Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/05/16
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Jim, I hate to be a spoil-sport, but if you go to http://www.rapidwinder.com/, you will see several pictures of Tom holding a black-taped black Leica. :-) When I went to Italy, I did cover the words "Leica," "Leitz," and "M4-P" and the Red Dot on my camera with black tape. My rationale was that it's just a little less obtrusive. Also, many people have at least heard the name Leica and associate it with "very expensive." I didn't want hotel people, waiters and taxi drivers to assume I was some super-rich dude they could overcharge accordingly. As for thieves, most probably won't know a Leica from a videocam, but like chicken soup, the black tape couldn't hurt in this case. People who know cameras will recognize a Leica anyway--I had one American and two French people start a conversation when they saw I had one. In each case they were interested in photography, and delightful conversations ensued. To tell you the truth, my light meter attracted a lot more attention than my camera. Hardly any lay person knows what a light meter is any more. Several times people looked at me quizzically and asked what I was doing when I whipped out the Luna Pro Digital. One even assumed I'd taken the picture when I put the meter back in my pocket and stepped right into my line of sight as I raised my camera, then got all confused. In fact, several people asked me if I was a professional photographer, and I think it was the meter, not the Leica that made them ask. So maybe a Luna Pro Digital is the real babe magnet, not a Leica (although Freud might have something to say about Ted's Noctilux...) - --Peter Klein Seattle, WA At 08:55 PM 05/16/2001 -0700, Jim Brick wrote: >Why doesn't someone ask Tom Abrahamsson and Ted Grant what kind of tape >they put on their Leicas. Together, Tom and Ted have traveled to more >places, taken more photographs, with multiple Leicas hanging around their >necks, than most of the rest of the LUG combined. Ask them how many times >people recognize their Leicas and how many times they have been accosted by >someone wanting to steal "a Leica." I can answer this. No tape, ever. And >probably no Leica related accosting. > >Can't you just picture Ted and Tom, running around with tape on their >cameras... Gloriously funny sight! :)