[Leica] My R8 story

[Ccl1396915541@aol.com]

Hi.  I was reading about the R8 discussion and felt compelled to chime in.  
My name is Chuck Cleary and I retired 2 years ago from a career as a 
corporate location photographer.  All my professional life I used either 
Nikon and toward the end Canon EOS 1n but at home I kept my M4 with 35-50-90 
that I used for personal photography.  When I retired I wanted an SLR and 
decided I had to have the very best so I bought a mint used R8 with an 
electric winder and a 1-year warranty and being a former pro, a very minty 
R4S for a spare.  Lenses I bought were a mint 28-70mm and a 70-210mm because 
this camera was for my intended travels and though I never cared for Nikon 
zooms I figured Leica zooms must be better even than Nikon fixed lenses.  I 
shot a little with them, nothing serious, then got involved in a move to 
another state and then got sick, and FF to one year later and I was off on a 
3-month cruise to parts far away, the dream of a lifetime.  Well, a week into 
the trip the R8 finder display up and flickered out.  No big deal.  The R4S 
had a working meter, I had a hand meter.  I kept shooting.  At the Parthenon, 
I pushed the depth-preview down and it stayed down.  Broken spring.  No big 
deal, pushed it back up each time.  Kept shooting.  In Ankara, after loading 
a new film the winder went "EEEEEEEEEE" and croaked.  No big deal, I wound 
with my thumb.  Three days later the shutter locked up.  No big deal.  R8 
out, R4S in.  A week later in Rome I was winding and the wind lever got stiff 
and then went "pop" and was permanently disengaged.  Big deal.  All Leicas 
out, scurry all over Rome looking for camera store that had another cheap 
Leica body (leaving the next morning, no time for a repair).  Found one 
Leicaflex with little meter window in front.  They wanted $500 American for 
it.  The slow shutter speeds were shot.  So I bought a new Nikon F50 and a 
28-80mm lens and 80-200 lens both with plastic lens mounts.  Fully expected 
them to crap out too, they're so cheesy, but they finished the cruise and my 
grandson is using them now on a trek across Europe.  Well, I returned home 
and found that of course warranty had run out, so checked with Leica in New 
Jersey, they quoted me more than $600 to fix the two cameras.  I checked 
around and couldn't find anyone else to touch the R8 but a local fixer-upper 
guy cobbled the R4S back into shape with parts from a dead Minolta 
X-something he had lying around, and I paid Leica to fix the R8.  Insult to 
injury, when I got my trip shots back I couldn't tell the Leica ones from the 
Nikon ones, Fed-Exed em to my former boss and he couldn't either, but then he 
told me no surprise, those Leica zooms I bought weren't really Leica.  So 
with my big-shot-pro tail between my legs I sold all of it.  But there's 
still a happy ending:  fell back in love with that M4, had it worked on, just 
returned from 3 weeks in Paris where it worked like a charm.  Yayyyyyyy Leica 
rangefinders. Booooo Leica SLRs.

Chuck Cleary
Michigan