Real Camera for Real Photographers doing Real Photography

As I've just read on a german forum, Leica offers a limited series O.

Barnacks second prototype.<br>

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The kit contains the camera, a DVD with Barnacks movies and a print of

a Barnack negative.

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The german article is <a

href="http://www.fotoschnack.de/postnuke/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=PagEd&file=index&topic_id=4&page_id=72">here</a>

It's old news, but good news nonetheless. I rather like the idea. I wish I could afford one even though it would really not be that useful. Yes, you can add a 50mm brightline finder to it but... well... let's be honest, compared to today's 35mm cameras, this is hardly efficient. Still, Leicas are damned beautiful objects and it would be fun to play with one of these babies.

 

I would love to see the included video, too.

It is NEW news indeed, old news (in 2000-2002) was the Prototype 1.

 

This seems to be the improved version now: Prototype 2 of the 0-series LEICA, showing the viewfinder of the normal first production-run.

 

The first prototypes had this queer finder where you had to hold the camera 30 cm away from you and aim ...

 

And it comes with a BARNACK-photograph, sort of an original, to celebrate O. Barnack?s 125th birthday.

 

Best regards

I guess Leica learned nothing from the first O-series. I wonder how many of them still languish on dealers' shelves (at least the ones dumb enough to keep them in stock).

real cameras by real photographers doing real bla, bla

 

did you run out of preparation H ? why all the anger ?

 

buying a certain camera doesn't mean crap as far as being real..

 

some people really need therapy

Are you filling in for Jay, now, Al? Does Nikon get an equal dose

of your ridicule for wasting their resources on the FM3a while

Canon was perfecting a full-frame digital sensor?

 

And I think Volker was joking a little bit. It was Real funny if you

drink Real coffee and are Real(ly) awake!

Well, Kevin, mental retardation is ranked on a scale from mild to severe. The O-Series was what, $2500 when first introduced? Adorama dropped it to a nickel short of $900 before they finally got rid of their last one. And the last one I saw on eBay didn't even sell. So basically you're disagreeing with my assessment of the Einsteins at Leica marketing, but I think their track record and Leica's current financial status speak volumes. Common sense would dictate that they should get with the program and offer things that are competitive in today's market rather than catering to an ever-shrinking group of nostalgic old farts. But common sense is directly proportional to the retardation scale I mentioned earlier.

<p>Yes, Nikon does deserve some ridicule for what they're doing compared to Canon. However, at least the FM3A doesn't require trimming the film leader or covering the lens while winding. It's also the only currently-made camera that's designed for tough, battery-killing conditions such as <a href="http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0408/feature4/index.html" target="_blank">a trek through Patagonia</a> where the unreliability of a Leica (any Leica, forget about the O) would be asking for trouble.

"did you run out of preparation H ? why all the anger ?"

 

--Speaking of anger . . .

 

"some people really need therapy"

 

--Yes

Arg. Real men, or real women, or real anything's, use FED2s. Get real.

<b>parental notice, the following lines contain irony</b><br>

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Hm, I realy thought that the joke in my title was easy to spot.<br>

We just had the thread where somebody quoted somebody else stating that only photography on film is real photography and shooting a digital camera is digital imaging but not photography.

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Regarding the Trek in Patagonia. Even digital cameras (PSs) are used on artic and antartic expeditions. Numerous point and shoots are taken across Greenland in Hvitserks expeditions every year. The cold weather argument is quite often used for mechanical cameras - but it just does not hold. That said, I would not bring something like a Mamiya 645E - the worst cold weather camera I have ever experienced.

Volker:

 

ok, was it a joke ? sorry then... i take it back

Does anyone know if this version would have the self-capping shutter? That book, "Leica: Eyewitness to a Century," said the second version of the nullseries did have such a shutter. However, it also said the first 0-Series replica that Leica put out also had a self-capping shutter, which is not the case.

 

Like others, I am curious as to why Leica is going down this road again, given the drubbing they got for the first camera.

Brett, I'm sorry but I didn't find the self capped shutter mentioned anywhere :-(

 

And why does Leica release replicas? It's probably a market. The DVD in english and japanese as well as the limited edition prints on baryt paper are clearly aimed at collectors in the USA and Japan.

 

To be true, what's a MP if not a replica? It reminds me of a friends Austin Healy which is made by a company owning the original blue prints, tools and copyrights. The car looks and feels like a Big Healy but has a modern engine with fuel injection, catalytic converter and so on. Compared to that a modern 911 is boring!

 

Another thing is Leicas technology, it's very mature and can't be improved any further without turning it into something totaly different. Think of a Leica M with build in motordrive, automatic film loading, autofocus, titan shutter ... in other words, a Contax G :-)

Jose, no offense taken!

It looks like this is the same as the first version except for the viewfinder.

Interesting thread. But what is out there in the way of fake cameras for fake photographers doing fake photography?

Fake photography by fake cameras is far more interesting than real photography by real cameras! :-)

William, a good photographer makes good photos with any equipment<br>

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But here you'll see a lot of elderly DINK (dual income, no kids) teacher couples shooting the Dome or the town hall with Leica Ms and 35mm lenses<br>

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As a professional I can do worse with a 28mm :-)

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One word -

 

Collectors.

 

Let us face facts, if Leica wants to make some quick cash, they can either try something like this (how many collectors paid top dollar for these things? Probably enough I am guessing), or "accidentally" screw up the serial numbers or the DOF guide or SOMETHING minor and get the collectors buying the "50 screw up ones" for a fortune.

 

The latter of course being a bit iffy if Leica starts selling "screw ups" to the distro guys for big $$$.

 

For you go with the former.

Voler Hett wrote:

 

"William, a good photographer makes good photos with any equipment."

 

Brilliant retort and photograph of fake photographer and fake camera! :-)

Make that Volker Hett.

<i>"The cold weather argument is quite often used for mechanical cameras - but it just does not hold."</i>

<p>Great, now we have an expert who claims he can refute one of the most basic phenomena of chemistry - that heat (or lack of it) can affect the speed of chemical reactions. Why don't you get an education instead of offering anecdotal "evidence" as facts? Yes, I'm sure that cameras of all sorts have been used in all types of expeditions. But in extreme cold where I don't want to have to fumble with keeping a camera warm and want it out and ready for a shot at all times, I want something tough that doesn't rely on batteries, whose electricity-producing chemical reactions slow down in the cold. That requirement, along with the requirements for something portable and reliable, available new, that takes readily-available, top-notch lenses, and you have only ONE candidate left standing.

<p>I don't like talking about equipment, but I hate stupidity even more.

El, make that at least three choices! The full mechanical Contax S2 and the Hasselblad 500 Series are still available and Zeiss Lenses aren't crap either. At least the Hassy 500 was good enough to be used on space missions.

 

I had Canon LiIon batteries dying after some 50 shots at just -5 Celsius this february and a Yashica FX-D with electronic shutter working at -20 celsius at the Lofotes.

 

But I don't think a Leica 0 Series will be used in sub zero temperatures, if at all! Come to think of that, I'd rather change film on a Hassy than on a Leica M in cold weather :-)

<i>"... That requirement, along with the requirements for something portable and reliable,

available new, that takes readily-available, top-notch lenses, and you have only ONE

candidate left standing." </i> <br><br>

Yes, the Nikon FM3. And then you're left with brittle film and static electricity problems in

dry sub-zero weather.

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Godfrey