Re: [Leica] re clear plastic tape

[Adi Soon <adisoon@pacific.net.sg>]

Mark's original post and the subsequent ones have made me shake my head in 
despair. Had they come at another time I would not have felt the need to 
respond. However recent experiences have underlined my need to shake some 
sense into these people.

Try living here in Asia and see the heights of depravity to which people 
take Leica fondling. In Singapore and Malaysia where I live, every other 
Leica owner I know (with the exception of 1 other) keeps their Leica 
equipment in a dry-box away from the light. Further, this is a place where 
old men gather at camera shops in the Peninsula Plaza area (in Singapore) 
to show each other photo albums of their prized Leica cameras.

I know only a minuscule number of people actually use the stuff. Every time 
I take out my M6, and there are such types around, I am cautioned to be 
careful, or to put the thing away and use something expendable instead, 
like a Nikon or a Pentax. With the mere mention of my owning of a titanium 
M6, I am told of its inherent collectivity and the need the preserve it for 
the future. Sometimes inquires are made as to the nature of my storage 
facilities. What I do not afterwards reveal, (seeing that all discussions 
of taking pictures are off) is that my titanium M6 is not in show room 
condition anymore. In fact it has accompanied me to many places and has had 
hundreds of rolls of film through it. I would have been chastised had I 
brought it out and words of pity and regret would fill the room.

I know one other guy who has every single "star" lens in the Leica line-up. 
His purchases are dictated by the reputations of these lenses gleaned 
mostly from the above mentioned old men and also from a place like this, 
the LUG. He makes it a point to buy them, keeping them in their original 
box and packaging after every fondling session. He says he's a 
photographer, but his "archives" amount to some 20 or so rolls of 
negatives, pictures mostly of test targets and his experiments to justify 
Leica quality.

The question in the end is why this is so? We all know the arguments. 
"Leicas are bad investments" etc etc. But why do they still persist?   This 
is the single most unfathomable thing I can ask about the Leica myth.

I have learnt to deal with such irritation.

Let those who want to stick protective stickers on their base-plates.

Let those who want to keep their Leicas dent-free.

I will just walk away quickly, they were probably not in it for the 
photography anyway.

Adi







  

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