How often do people comment on your Leica?

[grainhound]

Nice warm spring evening last May, I’d had my M2 for about a week, took it out for a walk & some shots with its classic Elmar f2.8. It was still hard for me to believe that there was a Leica in my new little Lowepro bag, made for a rangefinder & a couple of lenses. That may be why the bag cost $20. I pulled the camera out at an enormous, nearly empty intersection, framed a shot as if Cary Grant might come towards me on the green light, & some guy, voice full of exclamation marks, said, “That guy’s got a Leica.”. That was as good as if Cary Grant had stepped out of a time machine to cross the street for a photo. No photo, not a pedestrian remotely resembling Cary Grant, but there was my dream from the 60s, real, wanting to photograph better than an enormous, nearly empty intersection.

 

[RdEoSg]

People notice mine a fair amount of the time. My dad usually goes.. wow, there are other people crazy like you?

Then there is a friend of mine who was at a local train station when Muhammad Ali walked up with a friend of his. My friend asked if he would take a photo of the two of them and the guy said sure so he handed him his M5 and proceeded to teach him how to use a leica. The gentleman was Howard L. Bingham. When he told us that story my other photographer friends and I couldn't stop laughing!

 

[rpsawin]

I have had several really nice conversations with people from all over the world as a result of my M2 and M6. Two weekends ago I was sitting at a cafe and a young lady, ~ 21, sat at the table next to me. She had a shoebox with holes in it which I later found out was her handmade pinhole camera. She saw my M6 and we started a conversation that lasted about 45 minutes. I really enjoyed talking to her. We just talked about cameras and film and favorite places to shoot.

Bob

 

[GeneW]

I was sitting in a Starbucks last summer with my Fed 2 on the table. A guy came over and asked me if it was a Leica. He didn't quite believe me when I told him that, no, it was a cheap Russian knockoff.

Again, last summer, I was on the shore with a IIIf shooting a boat passing by into the harbour and the guy in the boat hollered, "Is that a Leica?" I hollered back, "Yes". "Which One?" "IIIf" He gave me a thumbs up! Guess he knew about nice things like boats and Leicas.

Gene

 

[dazedgonebye]

Last night, for the second time, someone has come up to me while I'm shooting my Bessa R3A and asked "Is that a Leica?"

From now on I'm going to say "Yes," and keep shooting.

All the status at a fraction of the cost...maybe I can cut out a dot of red tape and put it on my Bessa.

 

[Andy Aitken]

In years of wandering the streets with a Leica (CL, M4-2) I've been asked about it about 2 or 3 times. Once by a junkie who said something like "man, I used to have one of those, I studied photography before I became a junkie..." which was a bit sad.

For about a month I used a Fed 1 while my Leica was being serviced and I was asked about it more times in that month that in the 20 years with the Leica...

 

[jkelly]

I've gotten more comments when I shoot with my IIIa than with the M3. One old guy (even older than me!) actually correctly identified my IIIa by sight. A couple of folks over the past year have asked me whether I was using a Leica when using the M3, once here in the DC area, and once in Hawaii. The demographics of those who notice and comment tend to skew older, as you can imagine.

 

[ray_g]

I think the only time was during the RFF New England summer meeting at Old Sturbridge, Massachussetts. We were crossing over an old, narrow, wooden bridge, kind of in single file. Peter_N had a couple of M7's, Joerg had a barnack and a ZI, Rover had an M6 and M3. I think I had just one body, a hexar.

A couple in their late 50's or early 60's passed us in the opposite direction. The man turned to his wife, "Did you see that? That guy had two of the new M7's... oh, and look at that one, and that one.... what the h*ll is going on!!?"

 

[SolaresLarrave]

The Leicas are coming!!! 😱

Sorry, rayg, couldn't help myself.

In Barcelona my wife overheard comments about my black M6TTL in a book market. Things along the lines of "hey, that guy has a Leica" followed by an appreciative nod.

Otherwise... some women find that they MUST make a comment about your camera. My Leicas have been ogled at, and become conversation pieces more often than I ever expected. Can't recall the details now, but in Spain a young woman followed me with her eyes... rather, she followed my Leica, which had a very thin, weird looking Elmar 90/f4 on. Months later, I was asked about it in a concert by another young woman, for whom the skills to use an "all-manual camera" must have been a remarkable thing to acquire.

Other than that... nobody seems to know one bit about my cameras. The exception is someone in campus, probably a prof, who saw me walking with my black M6 and said "Wow, you have a Leica!"

 

[edodo]

I don't know if that counts but my minilux get comments a lot, really a lot. Then the red dot and the logo must help. But my IIIa and M4 never get any comment, only "is it digital?". The red dot really screams LEICA!

 

[alexz]

I used to a favorable comments on my M6 dangling off my neck when visiting few photo shops where I used to process my film. Besides, just about two weeks ago, attending the wedding of one of my pals, the official photog overloaded with his huge Canon digital SLR stuff approached me with weird facial expression (kind of Holy appreciation...) asking me with trembling voice; "Is this Leica indeed ????" he seemed to be hardly believing his eyes. Then he asked my permission to hold it in his hands and actually stroked it as his beloved cat, then ironically, offered me to swap it (along with my 50mm/2 'cron). I literally saw kind of sadness in his eyes when treating my M6...LOL
Otherwise, frmo average street inhabitant, I get nothing but condescending comments on some wierd old appendix dangling of my neck or indulgently compassion for me not being able to own a conteporary digital thingy...LOL