How did you get into Leicas?

[Archiver]

My childhood was peppered with moments of photography with my Dad's SLR's, but digital photography was what changed it all for me. I started with small sensor cameras and moved into film compacts and DSLR's within some years.

Film compacts like the Contax T3 led me to Leica rangefinders on flickr and other sites, and I came to RFF, but a Leica setup was too rich for my blood at the time. Meanwhile, I bought a Zeiss Ikon and a Zeiss 28/2.8, and then a Voigtlander 35/1.4, while shooting my Canon 30D primarily.

Full frame beckoned, and I bought a 5D Mark II. But the allure of Leica still called, and that year, the M9 was announced. It seemed to solve the problems of the M8, and would allow me to use my growing collection of RF lenses.

When I placed an order for the M9, it felt like my guts dropped out of my backside. It was the most I had ever spent on ANY single item, let alone a camera. I wasn't even earning money from my photography, either! But the thought of being able to shoot with my beautiful RF lenses in their full frame glory was too much.

The M9 arrived and it became my favourite camera. Ever. My M7 followed a few months later, but I still shoot with the M9 far more.

 

[agoglanian]

I got into photography at a young age, maybe 12, to document my friends and I skateboarding, my dad loaned me his Pentax MX with a few lenses though I gravitated towards the 28 and 50mm. I practiced through high school and truly fell in love with the craft and decided I wanted to go to photography school. I was accepted into the Brooks Institute of Photography right out of high school and it was there in 2004 on my first orientation day that they showcased the various types of equipment we could check out. But we had to handle it and learn how to operate it first.

The majority of the students of course flocked to the Canon and Nikon gear, but I was mystified by this small little camera that distinctly reminded me of my dad's MX. It was a Leica MP, and I was hooked. I signed up here less than a year later and set out to learn as much as I could. I also proceeded to rent the Leicas from school at every available opportunity and I longed for the day I could have one for my own. I loved the way they operated and how it connected me with the subject I was photographing. Progressively I developed a real taste for rangefinder-style photography.

Over the next 10 years I've had MANY different cameras, started shooting digital, had several rangefinders but never got my Leica. It was always the wrong time financially. A couple years ago I inherited a very special Hasselblad Kit (the very kit that was used to photograph my parents' wedding, which works mostly fine but could use a good servicing). This was one of my three dream cameras, the other two being a Mamiya 7 and of course the Leica. I managed to get a Mamiya 7 kit last year for a very reasonable price, and this year I made the decision to move away from professional photography as I went back to school for graphic design a couple years ago and I'm nearly done now.

Since photography is now for my enjoyment and creation again I made the admittedly scary decision to sell my entire Canon DSLR system (a safety net if you will) and finally purchase my Leica. I acquired an M240 and a few Zeiss ZM lenses (all used) and I am so incredibly pleased, and I finally have all three cameras from my list.

 

[Firefly]

Some years a go when I was using SLR's I was in my home town Cambridge which in Summertime gets rather full of Tourists, I was in Kings Parade which has several University Colleges beloved of Tourists and there was a large group outside taking pictures of the buildings on display. This was just into the age of AF and motor winds which some were using to the max which struck me as rather pointless with the buildings being somewhat static 😀.
Standing to one side was a rather mature lady using a camera that I had never seen before, she took the time to compose and consider her picture taking and possibly shot about three pictures in the time that the others burnt through a full roll and were reloading again to fire off another burst.
At that time there was a "Classic Camera" Shop in Kings Parade, can't remember the name but it was part of the Campkins Group, I looked through the window and saw on display various Camera's very much like hers including the funny thing that was on top which I later learnt was a ViOOH.
Looking back now she was using a chrome Screw Leica with possibly a wide angle lens for the buildings hence the VIOOH.
At that stage I was far too scared to go in and display my ignorance about such things but her serenity when using this camera when surrounded by scattergun shooters left it's mark and I sought out what I could about them, the writings of Ivor Matanle in Amateur Photographer and his own books gave me the knowledge I required to pluck up the courage to venture into the shop and I left with a iiia and a 50mm coated elmar.
Since then it's been a iiif and a ii, several Contax and finally the M, M2 to begin with followed by M4-P, M4-2, M7. Got caught up in the dslr thing for a while but now back with a MP and a M8.
Sorry to go on too long but it's a bit of personal history for me,
Regards to all, Rob

 

[kbg32]

When I was a kid, I was looking through some photo magazines from the 1950s and they caught my eye. I had no idea what they were, but I felt that they were the camera for me. My first was a Leitz-Minolta CL. I think I paid $650 for it with the 40mm Rokkor back in 1977. I traded it a few months later for a sticky M3 and a Canon 50mm Serenar. Then came my M4s.I never used anything else but a Leica M for years.

 

[Texsport]

My aunt gave me her husband's nearly unused M3.

Quite a gift!

Texsport

 

[Dunk]

Way back in 1958 in Motspur Park public library I saw a photography book illustrated with some Leica cameras and the Leica name made an impression which has stayed with me for 57 years - and because of those library visits it has always been THE miniature camera. I could never afford any camera until I was in my late 20s but in 1971 saw a Leica complete with lens offered for £5 in a dealer's window near Leadenhall Market. I wanted to buy it but a photographer friend put me off by saying, 'Might be OK … if it works … it's bloody old!" I wish I had bought it - I loved the shape - but had no idea how to use a camera - it was the possibility of fulfilling a childhood dream. After buying a new Boots Beirette for £11.00 in 1975 I learnt the rudiments of photography and progressed to a secondhand Zeiss Contina followed by a s/h Yashica TL Electro and then in 1980 bought a Canon AE-1 with three 'New FD' lenses - but I still hankered after that £5 Leica … wondering if if would have been any good. At that time rangefinder cameras were not so popular - everyone wanted a SLR - and Victor Blackman in AP continually praised Canon SLRs in his weekly double page spread. VB had a Leica rangefinder but he did not recommend such a camera for 'amateurs'. But I read the small ads in the back of the magazine and discovered Ffordes' columns … and their s/h Leica cameras and lenses. I started buying and reading Leica books and hankered after a Leicaflex - but could not afford one. Then I explored the possibility of adapting a Leitz macro lens to my Canon T90 and discovered that SRB in Luton could make me an adaptor to use a 100mm f4 Macro Elmar on my Canon bellows - so I ordered the lens from Ffordes. When it arrived I was amazed by the build quality and the attention to detail in the design and engineering - the double telescopic lens hood was a work of art and a mechanical marvel - the black Leitz Wetzlar logo on the lens bezel was pure stealth - and the beautiful baffles in the lens' front recess would never permit flare to show in its images. I was hooked … at last I had a Leitz lens - but now I also wanted the matching bellows. The following week I phoned Reg Byford at Ffordes and bought the bellows - and then ordered the Canon adaptor from SRB. The Canon/Leitz combination was only usable for close-ups but I enjoyed using it so much both in the field and on a copy stand - and being slow in operation I found myself composing images more carefully - and obtaining better results which did well in competitions and exhibitions. I used the lens and bellows for years - and I still use them - even though I have long since graduated to more modern Leica hardware. Nowadays any 100mm Macro Elmar R bellows lens (and bellows) will sit on dealers' shelves for months or years - unsold - unloved - doing nothing - just a curio - a dinosaur from yesteryear. But those who decry it do not what they are missing and are unaware of what the lens is capable of. It's a gem - and well worth acquiring at the bargain prices listed. Give it a try and you will not be disappointed.

Best wishes

dunk

 

[charjohncarter]

I was the only good rangefinder in 1964 that I could afford.

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

Posting elsewhere I remembered something and thought I'd add it as a sequel to my post (no.93) here.

I used a well known TLR, then moved on to a well known SLR but the SLR was heavy and expensive and not the thing you take on holiday or weekends away. So I looked for a compact and found the Olympus-35 SP. Then I wanted interchangeable lenses on a CRF but couldn't afford them.

I'd seen a travel supplement in a magazine that had a throw away line about the Leica CL being the prefect camera for travel and wanted one, just as they were disappearing from the shops as they were only produced for a short time. And that's really the prequel to post 93.

Regards, David

 

[Ron (Netherlands)]

As a young student I never knew exactly what a rangefinder camera was (we all started with slr's in school - '70ties) ....till I saw a very old user Leica III which I could afford and gave me great joy.

 

[pepeguitarra]

Roger Hicks is to blame in part!

Roger Hicks is to blame in part!

Being a Pentaxian, I read a book by Roger in which he praised the Takumar 85/1.9 and some Leica among other. That is how I got into manual lenses: Takumars. Few years later, I went to England for two weeks with my Canon 5DII and only three lenses (about 20 pounds weight!!) Upon return, I developed a back pain due to the weight of my equipment, so that is reason #1 to move to Leica. The second one was that I saw some European tourists taken indoor photos with a smaller camera and no flash. After I checked, it was Leica. So, upon my return, I started searching for leica and got into the M8, sold it and got an M9. M9 went for sensor replacement (still there after three months) and I bought an M8-Upgraded. I plan in keeping my Leicas.

 

[narsuitus]

I was introduced to Leica in college when I had to use a Leica M1 to capture images through a microscope.

 

[Nathan King]

A friend gave me his old Kodak Retina IIIc, which gave me my first taste of what a rangefinder was like. I really enjoyed how easy it was determining perfect focus with the patch. After a period of time I wanted to upgrade to a better rangefinder, and after doing some research I determined Leica was the best quality a person could get. I now use an M6, 50mm Elmar-M, 35mm Summicron v4, and a Leitz Focomat 1c enlarger. Leica all the way except for film and paper......and I'd buy that too if they made it! 😀

 

[Bill Clark]

Reading here.

 

[Oscuro]

Time heals everything. Everything but love. How I got in to Leicas

Time heals everything. Everything but love. How I got in to Leicas

Love. Hate. Love. Hate. And love again.
When I left home under a cloud at the age of 16 my father gave me a fast fifty Takumar and a book of Ernst Haas' work.

"Here, you'll need these," he said. For a couple of years I kept body and soul together with that fifty and a Sun tele on a pistol grip fronting two Spotmatics. Just barely.

A meager body and a sliver-thin soul fell in love with a metallurgical engineer. I was burning steel - she showed me how to push a bead with a Redi-Arc and put it back together. We made out in the back of the truck I was repairing. It took two years to figure out she was an alligator in cat's clothing. Two years of blood and snot after that I finally left her.

"I liked you better when you were weak," she said.

I turned what was left toward the door and was about to close it behind me when she said, "Wait, I want you to have something." For some reason I stopped. Tired. An empty face with an unknown route to an unknown station. Numb. The fool with no name stopped.

She came out of our, no, her, bedroom with her M4 and a 50 two-0.
"Do something with this," she said and closed the door for me.

I hated it. How do you frame with a thing like this? I shot transparencies not black and white. No goddamn easel. Depth of field? Where's the preview.....? Oh.
But I loved it. Small. Quiet. Light. Light years sharper. A visual fetish.

And the smell of her every time I put my eye to the finder.

But I hated it. How do you load film? Are you serious? I got over it.

Like the alligator I kept coming back. Still shot reflex because it made sense. Gave up on black and white and nearly the M4. Got a 28 for it. Kept shooting slides.... By this time I was doing 90 percent of my work with a pair of F4s bodies. And a pair of M6s. Same 50. Same 35. Mostly Kodachrome.

Then I went digital.

Reflex in digital was easy. Canon and Nikon killing it. Superb. Moved through the Ds and then worked with a guy who had a Fuji S3. Remembered that. Called it the "Skin Job." He got it. The M4 and M6 were parked and what the hell was I gonna do for a quiet gentle camera when a D3 was a gravel truck leaking hydraulic at a Strauss ball. Auditioned Sonys and Lumixs and whatever else with the tiny perfect lenses. No, no, no.

Ironically great cameras in RAW or black and white but their JPGs kinda blew in color. I like JPGs.

And then I gave up. Looked at the Ms sitting on a bookshelf. Shot twenty-something rolls of Velvia one day. Sent it to NCPS. Hated the film. Kept coming back to those cameras. Didn't have a film after Kodachrome went. Astia. Provia.... No, no. no..... Ektachrome... no...no. No.

The big C got the engineer - her dad let me know. No parent should have to bury a child. Thirty years since I'd seen him and there we were at her service. He cried. I was numb. Again. We drank to remember. I pulled the M4 and the fifty out of my jacket and put it in the casket, just below the overlay where no one would see it. Said something stupid.

The next morning I listed the M6 and rented an M8. Then an M9. No, no, no....

The alligator was worm food. Dreams of an M4 haunted me and every once in a while one crossed my path. But there isn't any Kodachrome anymore so I would roll over and kick a sheet off. Maybe throw on some music until I could sleep again.

Most of my work is done with a D3.

But my always camera when I'm just me, tired of being strong, tired of turning a numb face to the world, is a little X100. Skin Job's little brother. A may-as-well-be 35mm FOV with a finder that lets me see what's actually going on in a non-reflex, quiet, gentle camera.

Sometimes, when I put my eye to the finder, I can still hear the vicious sweep of a reptile's tail but it's faint. Faint, yet still there in the distance of time that healed nearly all.

 

[--s]

True or not (it sounds just incredible, putting a Leica into the casket of a lover after 30 years), this your story is .... literature! Thanks fo sharing!
Cheers,
smp

 

[Oscuro]

Hey, thanks, man. Some things just stay in one's orbit, you know?

 

[barnwulf]

I started shooting with a Zeiss Contina II around 1960. In the next few years I got a Rolleicord and I came across a IIIf with a 3.5/5cm Elmar lens and used that for a little while. I liked the small size and solid feel of the IIIf but, I became convinced that I wanted a SLR so I bought a Spotmatic. Next came a Nikon F and I used Nikons then until about 2005. About that time I found a nice IIIf again and I had to have it. That got me hooked pretty good on Leicas for a second time. Next came a M4 and I really loved that camera and I have used mostly Leicas every since. I had to try a M3 to see what all the fuss was about with that camera and I fell in love with that camera too and still use it and my M4 when I am shooting film. - jim

 

[Martin Carone Santos]

About 2001/2002 I had a Contax II that I named "maestro" because it was more time with the technician than with me! (In fact that camera was in terrible condition and the technician got very bad moments with a camera he didn't know well). Well, after my 10th visit or so he ofered me a beautiful IIc with Summitar. Got it - and felt in love with camera and lens. Then started getting the lenses, viewfinders, etc. Now I shoot almost only Leica (got a Contax again), mostly Barnacks. And sometimes with M3. Over the years got too some darkroom Leitz gear that I use a lot. From focomat Ic to correx tanks.

 

[Greyscale]

An old high school friend that I reconnected with on Facebook after 36 years gave me a great deal on his dad's IIIc + 5 lenses, it was near Christmas, we had just sold our farm, and my wife got it for me as a Christmas present.

 

[John E Earley]

In the early 60's I started into photography with my brothers borrowed Yashicamat EL and found I loved it. Several years later I bought a Nikkormat FTn at the PX and which I still have. I added a number of lenses and was happy with the results I got but didn't always like the bulk and weight. That prompted me to purchase a new Olympus 35RC as a back-up and casual carry camera. It took a while to adjust to a RF but once I did I loved it. In the meantime I acquired a number of Nikons plus medium format and large format cameras. When I looked back though it seemed that many of the photos I really liked were taken with the little RF. I used it for a number of years and let my sons use it for photography classes along with my Nikkormat.

The Nikon fared well but someone swiped the 35RC and I was out of the RF business. I missed the little RF and tried to replace it with a number of "other" rangefinders but none seemed as convenient or worked as well as the 35RC. Finally I succumbed to RF GAS and got a Canon P, lenses and then a second P. Loved them both and used B&W in one, color in the other. I was happy with this but as I was using digital more and more I traded the Canon RF gear away for more Nikon lenses. Again I began to miss the RF experience and due to this site I finally gave in and purchased an M3 with 50/2.8 Elmar and 90/2.8 Elmarit. Then shortly afler that I was offered a screaming deal on an M2 so I now have in a short time two Leicas.

Someday I might even replace the 35RC.