Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2013/06/26
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Agreed, but that is with hindsight. If you were buying now, with no experience of Leica, could you justify the cost over half a dozen 'disposable' Fujis? We are talking a couple of cameras and a few lenses so somewhere over 20K USD initial investment.... john ________________________________________ I also bought a Leica 40 years ago because I knew it would stand up under all kinds of conditions that other cameras would not. I still feel that is true with my digital Leicas. I don't know what the reason is, but I've never had a problem with my digital cameras that wasn't fixed immediately by Leica. I dunked two M8s in a river, dried them by a fire, and they kept working. Maybe I'm just lucky when it comes to cameras but I still believe in Leica. I don't think I could have dunked my Canon 1DMII or 5D in a river and still had them work. I love the simplicity of the Leica menus, buttons and knobs that I can use in the dark by feel. I love rangefinder focusing. I love my old Leica lenses. I would put up with a lot of quirks to be able to use my old lenses full frame but I don't have to. I'm a happy camper. Tina On Wed, Jun 26, 2013 at 7:06 PM, Jim Nichols <jhnichols at lighttube.net>wrote: > Hi George, > > You see things much the way that I do. I bought my first Leica body and > lens in 1952, probably much earlier than most on this list. Though the > IIIa was made in 1935, it had been serviced and had a new shutter when I > got it. Though it definitely needs a CLA, it will make images, reliably, to > this day. That is what started my appreciation of Leica products. > > Their digital products seem to be built for a limited lifetime. The two > lines are entirely different, as I see them. I have a difficult time > "buying into" their current approach to digital camera bodies. > > Jim Nichols > Tullahoma, TN USA > ----- Original Message ----- From: "George Lottermoser" <imagist3 at > mac.com> > To: "Leica Users Group" <lug at leica-users.org> > Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2013 5:55 PM > Subject: Re: [Leica] Buying Leica..... > > > > >> On Jun 26, 2013, at 5:25 PM, John McMaster wrote: >> >> With hindsight I would still go Leica, nothing to touch the lenses for >>> different looks and I prefer the simpler operation, but if I had not used >>> them what would make me spend 'rather a lot' more on Leica than Fuji? >>> Does >>> 'full frame' or the build quality make enough of a difference for the >>> price >>> jump to most people? >>> >> >> The piece of this "to Leica or not to Leica" quandary that throws me >> is the relatively recent "lack of reliability and maintenance." >> For over 30 years I KNEW that my Leicas would stand up to daily use; >> be able to be CLA'd and maintained for the duration of my life. >> >> When the digital R path ended abruptly - doubt set in. >> >> Recent stories of lack of parts or repair paths for 5 year old cameras >> seems totally unacceptable for "any" camera company; >> let alone a high end, premium camera company. >> >> I expected that, what ever its flaws may be, that I could keep my M8 >> making photographs for as long as I chose to hang on to it; >> just like every other Leica camera that came before it. >> >> The idea that $7K camera bodies are simply disposable hardware >> with a useable life of a two year warranty - feels totally unacceptable >> to me. >> If not unacceptable - certainly unaffordable - to me. >> >> I'm coming from that place where the 50 year old Linhof Tech IV >> I just sold works every bit as well the day I handed it to Forrest >> as the day it left the factory. >> >> This whole new device, whether computer, camera body, phone >> whatever - simply feels quite "wrong." >> >> I welcome technological advances and their concomitant costs; >> while also expecting that if I choose to remain a couple generations back; >> that high priced hardware continue to perform somewhere close to specs; >> and be designed for adjustment back to original specs. >> >> Regards, >> George Lottermoser >> george at imagist.com >> http://www.imagist.com >> http://www.imagist.com/blog >> http://www.linkedin.com/in/**imagist <http://www.linkedin.com/in/imagist> >> >> >>