anthony_brookes5

<p>Yes - I remember being 'bombed' by a flock of seagulls whilst I was trying to photograph a fishing trawler. Never again.</p>

It's very tempting to think that a lottery win would enable you to take better pictures but of course it wouldn't. I'm now in my seventies and I can honestly say that my pictures are no better now using a Leica than they were with an Ikonta in the 1950s a Werra and a Contaflex in the 1960s and a Contarex in the 1970s. I have used only Leicas since the 1980s and those taken with my Leica III are some of my favourite pictures. I won a competition with a photo from the Ikonta and one from the Contarex and I have sold a few pictures. Money can't buy good pictures. It can widen your ability to take pictures but that is all.

<p>This looks like genuine Leica black paint to me. I have the same camera with a nickel summar and it looks very similar.</p>

Tony- I agree Banks of the Marne. It has everything as a photo - and taken with a Leica III with 50mm Summar. Who needs anything else ?

Jamie - In my opinion you have picked the ideal set up. M6 plus 50mm summicron. Perfect.

50 mm for preference. If the M6 had a frame for 40mm I might choose the 40mm Summicron.

Nice story Mike. I had to save up for my Ikonta with rewards for errands and birthday money. You always appreciate things you have saved for rather than things you have been given.

Welcome to a wonderful hobby - and for some a career. I started photography sixty years ago and I am still learning but mainly now about the idiosyncrasies of digital processing..Firstly I would learn bout focal lengths and their effects. Photograph a face at say 10feet with every focal length your lens has. If it is a zoom then select about six equal positions as you rotate it it. That will show you the effect of lens focal lengths at close distance. Do the same with a landscape. You will the seen the importance of choosing the right distance to photograph something. Secondly with a digital camera you can fire plenty of shots without worrying about cost. So take as many photos as you can experimenting with light - from in front, from the side, from behind. Good luck.

Rick - Like you I am amazed at the Kodachromes I took in the late '50s. I still have some that I took when I worked for the Ford Motor Company at Dagenham. By then I had a Contaflex, still with a Tessar, but that was my first 35mm camera, after which I bought a Corfield Periflex - nice little camera but a poor lens. Can someone explain why those Kodachromes have lasted so long with minimal deterioration?

I have looked after my first camera - mainly checking the bellows having treated them many years ago with a leather food - since 1953. Now that I can scan negatives I have dug it out and am putting a film through it this month. In those days I had no meter or rangefinder and used the exposure guide in the Selo film box for the shutter speed and aperture to use. Distances I guessed in relation to a cricket pitch and usually got it right, by using the right aperture to cover the distance, You really had to think about the picture in those days and action photography was out of the question. My camera was a Zeiss Ikon Ikonta with 4,5 Tessar in a Compur shutter to 1/250th. As a schoolboy, photography had just been introduced as an after hours hobby and only four or five boys were interested. The one rule our master gave us, and illustrated by us all testing the theory, was never to take a handheld photograph below 1/100th of a second.

I would recommend a Zeiss Ikophot.- no batteries required - and mine is as accurate now as when I bought it 45 years ago (checked against my M6) Make certain you get one with the diffuser int its slot.

I looked at the Ricoh GRD amongst others but the absence of a viewfinder and the Vario Summicron lens on the Leica made it no contest. Having now used the C for a couple of months I am very happy with it and the lens is superb. The viewfinder was essential for me even though it is only electronic with not too many pixels but it makes one a lot less obvious when taking snatched pictures in public.