Why Leica? - a confession of equipment junkie

[RubenBlaedel]

Ruben, you must be very patient and dedicated to your goal! I am not that patient, but I do study my options very thoroughly before taking action. 🙂

Patience sometimes is the result of lack of money - sometimes if your fridge og washingmaschine brakes down and your bankaccount is below freezing point you take up some kind of loan to cover the need. I could have had the Leica financed in all kind of different ways and that way fullfilled my dream long before but all along I just new that it would not be the same plasure if I had to worry every month wheter if would be able to pay the rate in order to keep my Leica. When I did finally get it I knew it would be mine for ever after.

Now I have only 3 objects left on my desire list - the first almost as old as the leica -ever since I saw a poster for the Easy Rider movie - I have wanted a Harley Davidson - with dansih tax they cost 75.000 usd on the street and with my paycheck as an selfimployd publsiher and to teenage daughters I might just have to waite for so long that I will have to go for a 3-wheeled model :-(

The last two are a Landrover series 3 "88 like the one my partner in the company drives - red with checker plate and a whit safary roof and a Jürgensens wrist watch - the later is about the same as a the Harley so that will just have to stay a dream.

Apart from that I suffer from GAS like most of you guys and gals but I am basicly not very materialistic - I prefer drinking me tea from an old mug and be in company of people I love than to eat at fancy restaurants with people I hardly know.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Someone else that appreciates the Summarit!

Leica M3's and M2's are as low in price as I have seen in 12 years, before the camera collectors hit into them. A User condition M3 or M2 with a CLA will run <$700. More than a Canon P or Canon 7, but not the $1,100 that they commanded a couple of years ago. I also waited for a long time. The M3 finder is the best that I have used.

The Canon 7 and Canon Vt are very good, but not as well defined as the M3. This past weekend I picked up a Canon IIf with an F1.5 lens for $350. The IIf is based on the Leica knob wind cameras but has a combined VF/RF with 3 magnifications, up to 1.5x which covers a 135. It was easy to focus, I'll be scanning some results this week. The Knob wind Canon's are going CHEAP.

 

[existrandom]

brain,

i also noticed that M2 and M3 prices are getting low, i noted quite a couple of very nice users M2, CLA'd recently by respectable hands, ending at about 700-800 on EEEEEEbay

...i am now very patient like Ruben was

cheers!

lee

 

[chris.simpson15]

IMHO, it's not about the camera it's about the pictures you take. Why do I use a Leica, quite simply, freedom to concentrate on what I see through the viewfinder. The history provides the inspiration!

Chris

 

[mad_boy]

One more Leica History.

I've always liked photography. As a kid I used my father's Pentax spotmatic with the standard 50mm lens. Limited equipmetnt but lots of fun.

When I left the parential house (at 17) I had to get a camera of my own.
Autofocus was just coming on the market, but it did not appeal to me
(and it still does not, since I believe manual focussing improves pictures, and 50% of the pictures I do not focuss but use the depth of field indicators anyway).
I saved what I could and bought a Pentax super A. Over the years good quality zoom lenses were bought to cover the 24 - 200mm range.
I have been using this pentax for 20 years. It has literally travelled all over the world and has never failed me. No repairs, maintenance or what so ever! Brilliant.

But..... in the mean time...... some 10 years ago I met my American cousin for the first time (I'm Dutch by the way), who owned a M6. Whooo I was impressed. I liked the looks, the feel, the whole lot. I went to the shop and was shocked. Convinced that only mad men would pay so much money for camera and lenses. Every now and then I went back to the shop and all the time came back empty handed; toooo expensive. The years passed on, I thought about it, talked about it but did not act. One day my lovely wife told me wisely:
"You know and I know that at some point in time you'll get one, Since they last forever and never will get cheap, you'd better get it now, thus you'll have more years to enjoy it".

Although I still thought that prises are crazy I decided that If i get one it would be a chrome M6 TTL with 0,85 viewfinder. Last year new ones were getting rare (with the M7 being out) but the old ones were still nowhere to find used in the local shops. Then I discovered e-bay and after a long search I found one with a 50mm Sumilux in mint condition. It was not cheap, but at least reasonable (For a Leica that is to say, still crazy of course). I discussed with my wife, and she decided to give it to me as a gift for the coming 5 birthdays, christmasses etc. For her it had advantages:
- 5 years no need to go and find presents.
- I would always think of her using the camera.

I have it for 3 months now and are very happy with it (I have not touched the Pentax since). The first roll of film I got back was an eye opener. The quality of the pictures was striking at first glance. Without any doubt much much better than the trustworthy Pentax. Handling and focussing of the M6 is not fluent yet, and I do miss quite some opportunities becuase of it. But the pictures that I make are much better, and that is what it is all about. The quest for lenses has begun!


Mad_boy

 

[FrankS]

You are a very lucky man to have a wife like that.

 

[Doug]

That's really quite a fine story, Mad_boy!

 

[peter_n]

Yes it was. And yours too Ruben! 🙂

 

[RubenBlaedel]

A wife can be a good thing ! Mad_boys wife is clever - I hate when mine asks me what i wish for birthdays and x-mas - never know what to answer - Mad_boy has peace the next five years and he will never forget is wife - clever to spread the gift over 5 years she is - Mad_boy will be happy everytime it is xmas and birthdays and he will use a lot of effort to buy his wife beautiful presents the nex 5 years - 3-4-5 times a year - at her birtheday, at mothers day, at valentines day, a their weding day and at x-mas etc.
That M6 is probably the best investment any wife has done in a long time
And yes even thoug - as you state Mad_boy- it is a wonderful camera you will mis some shots in the beginning - takes time to get the camera to be a part of your body and mind, but when it is - wow - congratulations and my regards to your wife 🙂

 

[peter_n]

Ruben you have the whole situation worked out LOL! BTW I particularly liked the following passage from your post above:

Apart from that I suffer from GAS like most of you guys and gals but I am basicly not very materialistic - I prefer drinking me tea from an old mug and be in company of people I love than to eat at fancy restaurants with people I hardly know.

 

[egpj]

WOW! just discovered this thread and like it allot. My own Leica history began on the digital side. I used to have a canon 3.2 megapixel digital camera and while I was working one day it got stolen. I looked around for a while to find a new digital camera and after much research I decided on the Leica Digilux 1. A wonderful little camera and one thing I really liked about it was it did not look like a digital at first glance. This got me started on the Leica forum and from there I branched out into the range finder world. The Digilux got me really serious about my pictures. I picked up the MP for the first time at my local camera store. I was impressed with the viewfinder and how clear it was. I ended buying the MP online with a Noctilux. I wanted the low light capability and the dealer told me this was the best low light lens on the market. After that I decided I needed a wide angle and telephoto so I purchased the 28 Summicron and the 90 Summicron. My hunger for good glass had started. I know have just about all the lens' I will probably ever need but would like to have a spare body now. Thinking of the M7 but the MP has taught me so much.

 

[Doug]

Wow yourself, egpi; you are devoted to Leica in a most serious way! 🙂

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

My story? I saw old pictures taken with Leica, and loved the images. Started with an R4, then an M6. Now I'm hooked. So far, one of my favorite lenses in my collection still is the Summitar.

My girlfriend could never afford my Leica wishlist...

 

[Flow]

My story is rather bizarre. I shoot professionally since I was still a student. I did a lot of weddings. All of my equipments were exclusively Hassies. I know all about Leicas but I never bother trying one because I use mainly medium formats and I need MF for my work. I did not do too much personal projects back then because I still have school work. Then one fateful valentine's day my honey gave me a Leica M7 as a V-day gift. And I've been addicted to Leica ever since... Sometimes I think it may just be the love love factor... And sometimes I think I need to see a psychologist for my Leicalust that I have now...


Flowen

 

[egpj]

Sometimes I think that I would have ggotten off cheaper with a cocaine habit rather then a lens habit.

 

[wpb]

not really... I've heard it is quite difficult trying to sell "used" cocaine. 😀

 

[thpook]

I blame it all on my Rollei 35 (which has sadly seen little use since I got the Leica.)

I started out with a Canon Rebel XS, and was constantly frustrated with it's autofocus and and the quality of the shots (at this time, I knew very little about photography and shot in full auto.) I bought it on deployment in the persian gulf, and actually got some good shots but it wasn't a great camera to use.

When I got back, I was in an antique/junk store, and found a Yashica FX-D with a CZ 1.7/50 that didn't work. It was $10 so I bought it and took it to the local pro shop, they put new batteries in it and it was good to go. I carried that fx-d with me everywhere, and actually learned the ins and outs of photography with it. That camera has been beaten up, set on fire (my best friend is a fire-eater, and I was standing too close one time) and was in general my best friend.

Later on, I decided I wanted to get into medium format, so I bought an old Mamiya C3. This is when something magical happened: I was looking through the viewfinder when I took a photo, and I felt this little thrill. I KNEW I had gotten the photo. No doubt, it had been captured.

I got married, had a kid, and needed a small 35mm camera to carry in the diaper bag. I saw a little camera about the size of a pack of cigarettes in a display case, saw that it had a Carl Zeiss lens, and bought it. I got that same thrill almost every photo, and fell in love with it.

I used it for about a year, and got a really good deal on a Leitz-Minolta CL which became my everyday use camera. Then I met a pro that was going digital, and he sold me his Pentax 645, a toyo omegaview F, and sekonic L-608 for something like $750.

My wife and I moved to Denmark, and I decided that I was going to go digital. I sold all of my film cameras except for the Rollei and the Yashica, and immediately missed my leica CL.

Fast forward about six months, and I got a bunch of money for my 30th birthday. I decided that I was going to get a hasselblad because I still loved film (and still had a whole mess of it left over from before). I was in this shop and they had no medium format stuff, so on a whim I asked to see this really nice M2 and the second I held it in my hand I knew I wasn't buying a hasselblad. I bought it with a 2.8/50 elmar, and felt that same thrill with almost every single shot on the first roll (except for exposure, I had forgotten my meter which is why the first roll was XP2). I decided I wanted a Summicron, and got the rest of my birthday money and went to this terrible shop in Copenhagen called Photografica (Don't go upstairs unless you want your wallet to spontaneously empty, this place is like a heroin dealer). I saw a Konica Hexar RF with an M-Hexanon 2/50 in the window for the same price as a used summicron, so I bought the lens and got a free body!

Now I have a M-Hexanon 2.8/90, a CV 2.5/35 p2, and don't really feel the need for anything else. I have the perfect 35mm kit for me.

 

[Rockford]

I had always wanted a rangefinder. Got a Contax-G, but rangefinder style, pre-focus, etc. was easier with old manual Nikon SLR's I have always used. Sold G. Discovered Kiev. Loved the pics, even thought the lens was soft. Wanted something a little more modern. Got Canon 7 with 50mm F1.4. Loved camera and lens, but my RF spot flared badly and was hard to focus. Saw M2 of eBay auction that was placed by local store. Looked at it. Learned that minimum bid was beyond my means. Watched aution. It did not sell. Called store. They said that bid was $150 below previously quoted minimum. They had offered it as a second chance to two folks who tied for high-bid. Both turned it down! He offered it to me for same price. It had just been CLA'd. I bought the M2 and got a screw to m adapter for the Canon F1.4. Sold the Canon 7---a fine camera, but mine had the deffective patch. The M2 has wonderful focusing that is kind to my older eyes. I have not been disapointed.

 

[Rockford]

One thing more. The Contax G had the best glass that I have ever owned. I have never owned a Leica lens. If it had been manual focus, even with an electronic rangefinder, i it would still be my camera.. I did miss depth-of-field scale on lens, too.

 

[Doug]

...The Contax G had the best glass that I have ever owned. ... If it had been manual focus, even with an electronic rangefinder, i it would still be my camera.. I did miss depth-of-field scale on lens, too.

Manual focus is kind of a pain on that camera isn't it...