Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/02/12
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Mike wrote,
>I've said this before, but one of the great ironies of the Leica to me
>is that their expense encourages people to baby them, treat them with
>kid gloves, and never expose them to abuse, whereas much of that very
>expense is incurred specifically to make them tough enough to stand up
>to just such abuse.
That seems to me like typical human behavior - and they do the same to
their high end cars, jewellery, watches. The precious metal that get used
and abused repeatedly is gold teeth.
Being typical too, I am more inclined to buy used gear so that I will have
less second thoughts about using them and using them hard. I bought my G2
new but at that price, it is not going to hurt my feelings even if it got
abused. I have dropped it, dented the hood and it's still working well.
People also seem to cradle Leicas because the second hand value depends
very much on the condition. The Contax Gs, by comparison, does not seem to
hold it's value the way leicas do. So everyone hopes to be able to sell as
minty a leica as possible at the end of the day.
IMO, users should buy working but not necessarily great looking leicas to
use and enjoy. There are lots in the used market. Similarly for the lens.
To me barrel cosmesis is unimportant as long as the glass is good. The
bottom line is that people do LOOK AT THE GLASS! Whether you protect the
glass with another glass (filter), the shade, the cap or with 4 burly
bodyguards is your decision but anyone who has tried selling a mint lens
with some form of damaged glass will tell you that it is not easy.
Dan K.
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Live simply so that others might simply live
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