Moment of madness? Leica to film SLR

[Trius]

Dave,

That's quite a nice story. I think the range of screens is one of the unheralded features of the OM system. I just pulled out an OM-1n that I had forgotten about. It undoubtedly will need a CLA and one of the tabs on the shutter speed ring is gone. The screen is simply labeled 1, rather than 1-1. I believe the 1-13 was more common in the OM-1n, though I could be wrong. I'm not sure if the previous owner (a friend of mine) bought it that way, swapped screen 1 in, or what.

 

[MIkhail]

An OM-1 seems the natural choice to me ... and no not madness ... logic! 😀

I think an OM-1 is actually a little smaller than an M6 not considering the lens mount and height of the prism housing. I use my OM-1 in a case made for an M2 and I have to pack the camera up a little with cardboard.

I bought Olympus om1 at keh... Once. I was amazed how narrow is camera body is. So awkward, and my hands are not that large. It has really nice viewfinder but..... It went back the second day.

 

[gustavoAvila]

If you are serious about photography then I would NOT sell the Leica! It will cost a lot of money to buy back in after you have satisfied your "wondering" urges!

I have used a variety of Olympus, Nikon and other equipment for the past forty years. (My personal favorite non-AF SLR bodies have been the Olympus OM-1/2.)

If you have high expectations from your equipment, my recommendation is to purchase a SLR body for which you can buy new lenses. (My experience with used lenses has been atrocious.) This obviously leaves only the Nikon bodies of which my personal favorite is the F2.

 

[semi-ambivalent]

Thanks all. Plenty to think about. The Leica is used, just not as much as it should be. I guess it is the price:use ratio that bothers me! 😉

Not as much as it should be? Who's running the show here, you or the camera? 🙂 If you enjoy using it then any shooting time is good. Is the SLR going to be used more just because it's an SLR?

My advice (and you're free to ignore it too) is to get a hammered Nikkormat and a 50mm f/2 Nikkor-H. That lens can hold its own against Leitz glass and the Nikkormat can't cost more than $50.00; too cheap not to try. Then live with it a couple months. See if shooting time magically increases. Maybe you won't even like the SLR way of doing things. In that case you've wasted almost no money and you still have your Leica stuff (which you should never sell anyway).

Maybe there is a time/cost equation that applies to your situation but it sounds to me like you have a lot more thinking to do on this.

Good luck and enjoy, whatever your path.

s-a

 

[leicapixie]

Keep the Leica. There is no camera like it. Not similar, not like, almost :all those don't cut it! Get a SLR and a lens or two. It can be very cheap/inexpensive if not downright free. My suggestion is Nikon-F3. Very reliable, nice metering. Try it for a few months. It's easy to sell, hard to buy again..

 

[Classique]

I love my F3 for it's reliability and build quality, oh and 100% viewfinder doesn't hurt either.
However, it is heavily reliant on battery - for the meter and control of shutter speeds. If the battery fails, only 1/60 shutter speed backup will work. Upside is that if you don't shoot in extreme cold weather, batteries should last a long time and they are very cheap.

I also agree with many above that you should keep the M6 kit, at least for now, and try out the SLR system to see which you will keep. I am going the opposite way from DSLR to SLR to rangefinders and so far I have kept them all but only the best (I get attached to my things 🙂)