[Leica] M Sighting--Victoria's Secret Leica!

[Howard Ritter]

Just before turning off the TV after the preview of next week’s “NCIS New Orleans” (yes, that is the actual reason that I caught this!), I saw the first few seconds of the Victoria’s Secret TV special on CBS. For a fraction of a second, there was a (staged, I’m sure) scene of what purported to be The Press Breathless With Excitement. There was the obligatory fellow with the Scary Big Nikon and, in the left foreground, a highly decorative young lady with a demure M6 in front of her face (since it was a film camera I know it was staged). From the position of the preview lever and the appearance of the lens, I think it was a 35mm ‘cron. Maybe ‘lux.

The scene appeared for only a fraction of a second, I think, but my recognition circuitry flashed “LEICA ALERT!”, though I had to rewind and pause for a longer look to identify the model (of the camera!). My wife, watching all this, was dumbfounded that in that brief glimpse casually seen I was able to recognize the camera as a Leica. (She said the camera is not what I was supposed to be looking at.) I explained that in my sixth decade of Leica-ing, the Leica M “gestalt” is so imprinted in my brain that nothing escapes my notice. As with all of us.

She wants me to have my testosterone level checked.

—howard