Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/05/27
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Michael Garmisa wrote: > > They are always impressed by the image quality but many fall back on saying the > japanese lens are better, I usually respond by saying "if you say so" I think > this is something each person must learn on their own instead of being told. I > think my understanding stems from the fact that when i wanted to buy a new > automatic camera my father forced me to learn what I was doing with his > nikormat. I then got a new autoeverything Nikon, then I was given my M3 from > my fathers aunt and immediately fell in love. Probabbly gonna sell all my > Nikon stuff as soon as school is over and use the money to by an M lens, 50 > summicron or 35 summilux with goggles I think. My first encounter with a Leica was in my high school days, when I was shooting photographs for yearbooks. While I had a fine Nikon FG with a 50mm lens, the camera which I loved to use was M3 that belong to the wife of the Greek teacher, with a Summicron 50mm and a Elmarit 90mm. The Leica was especially useful in discreet, available light photography, to capture unposed gestures of schoolmates. I promised to myself back then that I will one day have a Leica. Thirteen years later, I finally got one: a somewhat scruffy, but completely overhauled DS M3 (ser. 8866xx) by the legendary master Hayada in Tokyo with a DR Summicron, I shelled out more than what it would have cost to buy a brand new Nikon F5, but I have no regrets. While I have had accumulated four Nikon bodies (FM2, F, F2 and F3) along with a range of lenses, as well as a modest collection of the Pentacon Six system, the Leica became my most often used camera. It is the one that gets carried with me the most, and it its the one that has captured the most memorable images of my 4-months old son. I still feel that Nikon has a presense in my life. The motor driven F3 allows me to be more spontaneous, while the F with the mirror-up 2.1cm lens lets me caputure the landscape in a compact package (ok, ok, who tells me that I should sell them and get a SA?) Nikonos goes where Leica would never go. Still, the Leica will occupy a special place for the rest of my life. It is a treasure, while being a useful tool.