feedback/comments: have you sold leica gear to buy other stuff?

I am having a crisis of conscience. I inherited some expensive leica gear from a relative who died (an M6

and a very nice newish summilux 35mm ASPH 1.4). I have used it off and on and while I love the

portability, the quietness, and the quality of the lens, I find it takes me a lot of time (which I don't have a

lot of these days) to get film/slides processed, scanned, and then post-manipulated.

 

I also use a canon DSLR, a very good one, but of course it's heavier, bigger, and noisier (acoustically I

mean). I love how fast it is to get a shot from the memory card to the computer. I only have one lens for it

(24-70mm f/2.8) and I would like to buy two more (135mm f/2 and 16-35mm f/2.8) (they are expensive

although not as expensive as leicas).

 

SO

 

I would like to hear from people who have actually sold leica equipment to fund the purchase of DSLR

stuff.

 

Do you regret it? Would you command-Z (undo) if you could?

 

Thanks

I sold most of my Leica equipment to go autofocus (Nikon) when my eyesight began deteriorating. I kept a IIIc/f for nostalgia purposes that my father had given me when I was in college back in 1951. While I do miss some of it, I am not sorry that I did it.

Not a Leica user but use all old manual cameras. They're a real joy to use. Your objection to film is the time it takes, why don't you aim for a different output? Instead of getting them processed, scanned, and post-manipulated, why not just shoot some slides and get a slide projector?

 

By aiming for a different output experience altogether, you will be able to enjoy the Leica as something different, rather than a horrendously inefficient tool to get digital output.

Unloaded a Leica with two lenses and now have a digital SLR. Feel regret occasionally, but this is what I had set out to do.

I sold one of my two LTM Leicas to help fund my first digital SLR. No regrets. Cameras are for making photographs. Whatever works best for that purpose is the best camera for you.

Hi digi mon

 

I believe the are two important questions you have to ask yourself:

 

A) Would you take all these Leica pictures with your DSLR instead?

Would it be only half of them because of embarrassment by noise or size/shape? None,

because the DSLR would too heavy and/or bulky to take along to these places?

 

B) How valuable have your Leica pictures been to you, to your family and to the people in

the pictures up until now? And in the future?

 

In short: will a valuable part of your photography fall dead by selling the Leica

outfit?

 

If so, don't sell.

 

If you do your own scanning and PS'ing: try to get a time scheme for doing the proofing

and scanning in parallel to something else: eating, having a cup of tea, making phone

calls, watching sports on TV. Just like reading the newspapers.

 

Photoshop: if you haven't already created droplets for your Canon files: learn to create

droplets (it's not really hard, just a bit nerve-wrecking at the

beginning) to have your files processed while you're away from your computer. Some of

my droplets produce automatically a set of different versions out of which I choose the

best and only do the finishing touches by hand.

 

Cheers, Pete

Buy what you enjoy and don't anguish over it. Doesn't matter whether it is Leica, Canon, Nikon or Hasselblad....if you don't use it because there's something more appealing...go for it.

if you think you might regret selling it, chances are you will. even if you don't use it much.

if you don't like using it and think you could sell it without looking back. go for it. the

best camera is the one you like using most.

In the past I have sold Leica gear to finance different equipment (not digital) and though warranted at that time I regretted it further down the road. It is very common for people who have off-loaded Leicas to replace them at some time or another.

 

Since you seem to like working with a rangefinder, have you considered acquiring a M8 instead? You could then possibly keep the M6 as a back-up, particularly if b+w is of some interest -- but if lack of funds is an issue, you could sell off the M6. Your Canon and a M8 would make for a very versatile kit.

Personally, I use AF film SLRs and AF dSLRs precisely for the auto focus. I can focus my

Leicas ok but my eyesight is not the greatest. However, I would never sell my Leicas

because when I don't need fast focusing on moving subjects, and when I want a small,

quiet camera there is nothing like it. And there is the "feel" - I just enjoy using them so

much. I sold an M3 more than 20 years ago and I regret it to this day. Now I have two M6

and an M4-P. I am not a collector and if they ever stop making film, then I'll sell them. If

they are worth anything then!

Every single time I have sold a Leica I have regreted.I now have 5 Leica Ms including Leica MP and 3 LTM. However, horses for courses as the adage goes. I also have 2 Nikon DSLR (D70 and D200) plus Film Nikon SLR (F90 and F100). I use them all. But will I sell all my Leicas? NEVER. I might sell some but not all.

Well, the old saying is "never sell a Leica" isn't it? But seriously, while I haven't sold a Leica, I have sold some very fine guitars (usually to buy another fine guitar). I never look back.

 

Interesting, though. I just sold a DSLR to buy a Leica IIIF. Horses for courses as they say.

 

Regards

Ken

Somebody has to sell them, or there would be no affordable used ones. (Smile.)

 

But, I've never sold any camera gear, so I can't answer your primary question.

I sold a mint M7 and 3 lenses to partially finance a new Harley Davidson...don't regret it a bit!

 

FrankM

I sold some Leica stuff to fund some digi stuff but kept my M6 with 50mm and 90mm Summicrons. Don't regret it a bit. The M6 still gets used from time to time with the 50mm Summicron, the 90mm hasn't been used for over a year and will soon be sold to fund another lens for the digi.

Only to buy some other Leica stuff :)

I sold a IIIF in 1986 with a summitar 50 and have regretted it ever since. I have an M6 and 9 lenses now and I doubt I'll even sell off one of the less desireable lenses. I will buy a D200 within the year and a Nikkor D lens or two but only when I figure out how to do it without trading away any Leica gear.

I've never been able to sell ANY Leica gear, even when I stop using it, just can't part with it!

 

JJ

1.) You inherited the camera/lens which makes it even more significant than a gift, because the giver is no longer here.

 

2.) In 10 years, what would your digi camera gear be worth? How much would the Leica gear be worth?

 

This is how I see the situation. Others will see it differently. Only you can decide.

I can't answer your question directly, since I still own most of the Leica equipment I've owned in the past.

 

However, a few thoughts:

 

First is that you should be careful not to tie up your disposition of a valuable item you've inherited with your emotional feelings for the relative who left it to you. If they left you the camera with a specific hope that you'd use it, then it's reasonable to give it a shot, but if your photographic interests are elsewhere and it was left to you without such an explicit expectation being somehow communicated, don't be shy about selling the camera.

 

Second, as someone who uses both digital SLRs and Leica equipment, let me give you some ideas about why you might in some instances choose to shoot with the M6.

 

I've found that (properly adjusted) rangefinder cameras are very nice to use in low light, for two reasons. The first is that focusing precision is very high. You have a great deal of control over the exact point of focus, which is essential if you're using a wide-aperture lens.

 

The second is that I've found that it's possible to handhold a rangefinder camera at much slower shutter speeds and get acceptable results. Often, when I take a well-focused photograph handheld at 1/15th sec with a 35mm lens, I'll get a result that's sharp enough to be pleasing. This kind of thing greatly encourages pushing the limits of natural light. In this context, the 35mm f/1.4 ASPH is a fantastic lens, and performs exceptionally well wide-open, when with good Canon or Nikon gear you often can have noticeable performance problems wide open with a fast lens.

 

My personal experience is that the results under such circumstances have been so striking that I will often bite the bullet and shoot film with my Leica, even when I'd probably rather have a digital result.

 

The Leica is often not my favorite for landscape or travel photography, though. Longer lenses are fiddly or don't exist depending on the focal length range, the differences between Leica optics and the competition melt away completely once you stop down a couple stops, and the convenience and automation of a good modern SLR is great when you have to grab photographs on the move.

 

Even in the photographic domain where the Leica excels, if your target medium is digital, you may find certain issues. Aside from the basic problems with handling and using film, one down side is that I've had trouble getting good commercial scans of images with lots of shadow areas. For some reason, places that use a Fuji Frontier system seem to make scans suffer from this strange, cloudy blue noise in the deepest shadows (where the film is most transparent.)

 

Another issue I've had on more than one occasion is becoming confused about whether the camera is loaded, and opening the bottom plate with film wound on the reels.

 

Bottom line is: I would recommend looking at what kind of photography you do. If you enjoy (or want to experiment with) indoor available light photography, I'd shoot at least 20 rolls of film with the Leica before selling. Take pictures of people, get close, and make sure the rangefinder is accurately adjusted. Use 400 or 800 speed film and push the limits of low light. You may get completely hooked.

 

If you pretty much only photograph subjects where the Leica doesn't have such an advantage, you should not feel bad about selling the camera and using it to get the equipment you'd like to have.

 

Hope that helps!

it's a late reply, hope you still read it.

I have actually sold my entire Canon L lens collection (6 lenses) and an 1D Mark IIn to buy Leica glass and an M8.

Miklos

I sold that exact kit at one point. And while I don't exactly regret it (at the time I needed the gear I bought with it), if you don't 100% NEED the cash, I would say keep it.

 

Then again, if you aren't super into RF photography, it won't matter.