The Leica Thing

[barney@sgi50.wwb.noaa.gov (Barney Quinn)]

Hi to All,

When I was in college, in the sixties, I used a Leica IIIf. Just for
fun, during my vacation last August, I got it out, put an old f2
Summitar ( the one with the funky f-stops ) on it, loaded it with a
roll of Velvia, and shot away. I had a lot of fun, and as a bonus I
ended up with a box of nice, great looking slides. 

I have been lurking on this list for a long time, and for a long time
I have wanted to both get my old Leica gear back on the road, and to
get some more modern equipment so that I could re-explore the Leica
experience with my own eyes and hands now that I have had a chance to
do some living. 

I bought a new M6, and I got a 50mm rigid black f2 Weltzar Summicron
to go with it. I lucked across a mint CL which had just come back from
Leica. It had a 90mm Rokkor and a 40mm f2 Summicron. I came across a
40mm Rokkor at a price I couldn't refuse, so I got it, too. My plan is
to use it in place of a 35mm lens on the M6 until I can get a 35mm
lens. Perhaps not strictly what a purist would do, but it works. I
realize that this isn't the top of Leica's line, but, given that, like
all of us, I have to live with limitations, I would prefer to live in
a modest house in a better area.

I saw the drubbing Pete took when he posted his stuff about switching
from a 1n to an R8 on rec.photo. I was going to write in an suggest
that he ignore it, but then I started reading some of the stuff there,
and now I am the one who needs help.

This is what I know for a fact. I have been shooting with Kodak's new
T400 CN film. In my living room, even as I mis-spell this, I have out
a group of 11x14 prints I made with my new-to-me Leica gear. The
photographs are wonderful, exceed my expectations, and are identical
in quality to shots made with name-brand 6x6 cameras using
conventional emulsions. Believe me. Most of my work is macro shots of
flowers made with a 4x5 Wisner and Schneider Apo-Symmar glass. To quote
Hamlet, I most certainly can tell a hawk from a hand-saw when it comes
to image quality. 

On rec.photo I read that only a fool would buy a Leica. I was assured
that the range finder in my M6 was trash. I went looking in Deja News,
and was informed that my CL was really a piece of mediocre equipment,
that the 40mm Rokkor was something  to get rid of as soon as I could,
that the split image prisim in the CL was going to die on me, and that
the meter in the CL had weak wires which were guaranteed to break and
leave me stranded. 

What's going on here? Have I just spent my retirement money on junk?
How do you explain my 11x14's? Is part of the Leica experience
learning to be hated and being required to cope with idiocy?

My friend invited me to her wedding. I went as a guest, not as a
photographer. I took my new M6 with me in the hope that I could get an
informal portrait of her which said something about our friendship,
and about her wedding day. You should have seen the looks I got from
the official photographer who was using rec.photo.35 officially
approved SLR gear. I was able to get the shot I wanted, and gave it to
the happy couple as a gift, They were thrilled. The real photographer
took all his shots using the brick front of the church as a
background. I allowed myself to shadow him one shot to see if it was
really as gross as I thought it would be. It was. Reminded me of a
firing squad.

What in @&#^# is going on? Good thing I had my piece of trash Rokkor
with me. The bricks are gorgeous - clear out to the edge of the frame.

Help.

Barney
barney@sun1.wwb.noaa.gov