Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/07/06
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At 01:45 PM 7/5/00 -0700, Gary Elshaw wrote:
>The only thing i'd say about the plan is to make sure you like the
>images these lenses make. <snip...all praise to the Gods of Bandwidth!>
>
>Have you got a friendly neighbourhood dealer who lets you try stuff
>out, Michael?
All I have in my 'neighborhood' are 128 acres of woodland, but back in
civilisation, Classic Camera is a great little Authorised Leica Dealer in
Biddeford, ME about an hour away. (The only Authorised Leica Dealer in the
state actually.) They are also a pretty good, fast and reasonably priced
repair shop by reputation. Always friendly and willing to answer any
questions from unknowing Leica Novices and will even let you fondle and get
the small stock that they do have all finger-printed. When last I had
occasion to be there, (several months ago) they were expecting the new
Bessa and Hexar stuff soon as I recall.
For Leica, there is also Eagle Camera in Portsmouth, NH, but they seem more
mass consumer oriented (lots of APS crap), and despite being in tax free
New Hampshire, their pricing seems a bit higher...but they are on the
Massachusetts border and so can probably afford to charge more than Classic
can get away with in small town Maine.
- ----------
It also occurs to me that I posted just my age and nothing more. As I'm
sure that you are all dying to know...
I used all sorts of fun cameras and never had to pay for processing or
printing while an enlisted photographer for the Army from 85-89. It was a
great job and other than having to actually play soldier once in a while
and/or pee in a cup when they told you to, I would like to do it again. I
got to 'have' a bunch of those nikon and canon thingies that didn't get
much use. A Hassy 500CM with some really good glass in Alaska that I used a
lot, In New Mexico I had a (then new) Mamiya 645 super and a well used RB67
outfit. I even had an ancient OD Green Speedgraphic that I saved from the
"scrap" locker where I'm sure it had laid forgotten and unloved for
decades. I got a roll film adapter for it, (along with a bunch of cut film
holders) had "tech" hook it up to a Metz 45CT1 and I played with it for a
year until I got out of the Army. (At which time I'm sure it went back into
the scrap locker and probably ended up in some landfill. <sigh>)
My personal photography equipment BL (before Leica) consisted of a Kodak
Retinette 012 (a gift from my Uncle at age 14 which got me started shooting
and that I still have), a Minolta x370 in high school when I was still
young enough to want the "latest in electronic automation" which I promptly
traded in early 1986 (once I realised the foolishness of trying to use a
battery dependant shutter in Alaskan weather) to build a set of minolta
SRT102's and a cadre of good Rokkor glass and a Vivitar 285. More recently,
in trying to find an affordable alternative to Leica, I got the XE7 and XE5
for their Copal Leitz Shutter and R3 similarities and got a Walz Envoy "35"
to try out rangefinder shooting. While they are all nice, I finally came to
realise that there is no alternative to the mystique of a Leitz Camera and
that however irrational, I would not be happy until I actually owned one.
(now, If Leica had also made their lenses available in minolta manual
mount...) So, I sold my own RB67 and C330 outfits, leaving me with only a
Yashica Mat124G for medium format which I don't have much call for anyhow
and....
I was finally able to begin to afford a Leica a bit over a year ago. I
started with a good deal on a somewhat scuffed up Leica CL with 40/2
Summicron-C on eBay, (still in love with minolta) and I was hooked. Shortly
thereafter got a 9cm Elmar with adapter. Then made the mistake of going to
the Waltham, MA camera show this spring ("just to look") and ended up the
proud new owner of a nice black 3 lug M5 from Rich at Woodmere. (Which The
Golden Touch Goddess, Sherry K. happily examined and OKed for me prior to
my laying out the cash.)
Now I'm looking at getting all LTM lenses and once I'm satisfied with my RF
outfit for a bit, I will start replacing my venerable minolta SLR outfit
with the real Leica equivalents.
More than you probably ever wanted to know about my photo closet, but there
it is.
Carpe Lumen,
Michael E. Berube
http://www.goodphotos.com