Making a living with a camera is no easy thing, to put it rather mildly. When I did that for a few years I lost all regard for my equipment in terms of whether it was a Leica or a Pentax Spotmatic or a Minolta Maxxum or a Hassy. They were mere tools. One could love them, sit in the study with a glass of wine and admire them, tote them about and hope other aficonados would notice. But none of that made you money. I found renting equipment odious. But I did it when I had to, and anyway, the client paid for it in the end.
I was relieved when I quit doing that, and began, once again, taking pictures when I felt the urge, and where I wanted to, without regard for whether or not I had just made a viable commercial product.
During my commercial years I had an opportunity to pick up an M3. It was virtually useless to make money with. I used it instead to take the pictures I wanted to take. When I wandered around the Fiat-Allis plant in Springfield, IL (an industrial client) I heard a foreman say, "Oh, when he's got that little thing he's not working, he's on his lunch hour."
That you own a 1962 Mercedes Benz means you are a likely prospect to own a vintage Leica. The owner of either (perhaps you'll be the owner of both soon) suggests that the owner is a person of discriminating taste, and maybe that's part of what it's all about.
We're not talking practicality here. Although you may be able to keep both MB and Leica "running" for several more decades - and one could argue that owning both saves money in the long run (no car payments, as an example) - that's not why you own them.
Some people buy Kias and single-use cameras. How "practical" can you get?
Others don't.
My black Bessa R certainly resembles an M6 or an M7. Both are RF cameras, both come with exceptional lenses. If I had either of the latter and went out on Monday and took pictures all day, then on Tuesday took the Bessa out and did the same thing, day after day, would anyone, looking at the photographs, be able to tell which camera I used?
Having said this, if I had plenty of discretionary income, would I put together a Leica RF system?
Sad to say, oh yes, oh yes.
Ted
