Leica Stories

[maddoc]

Tom: That is an amazing story, thanks for sharing this !

Glenn: Your idea for the viewfinder "securing-clip" looks very interesting ! I am also always afraid of loosing mine and your design is simple and looks great !

 

[Back2theFuture]

In NYC on XMas vacation 2007, I had seen a used M6 on Adorama's site, never liked them for some online problems I had etc, (but do like them for film)..anyway, I stopped in while I was up, to see the M6 they had, used in ok condition for $1095, I had a brand new R2A to trade, which they gave me $303 for, so I thought, ok, I can do that, about $700, but nothing more....so, after 20 minutes, they couldnt find the M6 on the site, mustve been sold and not recorded apparently, so they brought me out an M6 TTL, not bad looking, little brassing, few scratches, a ding or two, but working etc, I wasnt into it for what they were asking, I think it was like $1200, and then I looked at an seriously mint M4p with winder they had for $999, but, I wasnt interested, so I said thanks etc, the guy that had been helping me said to hold on one sec, the Leica manager was bringing the M6 down! So of course I waited, BUT, it wasnt the one I had seen haha, it was a mint M6, amazing, but $1400 was above my limit no matter how gorgeous it was! I played with it for a few, put my Nokton on, messed around, lusted, then gave it back, said it was way over my price limit, and was picking my R2A up to put in my bag and leave, when Ari, the guy helping me out said hold on one second, "You really like this M6 I can tell, right?" of course I said yes, but cmon, its simply too much! He picked the phone up, called someone lol, in Hebrew i think, and then hung up, he said "Ok, for you, right now, $999" I couldnt believe it, wow, this thing was insane and actually deserves the price it was! I asked if that was with my $303 trade in, he said no, thats the price, plus your trade!! So, needless to say, I jumped on it! I was so happy! Getting a mint M6 fr $700!!! I even forgot to unload the half shot roll in my R2A!! HAHA. I LOVE it!
Bryan

 

[sirius]

I got my M2 from a retired photojournalist who lived in Colorado. He had not used it in 5 years so decided to sell it. Before him, it was owned by a cinematographer. It's always neat to hear the life of these long-lasting cameras...He showed me some photos he took of Hunter S. Thompson when he was a mayor and some beautiful environmental portraits.

Here's everything with the summitar from my Canon P days.

 

[Tom A]

Sirius, nice kit - all you ned is a 35 and you are all set!

Glenn. That is one of the best ideas I have seen for a long time! I have lost a kings ransom of finders over the decades (how much are Kings going for these days anyway?). Your way of using the existing "pin" to secure it is brilliant. Soldering on the "end" piece could be substituted for a small fold at the edge and by using a spring steel shimstock that would allow it to be pushed down and the finder slid off.
I shall see if i can make up a couple of prototypes for testing and let you have a go at it too. It should be cheap enough to produce too.
My hat is off to you for a great idea!
Tom

 

[sepiareverb]

Indeed a great idea Glenn! Sign me up for the testing if you need 'lab rats'.

 

[tedwhite]

I used to put a small bit of locktight (the one that isn't permanent - there's a red and a blue and I can never remember which is which) on the finder rails before inserting. Never had one fall off. But Glenn's solution doesn't require a clean up!

 

[Sam R]

While working in a retail camera store I traded even up, a 1 of 12 made Leica prototype for a 109.95 Ricoh SLR

 

[jbf]

My first real trip on my own (well... with my girlfriend) landed myself in San Francisco, California.

From there I bought my first Leica. A rebuilt M3 with 35 framelines and a wonderful action and super clean. I bought it right then and there and began using my Jupiter-8 and Jupiter-12 on it like crazy.


Three months later, while I loved the camera I realized I needed a metered camera. I just couldnt keep my shots accurately metered on my own. Especially after having my light meter stolen on the same trip.

So I then sold it and purchased a Zeiss Ikon as well as two new lenses.

Needless to say I've been super happy ever since my purchase of a real rangefinder on that long ago California trip. 🙂

One day I will own an M7 though. One day. 🙂

 

[gebbos]

My first Leica was the M3 in 1963 (I still have) But the M5 was given the troubles. In every film I shout with that camera I had a lightspot in one or more pictures. Camera was several times to Odin and Germany. At the end I got M4-2 and winder. Now I know the reason. When you transport in one time no troubles. If you transport in 2, 3 or more strokes in daylight the troubles can come.
Now using M7 and still I don’t know if I have to buy the M8.
Greetings Gerbern. 😉

 

[benno]

Some time in the late '50's my grandfather had a mate who was the Leica importer for Malaysia. My grandfather bought an M3, along with 35 Summaron, 50 Summarit, 90 Elmar and a Leica enlarger off him.

Grandpa shot with the M3 for many years, developing and printing his own photos. But by the late 60's, work and family commitments had slowed his photography. Colour film was becoming more available, (can't dev that at home) and he succumbed to the urge to upgrade.

The M3 languished for several years until my dad picked it up again in the '70's some time. Dad shot with it for some time, throughout Australia when he was doing all kinds of stuff with Outward Bound, Papua New Guinea (where the M3 acquired a scar from a .22 that he won't tell me much about).

And then it sat around again until I shot a few rolls with in in the late '90s. Then is sat in the cupboard once more, and I recently dug it out and had it CLAd and intend to keep shooting with it for as long as I can.

That's my story.

 

[alexz]

Nothing romantic though but just a story of another one recent RF (and Leica in particular) convert...:
Used to be involved in photography since 1997 right after my demobilization, went through several SLR systems, a short stint with medium format, lovely relationship with LF all the way to RF and Leicas...
Sold off all I had (professional Canon system, field LF system, related accessories), got my feet deep into RF with M6 and current 50mm 'Cron about 2 years back, shortly after that acquired current 90mm/2.8 Elmarit in hopes to foray into a fine environmental portraiture (have yet accomplished that), then, a friend of mine, an avid photographer (much better landscape shooter then me) convinced me to try 35mm FL as his standard FL - so my lust for a fine Leica 35mm ended up with like new 35mm ASPH bought from Tony Rose about a year ago. Had to force myself to keep it instead of my standard 50mm for overall shooting, learnt to respect usefulness of that FL and that lens in particular.
That was until about a year ago my RFF local friend (Michael I) figured 2 old, really beat up M3 SS bodies (made in 1959) that were stoved away for last several decades. Turned to be from a former wedding shooter. Picked both for some 250 US$, one for him, one for me, both went to Youxin who did wonderful restoration job on these (a complete CLA, shutter curtains repalcement, some other small bits and bolts, RF adjustment, re-covering) so now we both really enjoy our silky M3s..
Mine has smooth as silk mehcanics, noticeably quieter and somewhat smoother then my 1996-made M6 (which is also fine but probably not CLAed yet since it left factory). Every time I leave home, no matter where, be it work, supermarket, kids or whatever, my rough-looking (external metal housing shows hard times it passed through in the past) gets on my shoulder with 50mm 'Cron, unless at a times I decide to get some job to my 35mm 'Cron in which case my M6 goes.
BTW, M6 has been purchased off Ebay, the auction went with no pictures, seller has no digital camera to shoot it, so even a bit hesitating I bite the bullet and hit the button at teh last few seconds of the auction...Won it for a very good price, the seller turned to be a thriller book writer (Hank is his first name), LUG member (me also)...

 

[urban_alchemist]

I'd learnt photography on SLR cameras - either my dad's old Nikkormat, or the R4 Leica with the dodgy electronics that I occasionally used.

For my 22nd birthday, my dad bought me one of the first M7s - the starter kit with the matching chrome 50 Summicron. After a roll, I decided that I just didn't get it, and to the back of the wardrobe it went...

In the intervening years, DSLRs came and went, until on a trip to Japan, I became intrigued by the anachronistic M8 sitting proudly in the Leica Ginza store. I ended up buying an M8 and a 6-bit coded 28 Elmarit.

After a few weeks of playing with it, I started getting good results, and enjoying the process of rangefinder shooting.... which jogged my memory back to the dusty M7 sitting in the closet (the inability of any of the subsequently purchased lenses to function properly with the digital body didn't help).

Out it came - and I was shocked at the weight, the slickness of the mechanism, its silence, and quality.

The M8 replaced the M7 at the back of the closet. Until the M7's shutter broke, just before a pan-Asian trip I'd planned for a year...

So, I researched and researched, and fell in love with the MP3... which was sold out everywhere, so the day before I left, I bought a beautiful MP 0.72 from a shop in London.

We got on a like a house on fire. Its smaller size, fully mechanical controls and pin-sharp and bright finder had me falling in love immediately. China came and went. Japan came and went. Until I stepped in to Leica Ginza to see an MP-3 set in Chrome sitting in a display cabinet. Every day for three days I went in to have a look at it until I couldn't resist any longer. So now MP-3 no. 0015 is happily mine - complete with matching numbers 50/1.4 and Leicavit.

I now don't own an SLR, and from 'not getting' Leica Ms to owning four in the space of barely a few years.

Yes its love. And I wouldn't have it any other way...

 

[JohnTF]

I have a pretty long time relationship with a local shop, the manager's grandfather and my dad were friends and passed at about the same time. I worked at their previous location.

A client wanted to trade in his M2 with 35mm lens and meter. The store did not want the camera for stock, even at a reduced price, as the top was buffed and scratched from the meter.

My friend took the trade, at a pretty low price, boxed it up and drop shipped it to me with a note that I had just bought a camera.

I still have the M2, good shooter, which had been factory serviced with the M4 frame lines finder installed, and I do not have to worry about putting a mark on it. A friend once said, "There are no scruffy Leicas, some are more experienced"

In the one that got away category, I was sitting in an office shared with repair, when the used purchasing manager was looking over an elderly lady's bag of equipment, in Skoda Photo in Prague. He offers her a hundred dollars, she accepts, takes the cash, and leaves him with an absolutely mint black II, with case, books, cartridges, mirror black finish. He wipes the lens with his flannel shirt, hands the camera to the repairman and asks if the lens is Nickel.

Repairman says yes, hands the camera back. I asked for a price on the camera and he was working on that, but decided to ask the owner. It is now in his personal collection, in a display window. I visit it now and again.

Sometimes you eat the bear---

 

[projectbluebird]

My leica story.

A few years ago, as I was going through college, I really started getting into photography. After trying several different cameras, formats, and films; I decided to see what all the fuss was about rangefinders. Trolling ebay, I found a zorki 4, for $30. Tried it, liked it, decided to go for the real thing. This was before I discovered RFF so my only source was ebay... I watched for months, scrimping and saving. One day, an M3 was listed, for $400 BIN. There weren't many photos, and they were somewhat blurry. The description too, was lacking in detail. I had just enough saved up, so I rolled the dice and took a chance.

I should have run to Vegas and bet big that day. The camera I got, while nowhere near mint, was an excellent shooter. Since then I've bought nothing but RF's. I have two SM leicas now (IIIf and IIIg) but my M3 still has pride of place.

 

[kkdanamatt]

My first Leica bought in a pool hall

My first Leica bought in a pool hall

The Summer of 1962. I'm a college drop-out (temporarily) and hanging out at Paddy's 7-11 Pool Hall on 7th Avenue above the Metropole Topless Cafe. Those were the pre-Disney days of gritty Mid-Town Manhattan. I had worked in a camera shop in Brooklyn, so somebody told somebody else that I was the camera guy who might buy a hot camera for cash. Mr. Sleaze walks up to me with a Leica IIIa, fitted with the typical foggy Summar and a black 90 Elmar. He wanted $20; I had $12, so the dirty deal was done. I've never told this to anyone before, but now I feel better. Will you guys ever forgive me?

 

[tedwhite]

Probably not. However, if you send the IIIa to me you'll be rid of it and also the guilt that has plagued you all these years, and thus begins the road to atonement. The hell with what the rest of these guys (and some gals) might think, you'll be able to look yourself squarely in the mirror - and that's what counts.

 

[LeicaVirgin1]

My Leica Story...

My Leica Story...

I worked at Claremont Camera in Claremont, CA. The asst. mgr. went upstairs to do some cleaning. She came down a few hours later with a LEICA RF MODEL of some kind... I asked her which one she said flatly, "an M3 relic, sorry not an M6." I looked at it & it was in MINT condition chrome with a matching 50mm Summilux f1,4 with matching shade. It was a 1961 model after reading the serial #; & it was SS, as well! I said to her it's mine she said I'd have to ask the owner.

The next day I asked, (Sam), the owner if I could buy it & he said sure; I made the offer at $500.00 & Sam said fine! A week later I took my vacation to NYC with some TRI-X. When the shots came back from Swan I nearly fell over because of the sharpness, the creaminess, roundness & incredible contrast of the images. I was happy. It did not even have a CLA before I went.

After the shots came back I sent it to Sherry @ "Golden Touch" for a CLA; she reported that the camera was fine except it was "dry". She did a great job & i have been a happy owner ever since. Now I have a M2, (thank you Tom), an M4 & a M6, (MP UPGRADED-Thanks Sherry) & many Leitz/Leica lenses.

Best,

LV1