sandy.

Have been away for a few years. Just checking in to say hi to everyone, especially members that remember me....

By the way, I am now a car collector. No more photographer. You guys are great because you are able to keep up

and continue.... Viva Photo. Net.

To answer your question : I bought a mint ++ KE7A in less than one year ago. I paid $33,500 for the body only.

 

I have lost my shirt on my hobby on Leica collection. At one time my collection is worth more than US$ 1.0 million. I would be lucky if I get get 35% of that today. Such is life. Better off buying a Dodge Charger with shaker hood.... Leica collection can no longer be looked at an investment. All these jokes we had about film vs digital and we say time will tell. Well, time is telling us now.

 

Buy the camera for love, or for the fond of precision machines, but never for an investment.

 

Best of luck to you.

 

PS : A pair of sunglasses worn by Steve McQueen was hammered at $75,000, so go figure.

<P>FWIW : The early productions M7 have this problem. Leica knows about this. Same thing happened to me and they just replaced it without giving me any explanation or hassle. Problem is due to high temperature PLUS humidity shorting the circuit board. Next time, remember NEVER put your M7 where the air conditioning is blowing. And, this is also before I bitched about the flare in the range finder. The older members will remember it. At that time, almost everyone was giving me hell, thinking I was witch hunting...

<P>Good luck.

<P>But if you understand nor did you study the market, and you went out and bought a Ferrari 308 GTB/4, then I'd feel sorry for you.

<P>Another similar case : A Ferrari 1964-65 250 GTO or 250 GT SWB. They were changing hands at $5,000 to $8,000 in the late 60's. Try buying one today. The GTO is about 10 mil. So once again, what is wrong with collecting? The only thing wrong is when you missed your chance. Talk about content : The Ferrari GTO is more sparse and more rudimentary than your 2006 Toyota anything with GPS, ESP, Anti this , Anti that... it's just similar logic.

<P>Recent case in point. If you have bought you complete M7 Titanium set new then, how much are they worth now NIB?

<P>For Those Who Feel Like Throwing Up...

<P>This is for bragging. Of course I did not pay for those high prices when I bought them. My gain in equity is about 40% now since I started collecting, and is still going up.

<P>Don't use eBay as your price guide. Try pricing a pre-M, like a 001 - 010 and see what you have to pay ? Also try to price (if you can find one) a Vario Elmarit R 35-70 2.8 NIB. These items are changing hands privately.

<P>A Gullwing in mint condition is worth $850,000, for your reference. I bought one at $80,000.

<P>So what is wrong with collecting ? It is just another business !!!

<P>I think you guys don't quite understanding that there are two marketing sides of Leica : For the Collectors and for the Users.<p>They don't have to be mutually exclusive, and I am one of those.<br>On the collecting side, I have 30-40 (lost count...) M bodies ranging from M1 to M7. Then I have the users, they are the M3, M4 and the M7's.<P>On the collecting side, one of the rare M is worth US$ 100,000, the next one is worth US$ 85,000. Two of my R lenses are worth US$ 9,000 each. There is no logic to Leica prices, it all depends on rarity, thus the Leica Titanium M7.<P>The user side you all know and I don't need to explain.<P>So what I am saying is when you judge the future of Leica, one has to take into consideration the many and very different aspects of this name brand. It may be hard for some of you to understand...<P>Cheers.

<P>What happened to the Leica CM?

<P>Well, for one thing, it eats batteries like there is no tomorrow, so I sent mine back to Leica for a fix and I got cash back instead. Does that answer your question ?

<P>Get yourself a flash. When shooting at the sun as in your photo, a fill-flash is a must to avoid flare.

<P>I am surprised by all the negative comments and resentments here about a person you do not know. What you know is only what you read on the tabloids, and they are always the biggest liars in the world. To fill the empty space or pages, they wouldto literally make-up and create like writing fiction stories on events, and invent happenings about a person that even THEY themselves do not know. Bias is the key word in this kind of reportage.

 

<P>I am surprised. I thought the Leica bunch's Intelligent Quotient is higher than that, and yet almost everyone is behaving like a child. Paris Hilton bashing is stupid as it was unfair to Paris. Do you really know her to pass out all these ridiculous judgements. When was the last time she really did any harm to you, and I meaning REALLY REALLY HARMFUL to you ?

 

<P>It is certainly within you right not to like somebody. Me, your spouse, your in-laws or whoever else, but bashing she does not deserved. When was the last time you talked to her ? When was the last time you see and meet with her on a personal level. If you haven't, then you know who you are.

 

<P>I know her. I talked to her often as I know the family. Everything that is written on this page is uninformed make-up comments. It is very un American like, or may be not. Go ask Bush.

 

<P>So please stop it.

 

<P>Bob, Tony, Josh and Brian, I mentioned about the weekends, you all denied it, so what do you called this ?

<p>Although I am not a professional photographer, but WE are Leica and other camera owners. We have taken hundreds and thousands of photos and yet we cannot take a passport photo, I felt so beat up...

Sreenivas, Thanks. That is very useful information and just what I need.

 

Sorry about cannot figure your first and last name. Is that European if i may ask ? Thanks again

<P>Actually, your advice really makes sense. Here we are in the Leica forum with our expensive toys and I am panicking over a mug shot, sad. Any one wants to take me as a beginning student? I'll work for lessons !

<P>Thanks Richard. Good info except for the last part where <<<<i>Finally, if anyone says you look bad in your passport photo, show them your real face and they will realise how goodlooking you are in real life!</i>>>> Don't want to be accused for causing people belly ache from laughing too hard. I think that's a felony. :-)

<P>Hehe, Michael, if I have the photo taken at Kinko, you wouldn't be able to tell if it's King Kong or me. :-)

<P>PS : I live in the U.S., so I would guess the guideline is somewhat different than the UK's... am I correct ?

<p>Thanks to everyone.

<P>I am not vain, but a friend of mine was in the same situation : No time ! So we went to Kinko, and boy, what scary photo one can make. They use a tiny digital camera to take the picture, but the result was so horrifying that she cannot reconize herself, and imagine what we have these day called the Homeland Security laws, and if the INS guy said the one in the photo is not me, I would be eye brow deep in brown liquid. Is this scary or I am just being paranoid ?

<p>Hi All,

<P>Didn't realize my passport will expire in less than one month, and I have

already juggled by business trips so that it would be impossible to change it

any more, beside, it is very embarassing. So here is my question. Can I do it

myself ?

<P>I have got the lighting part sorted out, but I don't know how to do the

following :

<P>1. What focal lens should I use ?

<br>2. How far away should I stand my tripod be ?

<BR>3. Digital of course is the easiest way out but it's little cop out, and I

worry about color fading in ten years.

<BR>4.I use a beige background because I suspect the INS would like that, but

should I use a little bounce flash to give it a little more commercial look ?

<BR>5.What ASA, 200 or 400 would be better?

<BR>6.Anything else you can think of ?

<P>I am not trolling, in fact, I am a little panicking. It used to be so

easy, you go down to a photostore and they can take care of the whole thing

for you. Now they are almost all closed, so that's not a solution anymore.

What should I do ?

<P>Help please, and it will be deeply appreciated. The last thing I want is to

look at is my ugly self on my passport for the next ten years...

<P>Thank you in advance.

<BR>Sandy

<P>And this is why i like SLRs when the trip is substantial(ly) long.

<p>I would take either the R 6.2 or the R7. Lately, most of the time I am using Leica, I would pick the R7 ($900 from eBay) and a Vario Elmar-R 35-70 f/3.5. Now wouldn't that make more sense than so many primes and bodies ?

<P>Please look at the R when you have time. This is one of Leica's finest.

<br>Good luck.

<p>Will, didn't mean to offend you in anyway or form. May be this is my stupid way to try to cheer you up. Now that you are unhappy because of my rude response, I apologize to you sincerely : Sorry my friend.

<P>But the truth remains that you will be seeing a lot of dust sooner or later. I gave up on my 10D, and the 5D is beginning to show the same signs.

<P>Have a nice day and enjoy your new camera, and totally forget about my stupid remarks please.

<p>Dave, sorry to hear about the news and thanks for the heads up. It is unfortunate indeed. You have my sympathy and I hope you can be a Leicaphile again soon. Maybe this is a good excuse for you to order the ultimate M that you have always wanted. Now that would be very exciting wouldn't it ? And if it were for me, I would even loosing a lot of sleep thinking of the infinite possibilities and combinations for the new M...

<P>Buying from eBay these days is purely based on blind trust IMHO; and I have stopped using their service for Leicas a long time ago. I still think eBay should have an escrow service where the alleged merchandise can be checked first, but I guess that would incur too much liabilities and won't make good enough money for them on top of their original commissions. As I said, since I have not been using them except for buying some toys, they may have that service now, but if not, then hey, maybe we can start a new joint-venture escrow service ?

<P>Happy snaps ;-))

<P>Dust in your 5D.... you must be new to this. Finding dust, specks, hair etc in a SLR or a rangefinder camera is no big deal, especially it is only there on the finder. You should concentrate on the capturing of your image(s) and not care about a speck of dust. I have dust on ALL of my Canon cameras including their what they called "sealed" bodies. I never notice them. Even if it's on your image, it can still be repaired by PS anyversion.

<P>Don't drive yourself nuts. If it doesn't happen now, it will happen later, it's just a matter of sooner or later, and how many times do you think you can torture yourself by going through the exchanging process ?

<P>Go out and shoot, and forget about the rest. If you are collecting a 5D, which would be a very odd thing to do, then just don't touch the camera. Leave it in the box.

<P>If you have a chance to look at the dusts and specks on <B>my</B> cameras finders, I am sure you will stop worrying.

<P>They are meant to be used, though not abused. Be happy, because not every person can afford a new 5D plus several lenses. Consider yourself very lucky already. Okay ? Now smile and say "cheeze" :-))

<P>I have only a couple of digicams and they can take only black and white pictures. But boy, can they show me your ribs, your hearts, your liver, your everything, and very clearly, too. I don't know how many pixels they have but the one for breasts, I can even see the veins. I don't like my other color ones as much because the definition is not very good. I can only see patches, so may be one day, somebody will invent a color digicam for me. I am hoping.

<p>I am fortunate enough to own all the M variations. When I pick up my M3 with a 50 cron', everything is second nature. When I do need to use either my .58, .72 or .85 M7 or MP, after a year's of swatching back and forth, it is a non-issue either.

<P>The reason for having different viewfinder / body is when I am not shooting digital (DSLR and zoom lens), I like to have one camera, one lens. If I think I might need to have another focal length, I just bring another appropriate camera/lens combination.

<P>Since you said you use mostly the 50mm, try it all at a good Leica dealer and decide for yourself. But do go to a good Leica dealer such as Culmet, normally they have all three finders in stock for you. A small dealer may not have all three in stock.

<P>Good luck.

<P>To : Federick Muller,

<P>Thanks for the information. My LTM 5cm cron' has a serial # of 1043xxx; my Summitar 5cm has a serial # of 509xxx.

<P>I believe you are correct and it is very kind of you to analyse the situation for me. Just like I told Another Bob, there are good and wise people here, you just have to find them, and you are one of them.

<P>Much Thanks

<BR>Sandy