Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/01/18
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Hi folks,
I'm in the position of coming to a Leica BECAUSE of the excellent
performance of ANOTHER rangefinder. Last year I purchased a Canon 7 after
falling in love with it seeing Stephen Gandy's Cameraquest home page. Got
it with a Nikkor 50 f2 and in short order found a Jupiter 12, Canon Seranar
85 f2 and 135 f3.5 ... now I had some prior rangefinder experience; my
father gave me his Voigtlander Vito III years ago, Olympus XA is my
favorite travel camera, and even have an Argus C4; but the Canon 7 *really*
hooked me. It's just FUN! Made me put down my Canon EOS A2....(I know, I'm
a heretic; don't worry, I'm coming to "on-topic material")... well, the joy
of the Canon 7 whetted my appetite for the 'ultimate'; and I now have an
M4-P w/MR4 meter on order. Now I can use some of my screw lenses on the M4P
(ordered adapters from Pat McKee) and have a good backup in the 7! I'm also
getting a 90/2.8 Elmarit from Marc Small.
In the past I always considered Leica to be "snob-appeal-hype"; swore I'd
never get into "that stuff". But if I enjoy the Canon 7 so much, and it's a
imitation of the M's.... (although I think they had more sense as to where
to put the pc sync!!) it's only 'evolution' that I wind up at the Gates of
Leica. ('Course I used to feel the same way about Hasselblad before I
bought one of those, too!)
So now, here I am... my working systems will be Leica and 'Blad... guess
I'm a "photo snob"!
(Or I got over the 'snob' thing and realized that good equipment can make a
difference.)
I'm REALLY looking forward to using the M4P... and eventually acquiring a
'user' Summilux.....
thanks for everyone's help, I feel like I've joined a very nice 'club'.
(Just wish everyone would STOP talking about those Noctilux things... I'm
VERY susceptable to virus's..)
best of shooting,
Bob Keene
[Walter wrote]
>If these "Leica aficianados" would realize that its "RANGEFINDERS"
>they're in love with and not "LEICAS", and realize that the
>lens test BS is just that (most pros voiced their preferences
>in the 50s-- that's how we GOT Nikon and CANON in the first place)
> we'd have lots more to choose from today (maybe....)
Walter,
Come on. You gotta be kidding. Of course, there are other rangefinders that
serve the same function and have reasonable lenses but I'd only buy them if
Leica M's didn't exist, and maybe not even then. I shoot film because I like
the whole process of taking photos, not just the results. I like how the M
body feels in my hand -- the shape of it, the placement and feel of its
parts, the smooth and elegant way the parts work together . . . . If this
sounds vaguely like e-mail sex, I've gotta say there's a strong element of
sensual and aesthetic pleasure in using an M camera that has zip/zero to do
with lenses testing or basic functionality. Now, if they also didn't take
great pictures, I wouldn't buy them either; but they do!
- - --Gib