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If I had it to do over again.


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I currently own four cameras: an Olympus E-10, a Pentax 645, an Elan

7, and an M3. I could survive with only the Elan...but I'd have to

get a bunch of decent prime lenses for it. I lived with an EOS-1v and

7 primes for over a year and found little need for anything else--

until I got the digital bug. Then I longed for some real b&w

character, hence the Pentax and the M3.

 

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As much as I love the Leica, it would rather difficult for me to do

all my projects with it only.

 

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http://www.ravenvision.com/peterhughes.htm

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  • 5 months later...

Al, I'll run you for president. (1) you have always made great

answers, and if that weren't enough (don't know who it wouldn't be

enough for), then (2) you have always made great questions as

well.

 

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Sooo, in answer to your question, yes, I am absolutely certain that I

have always made the right choices during the acquisition process. (a)

I have always made so many choices and then worked them all out by

reading everything here (in this forum) and elsewhere, (b) I have

asked dozens of questions everywhere, © I have rented or tried

things out in the stores and in Solms at the free-test-checkout once a

year, and (d) I have -- as often explained -- even traded in something

(at the store I bought it in) for something else, e.g. one lens for

the other.

 

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You probably think that's all a lot of work on my part, but (i) I

needed it, (ii) it always worked, and (iii) I'm happy I did it.

 

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Long live the Leica.

 

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Mike

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Having been married three times I have to say whatever I have

acquired over time seemed like a good idea at the time. Of course

hindsight is 20 20. It is an evolutionary process. The owner of

Pardee's Camera in Sacramento says we only rent Leica equipment

because it holds its value so well. The last couple of years I have

been upgrading and selling off a piece here and there as it was

replaced. At this point I think maybe I'll eventually get rid of an

M2 or 3 and replace it with another 6. The lenses I might upgrade to

if money is not a problem are: 28 summicron, 21 aspheric (replace 28

elmarit and 21 pre although both these lenses are sooo satisfying).

And maybe look at the 24 and the Tri-Elmar. Maybe the R21 4.0 or

R19. Extremely happy with everything I have right now though and

don't feel any urgency to upgrade. Have a couple of things going

going gone on ebay this week to clean out the drawers and lighten the

load (couple of pre appheric summicrons, first 8 element and last

version late from Solms that I actually hope nobody buys and a 3rd

vers 28. Need to pay for the new to me 35 aspheric lux. Better to

keep taking pictures with the ones I have.

Good luck!

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  • 11 months later...
  • 1 year later...

I have used Rollei SLR 35mm Carl Zeiss QBM mount lenses since 1971 ~ my father started me on the photography habit and the lens collection just grew with a decade of silence in between due to college and graduate school. The first SL35 body was upgraded to a SL35M, then SL35E, and bit by bit though the more recent eBay years, I now have a regular 3003 body as well as a 3003 Deluxe Edition (Addiction?). My best photos have been taken with this creme de la creme (in my mind) of manual SLR systems. I grew up with the Rollei philosophy and the metering is good to me. I recently sold a CONTAX NX with Carl Zeiss 24-85mm lens because the body just didn't cut the mustard even compared to Nikon N70's matrix metering system, Carl Zeiss or not!

 

My Leica rangefinder system is like a secret mistress because my wife doesn't know about it. I sold an M6 TTL after becoming frustrated with vertical misalignment rangefinder problems, and bought a Konica Hexar RF kit with money to spare! So I use a Konica Hexar RF body plus a few (IMHO) overly expensive M-lenses, including a collectible screwmount with M-adapter ASPH 35/2 Summicron (Japan market) which is the best lens I've used...period. I also keep a 28mm Elmarit 3rd version and a 90mm German(!) Tele-Elmarit. I usually carry the Hexar RF equipment with one Leica lens attached and one spare lens, all tucked away in a small business-style carry-all bag along with a Rollei Beta 4 flash. The size, weight and fit of this package is so tidy and compact that it doesn't even look like a ~$3K Konica Hexar RF system hanging from the bag on my shoulders. It looks like just another dude with a notebook computer and documents on the way to work, until the airport X-ray machine reveals the truth!

 

If I were to loose all this, I will keep very quiet for a day or two then leave my day job and family, shave my head and enter the Zen monastery.

 

After 1 week at the Zen Monastery, I may start all over again going into a Rolleiflex 6008 Integral (or AF!) medium format SLR....the CONTAX 645AF is also an attractive new mistress to start an affair with, but if you shop around these days and take your time, the Rolleiflex 6008 Integral is only $1250 to $1400 on the used market with a 80mm PQ lens, and therefore less of a high maintenance item compared to the CONTAX...albeit heavier set and she needs more of your attention in 'focussing' manually. I would do serious work with MF film/slides, and buy a darn good scanner to digitize selected shots. For "everyday work", family and travel shots, what's wrong with a $450~$500 SONY F717 digital camera with a Vario-Sonnar lens? Its better than the 8 megapixel SONY F828 because the latter has lots of low light noise (digital "grain") and more purple shift than the older 5 Megapixel F717. If I just had to have 35mm film, I would go for the Rollei 3003 system again if my eyesight was patient enough. If not, I would still match rangefinder squares over using autofocus SLR system, which means I would revert back to the Hexar RF with M lenses. And to those of you who think it a big, bad deal using Hexar RF's with Leica M-mount lenses, please hear me out that I've had more problems from M bodies than I ever did with the Hexar RF.

 

Moral of story - the camera samsara of a photographer is destined for a repetitive cyclic existence until the day a truly shocking life event hits you right between the eyes and forces you to re-evaluate your attitudes. Until then, don't leave all your equipment in one place, and for heavens sake, consider insurance!<div>007PnI-16661284.jpg.2accf7dd2ab8bdfe5381695a5ddd76d4.jpg</div>

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