How old were you when you got your first Leica?

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PatrickCheung

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I got to thinking today... I don't know anyone my age who owns a leica of any sort, no barnack, no M, no SLR, no Digilux, and definitely not a digital M.

I started taking photos about three years ago, when I was 16 with a Nikon D60 my father bought me. I bought my first film camera a little less than a year after that, and the film obsession began... which lead to my interest in a Leica M. A little more than a year ago today I used the money I earned from shooting events and weddings and bought myself a Leica iif. I got my first Leica when I was 18. I'm now 19 and I shoot an M8, which my father helped me purchase (I sold my Nikon DSLR gear, and he paid for the other half of my Leica). In between then, I've owned and sold an M3DS...

Early this year, my friend burst out laughing when I told him how much my M8 cost. It sounds silly but... I'm curious as if I'm... "too young" to fully appreciate a Leica. There's only one other Leica owner in my school, and he's a 24-year-old masters student.

It's a silly question, and a silly thread, but I'm rather curious :p

When did you get your first Leica, what was it, and what made you want it?
 
30, had been a Nikon user(still am) but the weight became an issue when hiking the national parks many years ago.
 
About 24. It was an M3 DS with a 50 Summarit. Soon after, I bought an M3 single stroke with a goggled 35 Summaron. Never looked back. They are good cameras.
 
Got my first Leica (M6 TTL) about a month ago at age 45. I had wanted one for a while, but only recently got back into shooting film, so now was the time.
 
16. M2. Button rewind, near mint, case, box, instructions and, since stolen, v2 50 Summilux, filter, hood and front cap. I still have the receipt and everything that wasn't stolen. The number of the stolen lens is 2028438, attached to a stolen mint M4 1211427.
 
27. I had been using other little rangefinders for years before that so it was just time.

Phil Forrest
 
I was 34. Couldn't afford one before that. Barely could at 34, and with the stuff getting so damned expensive I'm thinking I can't now.
 
I was 34 when I got my one and only Leica. BTW I still have that M2 and recently had Youxin do his magic on it and I'll probably keep it forever now.
 
Late 20s. I couldn't afford it before then.

I grew up thinking Leica and Triumph (didn't even think what Leica or Triumph) were my "dream" toys and didn't even think I could one day actual own them. I now have several Leicas and a couple of Triumphs. I still appreciate them, and enjoying using/riding/wrenching them like a little kid with airplane toy.
 
My brother was lending me his Nikon S3s when I was about 17 (up to that point I'd had a number of his hand-me-downs, starting with a Beauty Canter when I was about 11, and then a 2-1/4x3-1/4 press camera a year or two later), and then when I was 18 he found me a IIIf and a couple of lenses to buy for myself. Then three years later, when I was 21, I bought my first M3.
 
23. M3 ds, 35 summaron. My beater Pentax broke and I knew what I wanted. Still have both... The 35 is actually at Sherry's right now-I can't wait to shoot it all nice and clean!
 
my second wife bought me a new m4-p with a 50 summicron...for a wedding present...

i have blocked the date from my memory...
 
18, worked for quite a while to get an M4 + 50/1.5 Nokton. My friends called me mad but hey, it's better than blowing it all on drugs and alcohol! ;)
 
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