Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/12/11
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Well, I survived the trip to L.A., barely. I was quite sick by the time I got there. It was quite fun anyway, though I had to cut the visit short to Samy's camera. I got to play with a 15mm Elmar, Very cool lens. I want one!!! (Ted, you are right! This lens is a great angle of view. I also played with a 180 Apo Summicron again. Leica has dropped the price on this lens quite a bit. But the main reason I went was to see Jim Marshall. He is a very nice guy. And he has some great stories. I couldn't believe the photo hobbyists there weren't crowded around him clamoring for his time and signature on his wonderful book "Not Fade Away." They were too busy playing with cameras. That's okay I had him all to myself for a while. He showed me his prized Leica goodie. A Titanium Leicavit! Boy, did it look good on his Titanium M6. I took a picture of that. He has the only one in existence. I think Leica needs to put those babies back into production, or buy out Tom A and use his stuff. He also has a 90 Apo ASPH lens, and complained bitterly about the loose aperture ring. He said Don Goldberg said he didn't want to fix it, because disassembling the lens is tricky. Something about Anyway, his book is great and I highly recommend it. It's a bit of history of documentary photography that will likely never be repeated, thanks to PR people who put money ahead of everything else, and stars who are not comfortable enough with themselves to be real with their fans. It did my heart good when Jim told me about how he refused to sell one of his famous photos to a rock promoter, and told him to his face that he was the reason why that kind of photography, which he craved, would never again likely be made. (With more colorful language than I'm reporting here). - -- - -- Eric Welch Carlsbad, CA I can resist anything but temptation.