How old were you when you bought your first Leica?

[bill_carson]

I was 17 years old and I bought a brand new Refugee Leica IIIA, Summar 50mm-f.2.0 w/ER Case ---- Paid about $125.00 for it. I

loved that camera but it was stolen from me and my next Leica was post-WWII. Great equipment! Regards and greetings to all. Bill

[douglas k.]

A more interesting question is "How long were you shooting before buying your first Leica?" There seem to be many folks who know very little about photography, who are novices, really, who (for some reason) buy thousands of $$$ worth of Leica gear in order to make bad snapshots.

 

I was 38 years old and had been shooting seriously for 12 years.

[igor_osatuke]

33, almost exactly a year ago. As for people spending thousands of $$$ on gear to take bad snapshots... Well, there are also many expensive cars out there with lousy drivers in them. It is just the way it is, like it or not.

Cheers.

[alex_lofquist]

My dad gave me a Leica IIIC for Xmas '51. I took the train from Detroit to college in Troy NY, but overslept and didn't wake up until I reached Poughkeepsie, NY. I quickly got off of the train, but forgot the Leica! I tried to have someone with the railroad find the camera and return it too me, but no luck. Eventually, the landlord of the house, where we were living off-campus, mentioned that he was going to NYC and he would see if he could find it. Sure enough, a week later he returned with my new Leica. Since then that camera has been to Africa, India, England, and around the world. I don't think that I shall ever sell it.

 

Alex

[anavar]

Last month and I was 14,512 days old. I have wanted a Leica since I was 6,205 days old. I have wasted a possible 8,307 day of Leica camera shooting. If you don't already own one RUN out and buy one NOW. Don't let this happen to you!

 

Art Návar

[peter_ditzer]

About 1980 when I was 16 grandma passed the family Leica (1930 version I converted to Leica II) over to me. It was (and still is) in a perfect condition because it was used only until 1941 when grandfather died in Russia during WW2.

At that time the Leica was returned by German army post to my grandmother and soon after it was the only valuable thing she saved from the bombing of Colone (except for her life and that of the 2 daughters).

I used it a lot and added over the years 35, 90 & 135mm lens, Visoflex II with bellow and a IIIf body for flash use. Until I finished university I used it a lot for b&w that I finished in my dark chamber on an old Focomat. In 1987 I got a new R4 with Vario Elmar 35-70mm that I bought after 7 months saving part of my first salary on the job. I still love this R4 but during the mid 90s I went back to the IIIf once again to do more manual & "hands on" photos. In 2000 I bought a badly dented & scratched first series M6 & some 2nd hand M lens that I am using ever since. Most recently I got a Visoflex III and a Telyt 560 (fits to both Visoflex and R4!).

I will never sell any of my Leicas because they are part of my life!

Currently I am dreaming of a M7... the Leica virus can not be cured...

[christopher_a._junker]

21st birthday present was a IIIg w/f2.8 Elmar 50, 28mmCanon Serenar and 90mm Elmar. The student at RIT sold the package to my Dad so he could buy a NikonF. Dad bought his first Leica in 1934 after he went to work for Kodak. I kept borrowing it so he saw that I got my own. Still have it,NFS-ever.

[greg_mason]

it was two years ago when i was 40. i had been shooting seriously for 20 years. photography is my way of dealing with stress. it is a solitary pursuit that gives me a chance to be alone with my thoughts and create something beautiful and lasting, especially if it is for someone else. my pro level af slr's and fast glass were simply getting to large and i no longer enjoyed carrying them around. i started with a contax IIIa and decided that i loved rangefinders. i now own a M3, M5, M6ttl, and a r6.2 and SL for those things that the M's do not do well. i have also aquired a decent collection of lenses. my pro level af slr still gets a lot of work, photographing childrens sports and portrait work, but my leicas are a joy.

 

i have the good fortune to have a good friend who purchased a BMW motorcycle at 40 and my wife considers this to be the less expensive mid life expenditure.

[ed_balko3]

I bought my first Leica at age 14 - $35 for a IIIc body at Olden in NY. I needed an interchangeable lens 35mm camera to photograph basketball games for my high school newspaper. The Serenar (Canon) 135mm/f3.5 set me back another $30; for quite a while this was the only lens I had. This was the era of the Japanese SLR invasion and RF cameras were out of fashion. About six months later I bought a 50mm/f1.8 Serenar for about $25.

 

The real bargain came a couple of years later. There was a boutique sort of a camera store named "Fotoshop" on 34th Street in Manhattan just a few doors down from Willougby's ("The Largest Camera Store In The World!!"). In their window they had several glass shelves labelled "Any camera this shelf $XX)- these cameras all had lenses. The XX=$25 shelf had Leica IIIa's, IIIb's, and a Leica IIc which I bought (it had a Summar). The XX=$35 shelf had IIIc's with Elmars.

 

Further downtown at about 12th Street was (and still is) a hyper pawn shop named "Unredeemed Pledge Sales" which got their goods from other pawn shops. They had a window full of LSM Leicas in the 1960's, all going for $25 to $50. These tended to be somewhat grubby and many of them were probably WWII booty.

[mrbob]

<P>It was the summer of 1959. I was 21 and had just graduated from college. My uncle Al asked me what I

wanted as a gift for graduation; I wanted a camera. He said that one of the tenants in the small building he

owned in midtown Manhattan was a photographer whose opinions he respected and would be the person who

could best advise us as to which camera to buy. The photographer turned out to be Bob Schwalberg who at

the time was technical editor of <EM>Popular Photography</EM>. </P>

 

<P>Subsequently the three of us met, and Bob suggested that I should get a Leica M2 or M3 because the Leica

system was well suited for many kinds of scientific applications - and I was to enter graduate school in

molecular biology in the fall. He also volunteered that he felt that Leica was one of the finest cameras made

and he wasn't saying that just because he was leaving for Germany shortly to work for Leitz. (Bob worked in

Wetzlar for nine or ten years. I understand that he acted as a liaison between Leitz and the photojournalist

community, bearing their input into the design of the M4.)</P>

 

<P>It's hard to describe how thrilled I was when I finally had in my hands my own Leica M3 with its 50mm dual-range Summicron lens, case, and exposure meter. I telephoned Schwalberg and asked "Which film should I try

first? Tri-X?"</P>

 

<P>"No, use Plus-X. Tri-X is too fast since you should first try using the camera outdoors."</P>

 

<P>I followed his advice. That first roll of Plus-X was used to shoot a friend's wedding. I still have the prints

somewhere. But it wasn't that first roll of snapshots that thrilled me as much as the way the camera fit in my

somewhat small hands and was so quick and easy to hold steady and use. It was if the M3 had been custom

made for me. And it was the beginning of my love affair with Leica - 43 years and counting.</P>

[andrew_c2]

Talk about wives. I'm 24 and just sold my M6 and 50 Summicron. Lost a bit of money, but I've decided that my Bessa R is better for the money I got back. All this was in good keeping with my girlfriend who is harping to save for: education; house; marriage; kids (in no particular order!). But then someone close to me HAD to spill the beans about that 21/2.8 Kobalux that I just bought... There go the last two priorities!

[james_h]

I was going to keep my mouth shut on this thread but all of the

very fun and interesting stories have motivated me to add my one

cent...

 

I too am surprised at the amount of youth represented here. I�m

not really surprised about those who bought Leica M years ago

when it was not as �antiquated� as it is now, but by those that are

much younger and bought their Leicas more recently. Many in

there 20s and 30s; there must be hope for the Leica system

(and film) :-)

 

My first Leica was (M6TTL) purchased a few months ago at age

of 36. I�ve been shooting off-and-on since age 12 or so.

[khiem_nguyen1]

I bought my first Leica , when I was 32 yrs old ( save for a year)I had known the legend and tradition of lense quality from leica lense for a long time , but could not afford untill now , and I have 2 child since then I never been regret a bit my money was well spend ( I bought everything in use condition R6, 50 cron ,35, 90 elmarit) . Before that I had a canon A1 ( some real good lense 50mm1.4 S.S.C , and 100mm) but when I compared the picture results with Leica lense I see my Leica lens produce some images quite different they are seem more live and mor vivid , Pls do not miss understand me , Canon lense are good too but Leica lense are so different . Pls see the image and welcome to give me some critics , Thanks for reading this message.

[james_kennedy2]

I was 66 when I bought my first (and only, so far) Leica, a post-war IIIc body in nice condition, to which I added a 50mm f2 Summitar lens. Since it is winter in Seattle, and I have a full time job, I have only shot 3 rolls to date, in color negatives. I like the results thus far and I am eager to try some tri-x. The camera is a jewel, and almost has a pulse.

 

I first took an interest in post baby-brownie photography when I was about 14. I checked out The Leica Manual at the library, ca 1950, and the featured camera was the IIIc. The image of the IIIc is to me the personification of what a 35mm camera should look like. I have also acquired, in the past month, a copy of that same book, courtesy of Amazon.

 

I seem to be following 3 paths simultaneously: (1) digital with a Fuji s602, (2) 30 year old tech with a Canon F-1, and (3) 55 year old tech with the Leica. All have their niche. If I were going on a vacation, I would take the digital as prime, and probably the IIIc as backup. The digital because lots of capability in a compact package (flash, zoom, instant feedback, image storage, sound and movies).

 

I have been taking a photography class at night (since I found out that my company would pay for it ~US $800). One of my fellow students had a Leica M6, which reawakend ancient urges. While surfing the web looking for old Canon FD lenses, I stumbled upon the ad for the Leica. Pure splurge but I love it. I now have to educate my heirs, that despite "batteries not included", it should not be sold for 5 dollars at a garage sale.

 

I greatly enjoy this forum and deeply appreciate the advice I have received from considerate and knowledgeable responders. Thank you all.

[george_conboy1]

It was 1979 and I was a 19 year old college student working in a small camera shop. I was the only employee of the husband & wife owners who pretty much let me have the run of the place and borrow any equipment any time I wanted, so I had tried almost everything, but we didn't carry Leica equipment. I had heard of Leica mostly from the pipe-smoking old camera buffs who would gather in the shop on Saturday mornings to drink coffee and swap stories. When a doctor came in one day to "trade up" to a new Nikon SLR, I bought what he traded in: an M3 with a DR Summicron and a bugeye 35. The lot cost me $300 and that was a real stretch for me at the time. I picked up a Luna-Pro and a collapsible Elmar 90, and enjoyed using that camera more than any other I had ever tried.

 

Twelve years later, I found it increasingly difficult to photograph my two young squirmy children using a fully manual camera with a hand-held lightmeter. I traded my Leica equipment in for a Nikon F3 and a set of lenses, thus unwittingly closing a loop that had brought me the camera in the first place. The Nikon gave me 5 years of good service, but I missed the M3. I would tell my wife how much I wished I still had it, and I must have sounded dire because she encouraged me to go back to Leica - sometimes wives have good ideas.

 

I now have two M6s and a handful of lenses. I recently picked up a 35 ASPH to replace my Canadian 35 'lux, but now I can't bring myself to part with the 'lux.

 

All that said, if anybody out the has my old M3 (serial number 1204634) I would love to buy it back.

[vahe_sahakian]

I was 21 then and about to turn 65 now.

 

Well, not really, my first Leica was a Russian Zorki, a straight copy of screwmount Leica with a copy of 3.5 Elmar on it.

But, I did buy my first Leica soon after, an M3 w/DR Summicron, today I have two M3's and four screwmount Leicas.

My favourite Leica is the IIIg, do not ask me why, is it the classic look? I can not explain so let us leave it at that.

 

Thanks,

Vahe

[ray_moth]

Wow, more people than I would ever have expected bought their first Leica while still quite young!

 

I was 52 when I bought my first Leica, a Mini Zoom P&S. I bought my first Leica SLR, an R7, at age 55 and my first M6TTL at age 56.

[stever]

I bought mine, a pre-war Leica IIIc , in August 1973, when I was 23 years old. I was living in Baltimore at the time, and took a day trip to NYC. I bought the body and a Canon Serenar 50mm 1.8 lens at my favorite store, Olden Camera, right off of Herald Square (is it still in business??) You can see some of my Leica iiic photos here:

 

http://www.geocities.com/srosenbach/seventiesphotos.html

 

A year later, I bought a beautiful collapsible 50mm Summicron f/2.0 in Baltimore. I made good use of this iiic/summicron combination over the next 6 years or so - even when I travelled with SLRs, I would bring my old Leica with me, since it hardly took up any room.

 

In 1978 or so, I bought a really nice double-stroke M3 body and screw-mount adaptor at Olden. By now I was living in NYC. Early next year, I bought a Minolta/Leitz CL.

 

Unfortunately, once I got married and started raising a family, I got rid of *all* my cameras, including my Leicas.

 

When I resumed my hobby about 2 years ago, I looked into buying a Leica IIIc or IIIf - and discovered that I shoulda invested in Leicas rather than my 401K!

 

The current high price of old Leicas drove me to Zorkis, FEDs, and Keiv rangefinders, of which I now have about 20 :-)

 

... but I sure would like to once more own a Leica IIIc some day!

 

Best regards,

SteveR