I've Fallen And I Can't Get Up

chuckroast said:
So... I've had a beautiful Leica IIIf (just CLAed by YYE) and an uncoated 50mm f/3.5 Elmar forever. And I said "That's all the Leica I will ever need."

But I always had a jones for an M body. I saw this just-CLAed M2 on eBay and bought it. And I said "That's all the Leica I will ever need."

But bodies need lenses, so I bought the three whose framelines are native to the M2. And I said "That's all the Leica I will ever need."

Then I saw the camera of my youthful dreams. A near perfect black M5. It was the camera I had wanted since they first came out in 1971, except now I could (sort of) afford this used one. And I said "That's all the Leica I will ever need."

As I sit here, I am looking at M4s and M6s that I absolutely do not need. But if I buy one or both, I'm really sure that it will be all the Leica I will ever need.


Haaaaalp, I've fallen and I can't get up ...
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There's but one way to stop this accelerating demon: Get a hold of yourself and just Stop!

Don't look at gear for sale. Buy three dozen rolls of film. Expose, process, and study every picture you make. Figure how you could make a better picture, go out and try again. Use all your lenses and bodies one at a time. When you finish the three dozen rolls of film, stop again and meditate on what doing that taught you. If you can't think of anything, buy another three dozen rolls of film and just keep working at the problem. If you can honestly say, "I need that SummaBlitto 67mm f/1.9 AsPhunical lens!, sell another lens and buy that one.

When the urge to buy another piece of gear strikes, put another roll of film in a camera and carefully expose every frame. If you don't get 32 keepers, do it again.

Eventually, you'll just do photography and forget GAS. 🙂
And I should take my own advice now and then... 😀

G
 
I am an EMT in my rural community and go to many calls from my elderly neighbors who have gotten into this physical difficulty. It's become a joke from the old TV ads, but you are right it is no laughing matter. In my own family we tried a "Lifeline" style pendent with my 89 YO mother, but got 20 false positives and a full Emergency response for the one or two times it was useful. I am not saying don't get one, but consider the technology's limitations.
 
chuckroast said:
These have already been used and will continue to be so.

I don't know what the transport logistics are between Ontario and the US, but you can get an M CLA turned around in less than a week with YYE and about a month with DAG here in the US.
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There's a very competent repair person in Calgary. www.lensmedicyyc.com (Gary Clennan). His turn around is fast. He's done several Leica CL repairs for me, including sourcing (an NOS) & replacing a broken viewfinder window. My M4 was serviced by DAG and adapted for the Leicavit.... he's the only one who has specialty parts. Unless i accidently drop it, I'm pretty sure DAG won't see my M4 again.
My experience over many decades and many M models is that the cameras rarely need service. I know Ko.Fe had problems with his M4-2, but you never know the history of a used camera.
 
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Godfrey said:
There's but one way to stop this accelerating demon: Get a hold of yourself and just Stop!

Don't look at gear for sale. Buy three dozen rolls of film. Expose, process, and study every picture you make. Figure how you could make a better picture, go out and try again. Use all your lenses and bodies one at a time. When you finish the three dozen rolls of film, stop again and meditate on what doing that taught you. If you can't think of anything, buy another three dozen rolls of film and just keep working at the problem. If you can honestly say, "I need that SummaBlitto 67mm f/1.9 AsPhunical lens!, sell another lens and buy that one.

When the urge to buy another piece of gear strikes, put another roll of film in a camera and carefully expose every frame. If you don't get 32 keepers, do it again.

Eventually, you'll just do photography and forget GAS. 🙂
And I should take my own advice now and then... 😀

G
Click to expand...


I can quit any time I want to. I just don't want to ...
 
Deardorff38 said:
There's a very competent repair person in Calgary. www.lensmedicyyc.com (Gary Clennan). His turn around is fast. He's done several Leica CL repairs for me, including replacing a broken viewfinder window. My M4 was serviced by DAG and adapted for the Leicavit.... he's the only one who has specialty parts. But my experience over many decades and many M models is that the cameras rarely need service.
Click to expand...


I think that's right. I bought my M2 from a guy who'd just had DAG overhaul it. It wasn't cosmetically perfect - it had a few dings in the upper housing - but it's 100% functional and a really great camera. I sent my M5 in because I wanted to be certain the meter was properly set up and it was correctly timed and lubricated. I now expect both cameras to outlast my own usefulness.

More generally, I spend the last year getting rid of gear I didn't want anymore and servicing everything I intended to keep so I could keep using it until my photographic timer expires.
 
Deep down I know the M2 was the only camera I ever needed. It was my first camera. I still use it. Won’t list the long series, all of which I still have too, by which I confirmed the above. Although when the children were small I really did need the M6. And did trade an M4-2 for that, which replaced a stolen M4, so the only two I don’t still have. M6 has film in it. Probably the only camera I need. I’ll omit the other verses.
 
The realization that I could do almost all of the photography I'm most interested in with my old Spotmatic and a 50mm f/1.4 Super Takumar lens that I bought together for $20 has helped a lot with my GAS. I still want a few more cameras and lenses, but I feel like I've got my needs pretty much covered (about three times over, in fact).

@chuckroast—That plain prism F wouldn't happen to be black, would it?
 
AAlfano said:
The realization that I could do almost all of the photography I'm most interested in with my old Spotmatic and a 50mm f/1.4 Super Takumar lens that I bought together for $20 has helped a lot with my GAS. I still want a few more cameras and lenses, but I feel like I've got my needs pretty much covered (about three times over, in fact).

@chuckroast—That plain prism F wouldn't happen to be black, would it?
Click to expand...


Sorry, both body and prism are chrome. Both are in excellent condition. The body does show some bright marks on the bottom, but it's been CLAed within the past few years by CameraWiz, so it's good to go. The prism is clean and clear, showing no evidence of mold, fungus, separation or other optical nasties.
 
Richard G said:
Deep down I know the M2 was the only camera I ever needed. It was my first camera. I still use it. Won’t list the long series, all of which I still have too, by which I confirmed the above. Although when the children were small I really did need the M6. And did trade an M4-2 for that, which replaced a stolen M4, so the only two I don’t still have. M6 has film in it. Probably the only camera I need. I’ll omit the other verses.
Click to expand...

I have a IIIf, an M2, and an M5. Each of them has been CLAed and is in perfect order, but there is something about the M2 that just speaks to me. Don't get me wrong, the other two cameras are near and dear to me as well, it's just that the M2 has a kind of timeless perfection bolted on to nearly perfect utility that calls me back to it regularly.
 
Yashica YE with Canon 50/1.8, $200 shipped. Just wow. Prices on a lot of Japanese equipment has gone way down, prices on Leica- way up.
Anyway- my collection of LTM bodies just got bigger by one. Will go with the YF.
 
Ko.Fe. said:
YYE just can't do what DAG is capable of.
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That is certainly true. YYE won't touch M5s for example, and there are probably other specialty use cases the only DAG can do. But it sounded like you were saying that YYE had/does bad job at the stuff he works on, and that's not been my experience. DAG does really fine work, albeit at rather higher prices, so it's not like I'm choosing sides. I was just curious about your POV.
 
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