Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/02/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]The title of my original posting made it clear that the message was addressed to LUG members who are collectors. However, Walter S Delesandri <walt@jove.acs.unt.edu> wrote: >I'll soften the blow by offering $900 US for your 'violated and molested' camera....it'll be disassembled and used only for parts, of course, to keep such a horrendously modified beast out of circulation........ and my friends wonder why I'd rather paint houses than go back into camera repair..... :) Sorry Walter, it's not for sale - as one of the last cameras to leave the production line bearing the Leitz name, it's a prized possession. (I love using classic Leitz-era cameras for work - it sometimes freaks the clients!) As "fitting for a princess descended of so many royal kings" she has now been refitted with what I'm told was the last Leitz red badge available at Leica UK. The "cunning workman" who did the job even removed the minute mark which his predecessor had made in the front plate when removing the original badge - how's that for craftsmanship? A camera-repair technician with that level of skill and attention to detail is in no danger of having to earn his living as a house painter! Regards, Doug Richardson - --------- This and the post by a LUGer asking whether the new snake skin platinum MG is TTL or not, raise a couple of interesting points... First - While I am not a collector, and - sorry - do believe that collecting has something to do with the high prices for used equipment, it certainly makes sense for a collector to be concerned about something like this red dot problem. If I had a restored 1954 Thunderbird and took it in for work, I wouldn't want to get it back and discover that it had, say, a 1958 carburetor stuck in it. And, frankly, I don't think there's any valid excuse for what happened to the camera in question... Then, however, comes the question of the snake's skin pillbox camera...IMHO LUGers should boycott the sale of this atrocity. The more cameras like this that Leica sells, the more they see this as their market, rather than catering to working photogs...This doesn't commemorate anything...It would be one thing if they were turning out numbered reproductions of specific cameras and lenses from specific eras - clearly marked as repros. But to simply take an M6, wrap it in the skin of a dead snake, stick what is technically an obsolete lens on it, and charge sixteen cagillion dollars? Come on...And by the way, if they've got the time and resources to plan and pull off all these special editions, they've got the time and resources to come up with an R8 motor drive that works....You all in the R camp are far too kind to Father Leica when it comes to putting up with the nonsense you get handed about why they can't provide you with some really basic accessories for their vaunted machine.... B. D.