What was your First Leica and First Lens for it?

M6 ttl+35 summicron asph.
I got the kit from Ebay together with a 90 f2.8. I sold the 90 f2.8 couple of days later. did not even try it.
 
My first Leica (and only one) was/is a Barnack, and I like it a lot: a IIIF. I use three lenses on it: a CV 28 3.5 (I had it before getting the IIIF), a KMZ I-50 (collapsible, the one I got for it first) and a KMZ J-3 optimized for close focus/wide open shooting (very light and fast, the second one I got for it). These two 50's give the old, classic look to photographs, being lens designs used for nearly a century... I guess both are identical to Zeiss lenses, and perhaps used German glass, German technicians and German machinery, apart from German design...

This camera made me feel the Leica feeling: a feeling about cameras, not about lenses IMO... My M feeling is named Bessa R4M & R3A & T... When I've used M Leicas, I haven't felt them as Leica as my Barnack, but closer to my Bessas... I might add M Leicas to my cameras someday, but to me Leica gear is secondary, as I can do with my Bessas everything Leicas can do, but Leicas can't do everything my Bessas can do...

When I wonder which Leica will be my first M, I use to think it will be an M2.

Cheers,

Juan
 
My first Leica was a IIIf black dial with a 3.5cm/3.5 Summaron lens but it didn't get much use. The first one that I used a lot was a M4 with a Voigtlander Nokton 35/1.4 lens. Jim
 
kiemchacsu said:
I was a bit curious how much did you pay for that combo in that moment and could you convert to an equivalent thing at that time? I am eager to know how expensive the Leica was (in comparison with the current M9 for instance)

Rgds,
Trung
Click to expand...

I remember of paying $122 equivalent in that day's dollars. Remember also a new M3 body was costing around $280. Assuming the MP could be the equivalent of the M3, you can estimate how much I paid in today's dollars.

BTW, today a used M2 + 50/2.8 Elmar is certainly less expensive than what I paid for that combo in 1963. $122 those years was roughly what I was paying for the dormitory for one year!

Regards,

Bob
 
Then, chrome M6TTL with a black CV 35 Ultron.

Then I started exploring and.....

Now, black M6TTL and chrome CV 35 Ultron.

Yeah, I am scratching my head too.
 
M3 with early M-mount 50mm Summicron, bought five or six years ago. Scared the crap out of me the first time I inadvertently unscrewed the lens's optical unit.

No regrets so far; and from experience I can tell you that young children much prefer the taste of Leica lens coatings to those of lesser brands. 😉
 
My first rangefinder was a Ricoh 500G in the early 80s.

First Leica was a couple of years or so ago, a IIIf RD/ST with a 5cm f3.5 red scale Elmar, bought after becoming disillusioned with a DSLR (which was bought when I returned to photography after many years away). Then I discovered FSU lenses, and find that I like using the IIIf with a Jupiter-3 and slow film, although the J-3 is sometimes replaced with a pre-war f2 Sonnar in a J-8 mount. (Both are shimmed for Leica.) I do sometimes use other focal lengths on the IIIf with external finders, but I seem to be settling on it being a 50mm-only camera.

Favourite combo, though, is an M2 and 35mm lens (Skopar Classic in my case).
 
First Leica was an MP. I was originally planning on an M3 or M6, but I got an incredible deal and I couldn't pass it up.

My first lens was a ZM 35/2. It was a nice lens, but it's long gone.

Now I have my second Leica, an M3, on the way and I couldn't be happier. 🙂
 
First was a M3 with Nikkor 50/2 LTM. I have the M3 still, but sold the Nikkor only to buy another because I like it so much. The M3 wasn't my first RFer though. That would be a Nikon S2!
 
A Black Dial IIIf with a coated Summitar. The camera has been replaced with a Red Dial, and if I keep reading RFF I will eventually become assimilated into the M world.
 
M2 and version 2 50 Summilux 35 years ago. After ten years with just that
lens it was stolen, attached to my second M. Still got the M2, used all the time, but the one advantage of losing that lovely Summilux was switching to a tabbed Summicron - love the size, weight and the tab.
 
New Leica CL

New Leica CL

In 1974, I decided to give up the idea of a career in photojournalism after trying it for a couple years and to pursue a career in aviation. I traded a couple Nikon F bodies and lenses for a Leica CL and 40mm Summicron.

Boy, what a mistake as that started me on a long path into Leica land. The next camera was a double stroke M3 with 50 Summicron and then etc. Am presently back to an M2 with lots of lenses from 15 to 90.
 
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