[Leica] M9 reviewers drawn from the "unwashed masses"

[mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner)]

> Just trade all the Nikkor gear in and get the M9. You know you want it :-)


The trouble with Nikkor gear is it devalues severely after you get it  at
least in comparison to Leica. I don't have 7 grand's worth of Nikon gear.
And the M system is not a replacement for an SLR system.
Its a rangefinder system. It does other stuff from an SLR system.
Longer focal lengths and macro is not really and M thing.

The second reason is that my Nikon digital gear has been photographically my
bread and butter for when I do a photo job for six years. There's no way I'd
trade a whole working system like that for an unknown enmity- even if it was
a Leica DSLR system.
I can't go "gee I'll trade all my Nikons for Leica M's and see if they work
out!" that's a luxury I just don't have.
I have to see if they really work out first then think about getting rid of
something they may have "replaced".

In 1993 I got my first Leica M and I pretty much for a decade stopped using
my Nikons,   But I sure as hell did not trade Nikons for Leicas like they
were baseball cards..  Mikey Mantel for Roger Maris. I saved up money and
once a year got a lens for ten years. Or other key Leica accessories. Like a
second body. Winders.
I built up my Leica system with money not by selling my existing gear.
Its not a shell game.  Its not musical chairs.
I don't have a fixed amount of my net worth tied up in photo gear which I
keep constant by trading.
If there's gear I need I get the money for it. I don't think of which camera
I've not used lately. That's frivolous.

People who collect cameras don't bother me.
Sure they are treating my dream "tools" like objects on a shelf but I can
see where they're coming from on it. I don't find it foolish or frivolous.
Its not the collectors but the "traders" and they populate a good percentage
of these lists which I find a real pain. People who just keep trading one
thing for another never committing or getting to really use anything well
and with no body of work to show for it. No portfolio. No stack of prints.
Not even a camera they've had more than a year.
There's some real negative energy in the "fun" their having with the stuff.
They're thumbing their nose at those who take what these tools can do for
them if used seriously. Its passive aggressive stuff - they're real pseudo
oblivious about it.
"Gee wiz golly I'll trade this Zeiss in for a Schneider! Its better isn't
it?"
Its being bid for on eBay maybe they'll win it tomorrow.
" I need advice from everybody about it !?!?! "
In 3 months its gone for something else.
I'm glad we got to help them play with their money.

Mark William Rabiner