[Leica] Introduction and Leica Lens Service Question

[mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner)]

> Hi all, I have been a member of the group for about a month and have
> silently been following the threads but never chimed it and thought that
> it's time to introduce myself briefly. I am one of the young Leica
> enthusiasts on the board, having discovered Leica only several months ago
> (besides, being young age-wise, with only 24). I have not had formal
> photography training but have had art training and art theory training. I
> hold a bachelor of arts in psychology and a master of arts in literary
> theory degrees but work in a managerial and marketing area at a university
> in Bremen, Germany. Originally, I come from Bulgaria but have been located
> in the past 5 years in Germany.
> 
> I had had very few cameras so far: my first camera and the one I had for 4
> years was a Canon EOS 300D and it served its purpose great until October
> when I decided it was high-time for an upgrade. The Canon 300D has been a
> very faithful servant throughout my work with chocolate artist Warren
> Laine-Naida and his book publication for which I did the photography (
> http://www.chocolatecheese.de). At that time, I got a Canon EOS 500D but 
> was
> disappointed with it - it did not feel like a new camera compared to the
> 300D - the only new feature was the video capability which wasn't important
> to me at all. At that time I decided to shop around a bit and I discovered
> Leica - of course I had heard of it before but I did never consider it
> because of the price. I was however able to afford one now and in January I
> got a Leica M8 and have been since then experimenting with a number of
> lenses (all vintage). Have tried a cron 90, a cron 50, a Voitlanger 50 f1.1
> but none of these felt right until I discovered a pristine cron 50 from the
> 80s which is currently the one I am using (I have in the meantime returned
> all others). I love the bokeh of it and how it renders portraits.
> 
> I recently made a purchasing mistake (as it turned out) of buying a second
> hand Elmarit 28 on ebay which turned out to be in poorer condition than
> described. The sale did not make use of PayPal which is probably the last
> time I am allowing such a mindless transaction and none of my actions
> against the seller helped in the communication. The coating of the front
> lens element is severely scratched and it creates a halo in the picture -
> very foggy pictures. I assume it is simply the coating and not the glass
> itself but I am no specialist. I have not yet sent it to Solms for
> inspection and I was wondering if any of you have experience with such
> conditions and if you would recommend sending it off to Solms or to another
> repair center. Do you also have an estimate of how much this may cost?
> 
> I am looking forward to knowing you all better! I post pictures often on my
> website: http://imperfiction.com
> 
> Cheers,
> KM


Tell us more about how going from a The Canon 300D to a 500D made for the
want of a Leica M digital?

[Rabs]
Mark William Rabiner