[Leica] Can o Worms

["Rod Fleming" <rodfleming@sol.co.uk>]

Hi

Martin wrote



>Do you ever hear of Canon, Nikon, or users of any other
manufacturers' cameras covering up the markings with black tape?

Well in UK it was a widespread obsession for many years, and only last week
I met a PA photog with every identifying mark on his F5 plastered with the
stuff. I have often found myself the only one in a group of smudgers with no
tape on the cameras.

Personally I think it's nuts. Have you ever tried to get the stuff off? I
once bought an F4  from a colleague who was retiring. The camera was his
back-up, so it had mainly been in the cupboard, but nevertheless it had had
the sticky tape on for three or four years..........It was a pain getting
the sticky residue off, as I am very reluctant to use modern solvent
cleansers on modern plastic (camera) bodies.........

Who cares whether the world knows what camera you're using? Somehow the
practice has the smack of conceit to me.........Like, "I'm such an important
photographer I can't be seen to endorse a particular make of camera." Are
these people hoping that Leica/Nikon/Pentax/That Other Make will pay them
not to cover up the brand name?

Having said that I think the modern Nikon logo is naff-o compared to the old
one, and I think the little red dot on the M6 has none of the class of the
discreetly engraved "Leica" on the top plate of older cameras. But hey-ho,
it's a marketing man's world, you know.

Cheers


Rod