[Leica] My one week with the M7

[henningw at archiphoto.com (Henning Wulff)]

At 3:14 PM -0700 3/27/07, Ted Grant wrote:
>Dan offered:
>>I recently bought and then sold an M7.  I paid $ 2000 ( mint-, used )  and
>>sold on ebay for $ 1975, so I guess I paid $ 25 for the week I used  it.
>>
>>Why did I sell it ?  Well, compared to the M6, I just didn't find it  to be
>>any great leap forward in a camera...Sure for Leica it may have been a 
>>leap,
>>but for me it wasn't a big enough difference to warrant owning the 
>>M7 when the
>>M6 suits me well.  And one other comment, does it bother anyone else  that
>>the sharp edge of the hot shoe is so close to the winder ?  I have 
>>scratched
>>myself on a few occasions grabbing the camera....
>>
>>Anyone else with similar thoughts ?<<<<<<<
>
>Nope!!
>But then I'm a working photojournalist and not a techie nit picker! 
>But then I feel deeply for you and your scratches! Like,  heavens 
>get a life! Scratches be damned!
>
>I have always worked with 3 M type cameras at the same time for 
>roughly 50 years hanging off my neck! Until the new M7 appeared on 
>market.
>
>We were about to start shooting our new book, "Women in Medicine. A 
>Celebration of Their Work." A B&W tribute to the women; doctors, 
>nurses and technicians involved in medicine when the M7 became 
>available. And with AE lock making it a fast and no fiddle diddle 
>camera for my style of working on documentaries.
>
>Ordered one to have a try. Shot 3 rolls of Tri-x at ASA 800 under 
>all kinds of lighting conditions with nothing more than a fixed 
>aperture and shot as soon as the shutter speed came up in the view 
>finder.  3 rolls and every exposure right on the mark. Now I said 
>nothing about picture content as it wasn't relevant, the exposure 
>was and they were all perfect to the extent that we printed one roll 
>all with he identical enlarger time and development and every frame 
>was perfect for printing. Other than a slight dodge or burn where 
>necessary! If necessary.
>
>If anyone wishes to challenge this save your breathe and buy the 
>book, the proof is right there!
>
>Ordered two more M7's and immediately went on the road shooting in 
>hospitals of North America. 500 hundred rolls and a few months later 
>and not a spoiled frame due to ...." M7 picking the exposure"  No 
>nicks, no whines nor bitching as it's the best damn Leica RF made!
>
>At the moment far better than all the blather about the M8!
>
>So your complaint,  "read whine" about a little sharp edge is 
>pointless! Actually if I'd have found this a distraction,  hell I'd 
>have got a very fine metal file and nicked the edge off and carried 
>right on shooting!  See it's so simple when one thinks KISS about 
>things rather than whine!
>
>It seems of late the list is beginning to take on a new meaning and 
>maybe needs a new name.......
>
>The "Leica Whiner's Group!" Or something more fitting to the useless 
>banter about neck straps, sharpie edges and the colour magenta!

'Leica Whiner's Group' with a 'Grumpy Ted Sidebar'... :-) :-) :-)

As long as there is enough Whiskey discussion, why not? :-)

>Wouldn't it be far more beneficial to all if everyone went out and 
>took pictures for a few weeks?
>
>ted

-- 
    *            Henning J. Wulff
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