for himself using Leicas, and Ned ... well you old-timers here know Ned, eh!?

I shrugged it off as I do most things recommended by fans. But then after I had finished a project that got picked up in a big local exhibition, and I was suddenly $1200 richer. I figured that I deserved a treat. I went to a store that sold used cameras, intent on getting something for my existing cameras - I was hoping for an f/1.2 normal lens or maybe a 100mm f/2.0 Zuiko ... I wanted something cool.

As I walked by the Leica case - it usually has a bunch of Hektors, R lenses, along with unaffordable M7 and M8 cameras - I saw a black gem nestled in amongst the usual stuff. I looked closer. It was an M4-P. A couple weeks before, I had handled Ralph's red skinned MP, and was somewhat confused by the numbering system.

What, I wondered on another forum, was an M4-P? That's when Ned told me that was the exact camera he had, and that I should just buy it. The camera I was looking at had a Voigtländer 35mm Ultron on it. Was that a good lens I asked... YES, and YES! were the answers I got. I asked Ralph if that was the camera he had, and he said, "no", he had a special edition MP, and a Leica Summalux lens, but that "any Leica was better than no Leica."

So with these two esteemed recommendations, I went back to the store, saw that the camera was still there, and immediately bought it. Well, almost immediately - I negotiated $200 off the consignment price for a scuffed up back door, and included an inspection by a local Leica expert in the final price. A couple hours later, I walked out of the store as a brand new Leica owner!


Epilogue: About a year later, I was in a Boston Market restaurant ,where I observed a young man talking to his kids about rangefinder cameras. As I find this to be an unusual topic for general conversation, I approached the man. I asked if he was a rangefinder fan, and he said he was. I told him about this forum, and he replied that he was a member - I thought I had recognized him from his avatar.

In fact, he too had been eyeing the M4-P in the store, but had not yet decided to pull the trigger. I'm glad that I had listened to my two Leica-toting mentors! If I had hesitated, I'd be a mere Leica wanna-be, and James (my forum-mate and M4-P rival) would have written this post.
 
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I bought an M4 and DR Summicron last November after wanting to try one for years. I'd started with a rangefinder (Yashica J) in high school photo class and always owned a rangefinder after that.

Ironically, I've gotten so spoiled by Olympus OM-1 SLRs I have not really warmed up to it and will probably sell it at some point. Lovely camera in all respects but it is harder for me to use than my OM's.
 
My dad inherited all my Grandpas old cameras including an m3 and he let me shoot on it and i fell MAD in love. Now all i shoot on is M3 basically.
 
Chris, a very nice story! And there are other good accounts here too. I'm afraid I don't clearly recall the thoughts leading up to my buying a used M2 in 1967 along with a new 35 Summicron (8 element, then). I was shooting with Pentaxes, reading Modern Photography (studying the Annual), and I'm sure I was impressed at all the fine photographers producing great pics with Leicas. Anyway, I still use that M2 and Summicron.
 
ChipMcD said:
I used a Yashica TLR as a kid and Nikon SLRs when I could afford to after I started working. I'd always thought of Leicas, Hasselblads and Rolleiflexes as the pinnacle of their respective camera types. After digital sort of took over, those cameras became more affordable, and I could swing them. So now I am using the cameras that I wanted when I was 16, but with an adult eye, and I'm having a lot of fun doing it.
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Exact identical story here. I still remember the catalogs for Hasselblad 500 C/M system, Toyo View and some of the Rolleiflex and Leica M cameras on display when I was teenager. Later, I bought my first Nikon SLR, the FM because friends were already using Nikon and I could borrow some of the lenses. Later I added a F3HP and then D70 and D1x. After I got tired of the D1x (heavy, big and not very good for low light) I remembered that there was something called "film". Soon I realized that the very expensive camera systems of the time when I was a teenager had become affordable and also the M Leica. So I bought my first Leica, a M6 four years ago.
 
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