Re: [Leica] Hello and plea for guidance

[John Collier <jbcollier@home.com>]

Stephen Gandy's excellent and opinionated site is a wonderful place to
start. Here is his URL:

http://www.cameraquest.com/classics.htm

Also Erwin Putts' site called Leica Papers will have you put the second
child up as well. His URL is :

http://www.imx.nl/photosite/leica/leicahome.html

And last but not least the LHSA homepage is a great resourse:

http://www.lhsa.org/

My advice? Run while you still can.

John Collier

> From: Andre Calciu <a.calciu@usa.net>
> Date: 9 Feb 00 13:20:10 EST
> Subject: [Leica] Hello and plea for guidance
> 
> Hi there LUGgers,
> 
> My name is Andre Calciu and I am a collector/user of Rolleiflex and Large
> Format gear. I subscribe to a number of camera related listservs and thanks to
> MJ Small I just subscribed to the LUG.
> 
> I was recently offered the opportunity to buy a Leica CL and when I asked for
> guidance from the other lists I received answers that were very useful and
> informative, but I was also told that I should seek help from this group, so
> here I am.
> 
> Having shot medium/large format for the past few decades, I am not very much
> up to speed with the 35mm gear. I know Leica has many variations and feature
> differences from one camera to another, even within the same model. Some of
> the differences are good, others just add collectible value. I am not looking
> for a collectible piece, rather I want a user. More precisely, a rangefinder
> of the M persuasion.
> 
> Here is what I want to know:
> 
> 1.- which body to pick (M6 seems to be the most recommended one, but price is
> always an issue :-))
> 2.- affordable good performing lenses (15mm Heliar came up a lot, but one
> cannot live only by wide angle alone).
> 3.- what I should beware of (defects that are hard to spot by a neophyte,
> etc)
> 4.- good sources of equipment with low (as defined by the brand) prices and
> good reputation.
> 5.- recommended service providers for CLA, etc.
> 6.- which child should I sell first to pay for all that :-)
> 
> Note: the camera will NOT be my main piece of photo gear.
> 
> Thanks for the help and sorry if this has been repeated over and over on this
> list. I could go to a FAQ if available.
> 
> Andre
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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