Why Leica II ?

[dee]

Just musing on the fallacy that wanting a Leica has anything to do with being part of a select few ...
'' Can i afford a Leica '' , now has several faces - many, like me , can certainly find a bubget Leica II / III / IIIc , [ or two / three ] but a Leica M8 owner might not consider that a real Leica - a bargain basement Leica aquisition . [ luckily for me ]

If anything , my pair of black / nickel Leica II evoke the awe in which I held those pioneers of reportage , and the thought of sharing in what was a professional tool - not a rich man's toy .
... and my black Fed / ''Leicas '' , so similar , but literally worlds apart , evoke yet
another part of that history ...

Then there is the sheer delicacy of these diminutive little gems - German or Russian - which is simply like nothing else to create magic slide shows ...

No . for me , social climbing has no place among my Leicas ...

i am contemplating blowing an inheritance on an M8 ... no way does my lack of expertise demand this , but I can play with most of of my Zorki / Fed lenses in the digital domain - and have a camera free of the plastic automation that I fnd so difficult .
Wasted on me , perhaps , but at least contemplated for a specific reason .
dee

 

[jkelly]

Dee, you don't need to spend a lot of money for a complete M kit either. I have two Leica bodies, an M3 and a IIIa, and four lenses (Summitar, Summar, Elmar 9cm, and Serenar 35mm). I just added up the cost of these 2 bodies and 4 lenses, and I spent a total of $956 over the past 2 years. All are in perfect working order. I've never seen Leica as elitist; I just like manual cameras, and Leica made the best of the breed.