Needs vs Wants

[Afterswift@aol.com]

<<The Leica M concept is basic and simple, even if it is complex enough

inside. Only basic functions and no more, with this "something extra" which

all odd products have. I got my first M4 in 1970, and had to skip the summer

holidays to afford it. I was fascinated by the Leica M for years, but I have

chosen to cut short and get rid of it. It has become a ridiculous expensive

luxury, and I don't like luxury. It was always luxury perhaps, but a little

less before. --Oddmund>>


Oddmund,

I hope I didn't quote you out of context. You discuss luxury and subsume the
Leica M in that generality. I think that's a mistake. Why? Because you don't
shoot negatives with luxury -- a state of mind. You use the camera that will
deliver satisfying prints. If your argument is that a much cheaper camera can
produce the same results as the Leica M, it's valid in your experience. I can
accept that idea.

I infer that you can get along very well without a Leica M. I assume Horowitz
couldn't get along without a Steinway grand. He seldom used another brand or
type. At the level of his art the cost of the instrument didn't enter his
mind. The Steinway was not a luxury to him.
It was a necessity. 

Obviously the Leica M wasn't a necessity for you. It has become something of
a necessity for me. I say 'something' because I also use a CL, Nikon FM and
Nikon F, as well as a Minox GT. So I use an array of instruments; I don't
consider any of them luxuries. I drive a 1969 Chevy. That's not a luxury
either. They work for me. Anything else doesn't or is unnecessary. In a way I
live a spartan existence. It never occurred to me that my Leica M3 is a
luxury. It is an expensive intrument that I need. Much like an electron
microscope is to medical researcher.

I reckon our equipment is a matter of the priorities we set for ourselves to
accomplish our destiny. Unless we're wealthy we must make tradeoffs. We deny
ourselves certain things to afford others. So we know the use value of what
we possess. I don't own luxuries. Therefore, to me a Leica isn't one. I don't
buy what I want. I purchase what I need.

I can always tell when I made a mistake and bought a luxury. How? It usually
doesn't work and is as real drag. In my case, that's usually cheese -- like a
gorgonzola I fought to the death recently.

Bob R