[Leica] A Knight in Shining Armour is moved to defend the Maiden of Solms

[richard at ogdenonline.co.uk (Richard Ogden)]

Speaking personally, I don't have any problem with what I have always 
considered to be the world's best camera being fine-tuned to my personal 
preferences whilst continuing to be a most elegant and beautiful camera.

Leica has always been an aspirational product for those of us who don't 
earn our living from photography, and the high cost only serves to 
reinforce that perception. That was as true in the 1950s as it is today. 
There are any number of cheaper alternatives which, for 99.999999% of 
the pictures I make produce results which are indistinguishable. But I 
choose to spend my hard-earned money on something which is, 
indisputably, a product of the highest quality and performance.

And there are some film dinosaurs, like me, who do not consider digital 
image-making to be an advance, but rather something which threatens to 
destroy the hobby I have loved for 50 years and which I hope to go on 
enjoying. It surprises and disappoints me - a confirmed lurker - to find 
that I have to defend film-based photography in many quarters these 
days, and that I feel moved to defend Leica cameras on a user list 
devoted to them - though 'devoted' certainly doesn't seem to match the 
mood of the moment, if you'll excuse the pun!

I do not expect others to share my views nor do I seek to persuade 
others: I simply feel the need to express them in the current
climate.

Richard
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