The Slippery Slope Gets Serious

Hello up there! I'm here at the bottom of the pit. It's fun down here, don't worry.

Would an M3 be nice, I agree, everyone should own an M at some point, they are beautiful tools.

Do you need another camera for longer lenses, IMHO, yes, but does it need to be a Leica? Do you use long lenses a lot? Do you use several different focal lengths?

If you do not switch long lenses or often you might want to look into a T. It's M mount and can handle just about any long and even fast lens you mount on her. There are bright line finders for every focal length, you just need to hunt a bit if you've fallen in love with a harder to find (100 or 105mm). 135 and 90s are around a lot and IMHO, 90 and 85 are close enough to use them interchangably.

How often do you use a longer lens? If it's not that often then a T would be great. Actually, for the past five years, I've been using a T as my main camera and IMHO, it works fine.

Would a M3 be better? Depends upon what you think of as better. They are much better cameras, but you can not share a winder between your R4 and your T. Your M3 does not have a built in meter and is slower to load. A respected M3 will last longer than a Bessa.

Welcome to a slipppppppppery slide.

I have hit bottom and have just taken a serious look at all the stuff I've purchased or traded for. IMHO, it's way too much, so I will be selling of a lot. I want to get down, way down in the number of cameras and lense I have sitting doing nothing. Do not take it as I will only one camera, but I do need to find some good homes for some great stuff.

B2 (;->
 
Gertrude,
As long as that suit isn't slippery on the inside when I get it...😱
B2,
In fact, my current kit is two Zorki 3m cameras: usually one has either the J-9 or the Elmar 90 on it and a 135 close by. The other generally has a 50 on it and 21 & 35 with it. So I effectively have two kits--and I'd like to end up with two bodies and 5 lenses in a single bag.
External VFs are not a deal breaker for me but my thinking about this is to get a kit together where I don't need them and as nice as the Bessa T appears to be, it certainly doesn't fulfill that part of my idea.
Two M cameras, two LTM>M adaptors, and I can continue to use almost all the lenses I currently own--the exception being the J-12.
Ultimately this is(I think) about simplifying things.
Rob
 
😉

😉

Just a small question , have you decided which bag to keep the cameras in ?, I mean the downhill starts about there , You have to many cameras so you need another bag, which gives you some space for another lens, that repeats the urge for a new bag ..

Resistance is useless 😀

vha
 
So, beer and fire at the bottom of this slope, eh? Cool! I'll bring the BBQ fixins!
Rob
(And, Gertrude, bring that suit! We might want a raft, in case there's a lake😀 )
 
Rob, to do this properly, you have to own a Canon P before you are allowed to progress to an M; you are skipping a step!

Good luck!
 
The camera gods are testing(mocking) me.
I announced here that I want an M3 and yesterday this happens:
I go visit my mom who lives in a senior citizen's building on the 10th floor. When I get on the elevator, I find a wallet. On opening it to see who it belongs to, a big pile of $ falls out. $1100. I pick up the bills, look at the ID and head to the woman's apartment. I return her wallet and she trys to give me some money. "No, thanks" say I "no reward for doing what I should." She feels like she has to give me something and recalls her late husbands camera. "He only bought German cameras... no one in my family wants it so here, you take it, please."
I accept the gift and now I am the proud owner of:

A Zeiss 126 slr.

Afterwards, I go to work and pick up my paycheck. I just switched to direct deposit. But there's a check at work for me so I figure the paperwork hasn't gone through yet. Go to my bank to deposit my $ and discover that the payroll company has made a mistake and deposited my wages as well as issuing a check. I returned the check to the boss.
No camera reward this time but still...
I sure hope I pass whatever the he** test this is.
Perplexed,
Rob
 
I've been thinking about my "M3 + R4" plan and while the Bessa will simply be a matter of saving up the $ and then emailing Cameraquest, for the M3 I need to educate myself so I can make some kind of informed choice. (All though, I'm enough of a gambler that I do have a couple of silly low bids going on the bay.)
So a question or two:
I've been scouring the web for info. LOTS out there but are there any specific books--that aren't collectible in and of themselves--I should read?
Aside from the usual places--ebay, KEH, Ritz, and Pacific Rim, Adorama, B&H-- does anyone have a dealer they particularly like?
Thanks, all!
Rob
 
rbiemer said:
The camera gods are testing(mocking) me.
I announced here that I want an M3 and yesterday this happens:
I go visit my mom who lives in a senior citizen's building on the 10th floor. When I get on the elevator, I find a wallet. On opening it to see who it belongs to, a big pile of $ falls out. $1100. I pick up the bills, look at the ID and head to the woman's apartment. I return her wallet and she trys to give me some money. "No, thanks" say I "no reward for doing what I should." She feels like she has to give me something and recalls her late husbands camera. "He only bought German cameras... no one in my family wants it so here, you take it, please."
I accept the gift and now I am the proud owner of:

A Zeiss 126 slr.

Afterwards, I go to work and pick up my paycheck. I just switched to direct deposit. But there's a check at work for me so I figure the paperwork hasn't gone through yet. Go to my bank to deposit my $ and discover that the payroll company has made a mistake and deposited my wages as well as issuing a check. I returned the check to the boss.
No camera reward this time but still...
I sure hope I pass whatever the he** test this is.
Perplexed,
Rob

Good for you, Rob. You know you did the right thing. That's reward in itself. You also accummulated some good karma, which is both worthless and priceless.
 
Frank,
Couldn't help myself thanks to the way my folks raised me. And still, it was totally selfish for me to do the right thing: I know how I would've felt had I not.
Karma is for the next life, I thought? I have to wait that long for an M3?🙄
Rob
 
rbiemer said:
Frank,
Couldn't help myself thanks to the way my folks raised me. And still, it was totally selfish for me to do the right thing: I know how I would've felt had I not.
Karma is for the next life, I thought? I have to wait that long for an M3?🙄
Rob

What goes around, comes around, even in this life, Rob!
 
Bearing in mind you say you use a J9 and a 135, I would think about a Canon VI-L for the longer lenses. The "mag" setting nicely covers the FOV of a 135 (1.55x) and the 50 setting very similar to the M3 (1x) and will go out to 35 if you wish (0.65) 😉

Kim

ChrisN said:
Rob, to do this properly, you have to own a Canon P before you are allowed to progress to an M; you are skipping a step!

Good luck!
 
Hey Rob, cool story, how comes I haven't seen this thread before, I wonder.
Anyway, the deal with the M3 is, you can get it and sell it if you change your mind. If you buy a new Bessa, you will have to sell it for less.
The other "deal" with the M3 is, you probably won't "change your mind" 😀
 
Kim,
A good suggestion. I did think about the VI-L but the few I found(until just recently) were overpriced and/or the sellers didn't inspire me with confidence. And I don't know if I can get the idea of the Leica out of my head...
Sadly(well, for me, anyway) the release of the M8 hasn't yet had the effect on the earlier M cameras I hoped for.
Pherdinand,
I see that you're liking the M2 so far! And, yes, that the M3 will hold value fairly well is part of my GAS induced "reasoning"🙄
Rob
 
Back
Top Bottom