Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/11/11
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]This whole thread has been amusing. People yelling at each other. Some people sure have chips on their shoulders! As Joe said. "what the hell does it matter what someone does with the Leica equipment they buy!" They own it. You don't. Someone said "offenders". Offenders of what? They can use it, not use it, drive their car over it, whatever the hell they want, AND IT IS ABSOLUTELY NOBODY ELSE'S BUSINESS!!! PERIOD!!! The price of Leica equipment is based on the fact that it is good and worthy equipment. You know that if you buy a 30 year old Leica, it will perform today, like it did 30 years ago. And it can be repaired/restored anytime should there be a problem. It was worth the price new and it's still worth the price. If you are a collector, you might get pissed that someone beat you to that mint, unused, Luftwaffe whatever. But he who hesitates, loses. Us users, simply buy what we need to do our photography. We don't need (or want) a commemorative version of anything. Let the "collectors" buy that stuff. This is pure gravy for the manufacturer. Double, triple, quadruple price and no possibility of ever seeing it again. It won't be used, so it won't be broken. So if some Sultan of somewhere wants a special Leica, gold and diamonds, this is really great. This allows the factory to give rebates to us ordinary folk. And just think, if folks, whether they are doctors, lawyers, sultans, or your paper boy, didn't buy Leicas, there might not be enough sales to sustain Leica. Grim thought! So... Long live Leica purchasers. Young, old, collector, user. Whomever! It matters not. Just keep buying Leica equipment! Store it away, and then buy more. Or use it. Or make "pop-art" out of it. Who cares. You buy it, it's yours. Jim PS... you all should see Terry Shuchat's Leica collection. Upstairs, in the darkroom department of KSP. A glass case, six feet high and perhaps eight feet long. Three glass shelves, full of Leicas (and accessories) from the very beginning to the present. Even gold Leicas. Stuff I never knew existed. But then... I'm a user of equipment, not a collector of anything. I have a few "nostalgia" pieces, like my Alpa 10d. It's the best Alpa I ever had, and I bought it from Samual Bourgeois (Alpa factory owner) at the factory in Switzerland. Nostalgia! I cannot part with it! Yet... PPSS... The other day in KSP, there was (perhaps still is) a seven year old "new" chrome M6. Bought seven years ago. Stored. Never used. And now being sold. All boxes, papers, etc... a seven year old new M6. $1425 if I remember correctly. Call Jeff or Paul at KSP [(650) 327-8996] if you are interested. Jim again At 04:58 PM 11/11/98 -0700, you wrote: > >I find the topic of who drives up prices on used Leica's amusing. It's not >users OR collectors. It's anyone who buys a used Leica. It hardly matters >what they do with it once it is purchased. Puting it to work or putting in a >vault--either way, it's out of circulation. And consider, when you go to >sell your well-cared for used Leica you will be glad that prices are high. > >Joe Stephenson >+++++++++++++++ >If your beef is with collectors, look around on the LUG. There are >plenty of offenders who are not members of the legal or medical >professions. >