Re: [Leica] Age

["Jeff S" <segawa@netone.com>]

- -----Original Message-----
From: Nathan Wajsman <nathan.wajsman@euronet.be>

>I find this whole discussion amusing. For what it's worth, I am 37--is that
old?

To me? Yes, barely :-)

>I would have loved to have a Leica 10 or 12 years ago; there was just this
>slight problem of $$$ at the time :-)


I actually did get my first M around that time, and did it ever happen in a
very roundabout manner: I had been using Nikon exclusively and getting good
results, but I found that the gear sat idle at home, except for vacations
and special photo outings.

As I was also on my first-ever car, and it was a fix-er-upper, I spent lots
of time in the autoparts store, which I had been familiar with from my early
teen years, as my dad would shoot the breeze with the owner, who shared a
love of Porsche (while I'd mill about the shop, waiting for him to buy his
case of oil!)

Now, by the time I was in my 20s, this man must've been in his 60s, but
still minded the shop daily. Somehow, I'm not sure how, the subject of
cameras came up, and he went in back, and brought out an M5, M2 + Leicavit,
and an M3 from his collection. Now, coming from a Nikon F3, my attention was
first drawn to the M5, because it had the TTL meter and the viewfinder
displays. But as he began to give me the rundown, I began to look at the
meterless M3 and M2 much more seriously--they were smaller, and seemed to
fit the hand better, and had a pleasing solidity to them: I had to try one.

After a time, I managed to turn in the Nikon outfit (4 lenses!) in exchange
for a dented M4-2 + 50/2. No doubt this Leica stuff was expensive! The owner
of the car parts place helped me out by selling me a 90/2.8 cheap. I was
delighted to have a real Leica, of course! For some time, I questioned my
sanity in giving up so much for so little, but the M has proven itself to be
the right combination of compact convenience and "real camera" performance.
As for it's limitations, well, there was no way I was going to carry a
300/2.8 or 80-200/2.8 frequently, even if I had one, and for work requiring
TTL viewing precision, I figured, why confine myself to 35mm, if the
camera's already on a tripod?

While in my 20s, I certainly did not set out to impress friends or
co-workers with my M, and in fact, would have been thought of as nuts had I
mentioned the price (why not put a down payment on a new car, they'd have
asked) and even those into photography would've been interested, but very
leery about such minimalist  gear, offering no comfy fallbacks, such as 5
different types of automation.

So...
- -Even elderly collector-types can be most helpful
- -There's a genuine Porsche link here :-)
- -A Porsche would impress a heck of a lot more 20-somethings than a Leica