What is it with the magnetic Leica attraction?

[uhoh7]

I was never "attracted" by the bodies, it was the RF glass, both Leica and the rest. The Leica history also I love. The bodies made me cringe. But 6 months and many frames, now I'm addicted. I still curse some of the quirks; M9 bloat compared to M6, and that silly shutter.

Today I fully concur with Rayt 🙂

In superhero speak, Leica is POW!

 

[filmdood]

Leica is not a camera any more, it is a brand. Like certain fluffy-haired Presidential candidates. Overblown, overwrought, overpriced, overpraised -- the Marilyn Monroes of camera makers. I used two Leicas professionally, a 3f and an M2r. The first was okay in its time and second one had a lot going for it. But I switched to the Nikon F and got better photographs. I really like rangefinder cameras but I am sans illusions. A camera is a tool and if your monkey wrench don't fit the job, get another one.

 

[Roger Hicks]

. . . A camera is a tool and if your monkey wrench don't fit the job, get another one.

An adjustable spanner (the English for "monkey wrench") is something a competent mechanic will normally use only when there is no alternative or when precision is not important. Not really a good example for your argument.

I'd prefer to use the right (precision) tool for the job, thanks all the same.

Cheers,

R.

 

[filmdood]

Never owned a spanner, but I come from a long line of folks who work with their hands with monkey wrenches and such. I never ask a mechanic about the brand name of his tools. Would not that be silly? But its a silly world.

 

[KM-25]

Leica is not a camera any more, it is a brand. Like certain fluffy-haired Presidential candidates. Overblown, overwrought, overpriced, overpraised -- the Marilyn Monroes of camera makers. I used two Leicas professionally, a 3f and an M2r. The first was okay in its time and second one had a lot going for it. But I switched to the Nikon F and got better photographs. I really like rangefinder cameras but I am sans illusions. A camera is a tool and if your monkey wrench don't fit the job, get another one.

Yeah...except that all year it has been a buyer's market in regards to good clean used Leica gear, that is how I went from just an M3/50 to that and an M6, M240, 35FLE and 28 Elmarit Asph, all for work.

No doubt, new Leica gear has been comically expensive since just before the M9 came out but that does not mean some really talented shooters are not using if for reasons that have nothing to do with brand vanity.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Never owned a spanner, but I come from a long line of folks who work with their hands with monkey wrenches and such. I never ask a mechanic about the brand name of his tools. Would not that be silly? But its a silly world.

"Monkey wrench" isn't a brand name. It's an adjustable spanner made by innumerable manufacturers with varying degrees of (im)precision: a crude tool beloved of bodgers who don't have the right tools or who are doing a rough old job. If you knew anything at all about tools, you would know this. But you don't. Do you even know what a monkey wrench looks like?

Cheers,

R.

 

[Vics]

I can't comment on M8, as I in cameradom don't buy disposable electronics, but Leica has the sexiness that other cameras seldom do have. The closest thing that comes to my mind is a Rolleiflex TLR.

Exactly. Two times!

 

[hlockwood]

No..not at all. I was just wondering what kind of witch-doctor mojo the Leica name has to make someone who has a perfectly fine rangefinder lust after a Leica?

But since you brought it up.... 🙂 lol

Don't ask me. I had (and still have) a lovely Hexar RF for a couple of years, then I bought an M7.
Go figure.

HFL

 

[giganova]

There is just SOMETHING that Leica is putting in the water that makes rational thought impossible when it comes to ownership.

I think it's the red dot, maybe it's made of kryptonite?

 

[jsrockit]

Haptics and ergonomics. Not much else in the camera world feels as good in my hands. Unfortunately, they don't match what I want to do photography wise, so I don;t own them anymore. Still think about them sometimes. I can't say that about any other cameras really.

 

[Oscuro]

"Monkey wrench" isn't a brand name. It's an adjustable spanner made by innumerable manufacturers with varying degrees of (im)precision: a crude tool beloved of bodgers who don't have the right tools or who are doing a rough old job. If you knew anything at all about tools, you would know this. But you don't. Do you even know what a monkey wrench looks like? Cheers, R.

Hmmm... An adjustable/variable spanner is a crescent wrench, not a monkey wrench. A much finer tool than a monkey wrench. A monkey wrench is designed to bind on to the pipe being rotated. It is also used on couplings but a true craftsperson will not. They will apply the crescent (adjustable/variable spanner) to the faceted coupling/union and the monkey (pipe) wrench to the most likely smooth pipe. A monkey wrench is also referred to as a "Stillson" in some parts of the world. Be careful and precise with words as with tools.

As to Leica, well, when we started out, some of us, reflex cameras just weren't there yet in 135.
When they did get there, many if not most, of us switched. But even though I was a medium-early adopter of reflex (I came from 4x5 in press) I held on to Leica Ms for a long while. They represent a (for me) now passed peak in functionality and reliability. For some, perhaps many, they remain the tool best suited for the work. So perhaps nostalgia and some exploitive marketing is partly a factor.
The Epson is a great little camera. I carry an X100 everywhere but much of what little work I still do in my semi-retirement is done with digital reflex cameras. D3s, D4s, and the like.

Bottom line: if you are affected by the opinions of others you will react to them. If you are affected purely by the work, you will use the tools best suited to you and the work. Most people are somewhere between those two poles.

 

[jsrockit]

a crude tool beloved of bodgers who don't have the right tools or who are doing a rough old job.

I was shocked at how precise some if the newer adjustable wrenches are. Very tight and don't move out of range while doing "bodger's work!"

 

[Oscuro]

Again, a monkey wrench is a PIPE wrench. It is NOT a variable/adjustable spanner/crescent wrench which is for faceted fasteners/couplers. Two very different things.

 

[Vics]

I have waaay too many cameras, and I can't use film anymore, but my lustful eye wanders most often to my M3. It's just the best camera I've ever owned.

 

[jsrockit]

Again, a monkey wrench is a PIPE wrench. It is NOT a variable/adjustable spanner/crescent wrench which is for faceted fasteners/couplers. Two very different things.

I agree...so I addressed adjustable. Not sure where you saw Monkey...

 

[Oscuro]

I agree...so I addressed adjustable.

And you are quite right. I swung stillsons in the oilfields while doing a post-grad. Mostly breaking or joining down-hole tools. I don't think I laid a hand on anything metric or SAE for a long time. That was the province of the mechanic or the motorman depending on the region. My shoulders still ache.

While everything in our vehicles is matched by a specifically dimensioned tool, the new crescents are spectacular. No back-off and no risk of rounding a fastener. Not cheap. Saw one a few years ago (Klein or Werra, maybe) that had a decent micrometer and torque sensor built in.

 

[Oscuro]

I agree...so I addressed adjustable. Not sure where you saw Monkey...

and I apologize. I think I fumbled while trying to quote Hicks. Mea culpa.

 

[Oscuro]

"Monkey wrench" isn't a brand name. It's an adjustable spanner made by innumerable manufacturers with varying degrees of (im)precision: a crude tool beloved of bodgers who don't have the right tools or who are doing a rough old job. If you knew anything at all about tools, you would know this. But you don't. Do you even know what a monkey wrench looks like? Cheers, R.

Well it would appear that I owe Mr. Hicks an apology as well. Though I used pipe wrenches in the American Southwest and they were referred to interchangeably as monkey wrenches, my wife looked over my shoulder and corrected me. Fascinating. A coach wrench. Apparently I don't know anything about tools. Wonder why my shoulders hurt thinking about Texas, Oklahoma, and Wyoming... Truly, Mr. Hicks, a crude tool indeed. Not nearly as elegant and refined as the Stillson. Hah. Except, I imagine, in the hands of a wheelwright. Still not an adjustable spanner. Again, mea culpa.

 

[uhoh7]

The things I learn around here 🙂

 

[Michael Markey]

The term "Monkey" wrench is a term used in the UK for all types of wrenches with an adjustable jaw.
Other than that it is non specific.