[Leica] Oh Barf! Patina, Pashmina!

["B. D. Colen" <bdcolen@earthlink.net>]

This is not intended as an attack on any individual living or dead. It is
intended as an attack on an ethos that is much too much alive:


Oh, Barf!! Patina, Pashmina...Use a camera, it will get brassed. Don't use
it, it won't. Owning a brassed M will not turn you into HCB, Jim Marshall,
or, for that matter, the reasonably skilled and imaginative high school kid
down the block who does great things with her K1000.

This entire black paint, brassed-assed series of threads is precisely what's
wrong with the LUG - too many people are obsessed with the possession of an
icon called a Leica than are obsessed with using a camera to share their
artistic/political/sociological/familial/anthropological/lunatic vision with
the world.

You like shiny black paint - buy a black paint M. You like chrome - buy a
chrome M. You can't afford a Leica - buy what you can afford and TAKE PHOTOS
WITH IT.

B. D.




> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> [mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us]On Behalf Of sam
> Sent: Thursday, June 08, 2000 8:54 AM
> To: lug
> Subject: [Leica] <no subject>
>
>
> re:
> > As for people who want their black-paint M6s to brass and fade: get a
> > life! And for those who are buying them to simply stash them and sell
> > them 40 years on, I say: I think I've made more money in the stock
> > market. I'd still rather buy 100 shares of Microsoft than a black-paint
> > M6.
>
> I think you're missing a point here. The "brass and fade" effect is called
> patina. . .and is more than just a cosmetic alteration. In numismatics,
> attractively toned coins are, IMO, more aesthetically pleasing than shiny
> mint ones. Some people like leather coats with a patina. . .an old wooden
> handtool with the marks of long skillfull use - signs of a human using
> the tool - like the small penknife my grandfather handed down to
> me. . .the
> blade half worn from years of sharpening . . .and so on. I have always
> considered the cameras I've used as tools. The Leica is a tool, and the
> brassing that results from use is like the owner's logbook. I agree that
> putting one away as an investment doesn't make much sense. . .and
> it's up to
> each individual whether the extra cost to have an instrument that
> will brass
> and fade is justified. I think it is.
>
> sam
>