Leica on loan - impressions

[Doug]

When is Leica going to come out with a camera that uses Polaroid film!!! HUHH!!! Damn if they don't go the digital route first...

And indeed they have! Is there really a future for instant film, in the digital age?

 

[former member]

I hope Polaroid will stick around, but in my opinion they get away from making the cameras cheaper and make the film cheaper. They should aim at the $0.50 per print range rather than the $1~$1.25 range. Kids love them, but the cost is absurd. I pick up out-of-date film for $4 a pack and it is a big hit at Birthday and other parties that Nikki attends. Kids can hold them and pass them around.

It is hard for the Leica to compete with that for Nikki's use, but yesterday she asked for the Leica. A proud moment in every Father's life...

 

[stevew]

I'ts great, as long she will still let you use it once in awhile. Kids have a way of making things their own.

 

[former member]

I won't let Nikki have all 5 of them... Just one.

 

[taffer]

I won't let Nikki have all 5 of them... Just one.

Who knows, in some years she may even be interested in starting her own Leica collection 🙂

 

[back alley]

they will have to build an addition to the house.

actually, if nikki developes a similar 'addiction' to things photographic and realizes that when papa is gone that it will all belong to her, then...buhahahha...look out brian!

joe

 

[RObert Budding]

A Leica to attract women? We now know, thanks to a recent poll, what a huge draw rangefinders are for women!

Robert

 

[RML]

Robert, the poll only showed that women are not much attracted to forums on RF cameras. It never gave any clue about if RF cameras are a good lure to attract women. My Japanesque Gold covered M2 gets some looks, and the tiny black Cl often draws the question "Is it digital?" but none of my cameras have been particularly good lures. And my wife doesn't really care much for the type of camera I use; she just enjoys the photos.

 

[sfaust]

I would venture a guess that if you took a Leica and showed it to a number of women on the street and asked them what it was, how much it cost, or inquired about its 'cool' factor, we would all be dismally disappointed.

I think we would attract a lot more women by haning a sign around out necks that say

I cook and actually like 'Honey Do Lists'.
I buy flowers for my wife every week.
I never forget birthdays or anniversaries.
I fold laundry and clean windows.

Now that would get a lot of women thinking about leaving their current partners and heading off into the sunset with us. But a Leica, Bessa, or any camera for that matter? Hardly 🙂

 

[back alley]

women love my canon p.
being a gentleman i cannot go into further detail...😉

joe

 

[RML]

Well, I do cook, do laundry (folding as well, though no ironing) and clean windows. I hardly forget birthdays or anniversaries. I buy gifts for my wife on a regular basis. I just don't like 'honey do' lists, though I'm usually the one who summarises what we have to do the next day/ week/ month.

Maybe that's why my wife puts up with my annoying photography habit. 🙂

 

[RML]

Joe, I'm starting to see your Canon P fetish in a completely new light. Do you happen to have a knob studded black leather P? 😛

 

[sfaust]

If he does, he is too shy to show it. I've never seen it show up in the Camera and Coffee trhead, yet he always gets in all the others! I wonder if it vibrates as well, and the motion makes it hard to take a sharp image of it, which is why we haven't see it.

 

[back alley]

i prefer my cameras WITHOUT batteries.

😉 joe

 

[taffer]

The Leningrad is a 100% mechanical camera, yet featured a spring driven motor up to 3 fps. Pricelle states its vibration when operating made in fact very difficult to take sharp pictures with it.

NOW I UNDERSTAND

😱

 

[former member]

JOE! Remy! Stephen!

I have RFF bookmarked on my Mom's Computer!

And your scaring Oscar!

Do you want your Mommy's to see this kind of behaviour!

 

[back alley]

didn't you read the part about me being a gentleman?

it's these other guys you need to worry about!

joe (tee hee)

 

[taffer]

JOE! Remy! Stephen!

I have RFF bookmarked on my Mom's Computer!

And your scaring Oscar!

Do you want your Mommy's to see this kind of behaviour!

😱

:angel:

 

[sfaust]

I could have sworn we were talking cameras here. 🙂 But I'll be :angel:

 

[jlw]

The Leningrad is a 100% mechanical camera, yet featured a spring driven motor up to 3 fps. Pricelle states its vibration when operating made in fact very difficult to take sharp pictures with it.

NOW I UNDERSTAND

The smack-in-the-palm vibration you get from operating a Leningrad isn't exactly sensual -- more like having a door slammed on your hand, although not as hard. It feels a bit like being high-fived by your camera.

It only vibrates on film advance, though, not on shutter firing. And the film doesn't advance until you relax pressure on the shutter button. So as long as you aren't trying to push that 3fps threshold, it should be possible to get sharp pictures with one.

I've never gotten very sharp pictures with mine, but eventually I learned that that's because the Jupiter-8 lens that came with it is completely out of whack, and most of my other LTM lenses are too fat to fit its constricted lens flange.

It does work fine with a 50/1.8 Canon, and that's how I use it now -- on the rare occasions when I can tolerate the progressively larger frame spacing (which makes scanning and/or slide mounting difficult), finger-abrading wind knob, and unbelievably slow film rewind, not to mention the above-described palm-whacking...