Unpacking an M6: smells just like haute couture

I didn't get my (almost mint) M6 in time to use it today but by golly, opening the box up smelled and felt just

as an haute couture product would.

 

Do I regret having to use it? No. Chanel bags and clothes and so on have to be used, too. And maybe even thrown

out after a time if they've been abused too much. The image is what needs to be conserved, not the camera. M6es

ain't museum pieces. Well, most of them aren't anyway.

I can't help saying that as I read your description of opening the box, I pictured you sitting at a table in a fine restaurant, wearing a tux, using the oh-so-expensively-printed menu to delicately fan the exquisite aroma a little more directly towards your smiling face. A few styrofoam packing peanuts scattered about the table complete the picture. (And yes, don't forget the silverware tastefully arrayed, the bottle and glass of vintage fine wine, the silk napkin tucked into your collar....)

 

I hope you have as much fun with your new camera as I'm having right now!

 

Congratulations, and go forth and use it well!

When I first unpacked my 50-year-old M3 after I got it, it smelled like teen spirit.

When I unpacked my brand new Holgas, they smelled like crappy Chinese cameras. I love them anyway!

When I unpacked my 5D, i smelt money burning.

Boxes? We don't need no stinking boxes!

Smells like WHAT?

 

Any chance of you taking a picture with it anytime soon?

 

I guess not. I expect you will be doing a lot of fondling next. ;-)

I unpacked my MP and threw the boxes away, along with boxes for a 75/1.4, Motor M, 35/1.4 and the rest of the boxes including the boxes the film came in.

 

Smelled like a delayed retirement.

Tony, you may have missed Karim's post about needing a Leica for a photo assignment.

 

I, for one, don't know how haute couture may smell, but I recall a smell of newness coming off my very first Leica: a silver

M6TTL that looked very minty, just like its case, box and strap and everything.

Francisco Solares-Larrave wrote:

>

>Tony, you may have missed Karim's post about needing a Leica for a photo assignment.

 

 

No-one *needs* a Leica.

 

Many of us want one, though, and some of us (myself included) are lucky enough to own one or two. But none of us *needs* one. It is a choice we make of our own free will, not one that is imposed on us by necessity.

 

Arguably, you might be able to prove a need for a 35mm rangefinder camera, based on their small size, low noise or sheer unobtrusiveness. But there are many brands of rangefinder camera, so I repeat, no-one actually *needs* a Leica. I don't think Karim has claimed he needs one, either.

I remember an artikle in Leicafotograpfie about 30 years ago that told of things to look for when purchasing a kamera what had been used. One the first tests was to open the back and nose it. Should not smell musty or of mildew. It also noted that slight paint wear on the lower edge of the back door should not be of concern, rather a sign that it had rubbed off gently over the years, up against the center button of a favorite tweed jacket. No mention of pipe tobacco...

 

All of this was is the "British" version of contorted/translated English, but I got the message. Here's hoping yours didn't smell like haute couture mushrooms.

 

Ray

Its the foul stench of existential emptiness, perfumed over by the cheap cologne of materialism.

Tony, check <a href="http://www.photo.net/leica-rangefinders-forum/00PoaX">THIS</a> out.

Thanks, Francisco.

We did get to go inside the theatre that was staging The Marriage of Figaro but rehearsals were hours away. So all we got were a couple of shots of the stage. Oh well. Our plans didn't coincide with theirs. ;-)

I think that the aroma of a nice Former Soviet Union camera -- was it the glue? the leatherette? -- combined as it often is with the rich scent of Caucasian tobacco, will arouse quite different impressions than ones of haute couture. Perhaps a soupcon of the forced labor camp? A hint of brambles?

When I opened the UPS box that held my eBay bought M6 classic and current cron 50 for $1500 (2.5 years ago), I smelled fear.

 

I had purchased them with an off-limits credit card and my wife would find out in exactly 25 days. Fear lifted me to a resourcefulness I did not know I possessed but various guidance councelors over the years used to tell me they could sort of see in me when they squinted.

 

I began to smell hope.

 

I immediately put 5 classic survival knives up on the Bay, one F3, three AI-S lenses, one mint Nikkor 2.8 AF 18mm, two motor drives and (not on eBay but to a cop nearby) 4 fine handguns. 25 days later the debt was covered like a dead body in the flower bed and I also got an elmarit 28 and a current 90 that had never been used previously.

 

Now I smell only popcorn as the movie of life continues to spin off the reel.

3 or 4 years ago, I was walking in a big scrap warehouse. I was looking some electronic parts. There were to many parts multimeteres, power supplys, musical instruments, etc. Suddenly I saw a metal jerry can. But there was a small hole on center. I hold it, and I understand something in the jerrcan. It was heavy and I listen some different voices in jerrycan. Also I find a trigger button on a handle. I was look bottom panel, it can be remove with four screw easy. I'm open it a little bit afford, and I can open it. I'm find a brand new (stickers on still film panel) Nikon F3 HP, MD-4 and Nikon F2.8 24mm lens and connect with a cable to trigger. WOW bingo. I'm totaly close it quickly. I was buy some parts and bring it with the seller for pay money. I show my parts on my hand. He told me price and I pay quick. Then I hit the jerrycan with my foot and ask him "how much do I pay for this?" he told me 20 YTL (16USD) then I say "I want to pay 10YTL (8USD)" he accept... I was buy 8 AA battery before return home, and I try to camera it works. I'm clean all gears then they look great...But all parts are smell diesel oil.

Tolga

I got my M2 *naked*, nothing, just some bits of fake leather! Ain't that _much_ more fun?

By now though it smells like... (my hands?...) - where can I get a DSL (Dip-Shampoo-Lotion)?

I still remember the smell of my SL's leather ER case. It was very aromatic. It brings back happy memories

I believe Leica is now owned by a pricey luggage company. No wonder the cameras smell like fancy stores.