Leica Madness

[blowingsky]

I wanted a Leica since the mid 60's but never could afford one. I kept reading about people, "taking their battered old Leica..." and making these great images. I had a Minolta Hi-Matic, well I borrowed my brother's. Then came the 70's and I got a Pentax Spotmatic, then a Nikkormat and and finally an FE. 1984, I am helping out at a orphanage and for my birthday 10 kids get together and rummage through stuff the apartment manager across the street donates to them from stuff that is left behind. They find a camera and wrap it in newspaper and put it in a cerel box and tape comic book pages to the outside and give it to me. Its a red dial IIIf with a Summitar 50/2 in great shape. I didn't know anything about it then and had to figure out how to load it, etc. Winds of fate change and not two weeks later I am on the road spending six months going to London, Milano, Kobenhaven, Zurich, Washington D.C., New Your City and Santa Fe. I realize that "Leica loves light". I am as facinated with the way the lens interprets light as I am with communicating via images.

 

But eventually I began to see a crescent of black on the negs and no one could tell me why. So I sold it. <pain> Hello FE, F3, FM and a lot of lenses and landscape photography. Then, two years ago, a digital.

 

But then I agreed for the economic good of the household to take a marketing job that paid well but was soul-wearying dull. I knew I had to keep my love alive somehow. I needed a Leica back. Yes, I could take great photos with the Nikon gear I still had, but this was different. I needed to get back a passion.

 

So I sold 6 nice handguns, 7 collector grade survival knives, One F3 with motor drive, 4 AF Nikkor lenses (one was the 18mm F 2.8 AF and one was the AF 60mm Micro)and two MD-12 drives. I kept a Nikon F3 and an FM. I and I bought an M6, a latest version 50 cron, a 1980 Elmarit 28/2.8, an as-new 90/2.8 elmarit latest version and then added a summar 50/2 (1938), Elmar 90/4, Summaron 35/3.5 (goggles)and a Voigtlander Color-Skopar 35mm/2.5 pancake.

 

What changed? My outlook, my attitude, my eye. I became a photographer again. I switched out my Nikon lenses to manual primes, just the classic ones and I shoot them too. I will probably have a Nikon D200 in six months. Still, when my job is sucking the life out of me, I take my Leica and one lens and head out for the territory beyond. And I always come back whole.

 

Don't think I'd sell any Leica gear again.

[todd_k.]

I just could not wait for the Hermes addition

[todd_k.]

I just could not wait for the Hermes addition...<div></div>

[travis1]

eric, an M4? ;)

 

ok about 1k USD? Im selling for what I bought for.

[r s]

Not sure if it falls under the 'madness' category but I just bought my second Leica (in addition to my M3).

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Picked up a near-mint Leica III (F) from 1933 with a 50/3.5 Elmar and 90/4 Elmar from 1937 (along with a viewfinder).

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Really looking forward to using it this weekend and see how the first roll turns out.

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Pretty thing as well.

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<img src="http://www.pbase.com/rsilfverberg/image/53273818.jpg">

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[EricM]

Travis, please stop it. :) Recovering film user here...

[blowingsky]

Travis, I sent you an e-mail on the 35 summarons.