Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/03/11
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On: Wed, 11 Mar 2009 "H. Ball Arche" <h_arche at yahoo.com>wrote: >I used to spend time there back in the '80's. It's where traded in my first >Leica (IIIf)to upgrade to the M2, DR summi, >and Star-D tripod I'm still using. Part of the reason for spending hours in >that cave was it took that long to get a >salesman to deal with me. I guess I looked too much the part of a scruffy >broke art student. ================================================================================================= Does anyone else remember the side-by-side camera stores in Chicago, on Wabash Ave? Altman's was posh, with impeccably dressed salesmen, neatly organized window and store displays, and an atmosphere of quality; next door, Wolk was a cluttered mess, cramped and noisy. I liked shopping at Wolk's. The only thing I ever bought at Altman's (in 1968) was my first Leica, a used IIIf BD with 50mm f/2 Summitar. Unfortunately, when I began using it, I discovered that the lens must have been knocked around a bit by a previous owner. One side of the frame always had double images. I took it back to Altman's under the warrantee, and they sent it out for repair. When I got it back, it was exactly the same, so I asked for my money back on both the lens and camera. They wouldn't believe there was anything wrong with the lens, even though I brought negatives along, so I ended up selling the body and lens to a collector (I was too naive back then to just look for a good lens). I bought lots of stuff at Wolk's with no problems (including, for $114.00, a Nikon S2 with 50mm f/1.4 that I never should have sold to a friend!). It was always more fun to shop in a treasure house like that. Milwaukee also, used to have two photo shops next to each other; now there aren't ANY real camera stores in the city proper. Alan Alan Magayne-Roshak, Senior Photographer UPAA POY 1978 University Information Technology Services University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Alan+Magayne-Roshak/