How do you turn a Leica into a user?

Wow! Vincent's photos are spectacular! I mean it. Such drama and quality.

I wish we could see technical details for those pics. Not that it would make much difference to my output, but even so. Just for the excitement of it. I have had more than my share of inspiration for the day.
 
IIRC, some of the photos on his website were taken with a digital SLR. I agree they're quite wonderful... but to get that kind of tonality out of a digicam is even more impressive.
 
Understandable. I have this thing with books. If I pay good money for a new book, I'm very careful for a few days turning the pages, and I wipe the cover of smears every five minutes. I wince if someone else turns the pages. Then after a bit it joins the other books covered with dust on the floor, or heaped into a pile so I can stick a desk fan on top, or fallen behind a radiator.

I think it's entirely normal. Until you get some use out of it, your M4-P is a lovely object and a fair chunk of change, rather than a tool. It's only through use that it becomes a tool for taking pictures. Until then, it's natural to cosset it a bit.

I don't baby my M4. My F3 with motordrive, though, wow, that gets some serious fondling...
 
Yep, it's not the money. It's just some weird psychological thing. I have a new, pretentious Moleskine notebook, and I'm fussing about it, admiring it, and worried that I'm going to screw up the first thing I write in it. Yet I know full well in a couple of months it's going to be bent, torn, inkstained, coffeestained, and dirty from being thrown around everywhere. And I'll have written many stupid things in it.

I've not even taken off the green wrapper, because I think that would somehow make it less new, less out-of-the-shop. Yet I know that I'd never in a million years sit down in public and write in it with the lime-green wrapper on.

I've never worried about scratching my chrome M4 with the metal bits of the strap. Yet the first thing I did with the F3 was put gaffer tape over them. Is it because it's black paint? Or do I just pick and choose my neuroses? 🙄
 
principe azul said:
Understandable. I have this thing with books. If I pay good money for a new book, I'm very careful for a few days turning the pages, and I wipe the cover of smears every five minutes. I wince if someone else turns the pages. Then after a bit it joins the other books covered with dust on the floor, or heaped into a pile so I can stick a desk fan on top, or fallen behind a radiator.
Click to expand...
I thought I was the only one with a serious book issue!

ya know, this discussion now reminds me of my iPod.. it's silly, because we're only talking about a $300 gizmo, but I've always been extremely careful with it.. if you haven't seen one, the front is a very shiny white plexiglass sort of material.. it scratches pretty easily.. and the back is a chrome plate that is even worse

as soon as I took it out of the case, I covered the back with a clear adhesive sheet.. maybe doing that to the bottom plate of the Leica isn't a bad idea.. it can easily be removed or replaced, and it's on the surface that few people notice
 
Hi Joe, I think Leica does mess with ones psychology. My MP3 player's a cheapie, but it looks nice and understated. Anyway, I got it home and was horrified to feel that it was made of plastic!
 
hmmm...don't baby it....i know its expensive and its pretty but it's destiny is to be used....it's pretty sad that so many leicas and nikon RFs never see a roll of film in them....i'd say get over it as soon as you can....see it as a tool and not some ubercamera

the things you own end up owning you - tyler durden
 
Nick I'll 5th or 6th the Domke Gripper strap. Put the strap on, put some film in the cam and a sticker on the top plate with the film & speed, then bring the camera everywhere.

Pretty soon you'll be used to it and stop worrying.

 
i don't 'baby' anything i own but i treat everything i own with respect.

my last p was the one in the best shape. not a mark on it. second day out and i noticed a couple of light swirly scratches on the top plate. oh well!
and my favourite p? the one that i dropped. it already had a few small dings and essex banged them all out. now i can see the marks but i can't feel where the dings were.

use it, enjoy it, respect it but no real need to baby it.
imho
joe
 
lend your Leica to people who fight in Iraq, it will turn out like this Military Leica M3, it went throught Vietnam war. you will not hesitate to use it!
 
I am proud of the brassing on my MP I take good care of it but it is well used. The engeneers and master machineists who make fine equipment make it to be used. I also loaned a black Contax G2 to a Special Forces solder in Afghanastan for his 14 month deployment. It came back paint-worn but working great. and the negs are fantastic, Kids in the streets did not shy away from a rangefinder but were scared of a big camera (SLR, motor drive and telephoto lens) like the journalists were using. Too much like having a weapon pointed at them again he said.
 
Nick R. said:
I received my M4-P from Traut and it is beautiful. So beautiful, that I'm hesitant to use it. It's not the price that's getting to me. My medium format rig costs more and I regularly take it hiking without a case, just a shoulder strap. But the Leica feels different. I haven't even put a shoulder strap on it for fear of nicking the paint. You guys do use your cameras, right? How do you use them without feeling guilty? I don't want a closet queen.
Click to expand...

Here's a simple suggestion for "userizing" a Leica that's sure to be popular:

Lend it to one of your photographer friends for a weekend, or maybe even a week.

Even if the camera comes back in seemingly perfect condition, you'll be scrutinizing it for flaws and find SOME reason to be positive that it isn't quite as nice as it was. Then your worries are over.

If you don't have any photographer friends to ask, I'm sure there are people on RFF who would volunteer to perform this service.
 
I was "riding" on the subway yesterday and my nice new M7 + 50 Summilux got a bit of a bang on the door when the train suddenly lurched. I was holding it surreptitiously with the Zeiss waist finder at right angles on it and I didn't have a grip on any handhold or anything. These things happen. Everything seems OK though. 🙂

 
Nick R. said:
I received my M4-P from Traut and it is beautiful. So beautiful, that I'm hesitant to use it. It's not the price that's getting to me. My medium format rig costs more and I regularly take it hiking without a case, just a shoulder strap. But the Leica feels different. I haven't even put a shoulder strap on it for fear of nicking the paint. You guys do use your cameras, right? How do you use them without feeling guilty? I don't want a closet queen.
Click to expand...

I think this concern is a symptom of the "eB*y Syndrome" complicated by TV shows like Antique Road....

Before, when we bought something, we bought it because we wanted to "use" it. Nowadays, everytime we purchase an item, whether new or as a "pristine" piece of vintage gear, we get all wound up thinking that if we "use it" we'll "ruin it" (or at least "ruin" its value). It's as if we purchase things with a greater focus on the eventual sale of the item than in the use and enjoyment of it.

I suffer from this syndrome and find the only thing I can do to "cure" it is to just bite the bullet and go out and use the darn thing. This is easier to say than do. I just acquired a near-pristine Nikon S2 and now I am afraid to load in some film and use it!

As Charlie Brown would say: "Aaaarrrghh!!!"
 
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