[Leica] Long term M7 satisfaction?

[Ted Grant]

The infamous M7 is/was just incredible to use!

When Sandy Carter and myself were about to produce the medical book, "WOMEN
IN MEDICINE. A Celebration of Their Work!" The M7 had just come on the
market and my 3 M6 bodies were needing an upgrade. So I felt!
So I ordered an M7 body to give it a try. 

'Given 100% of what we shot in and about the hospitals was going to be
"STRICTLY LEICA AVAILABLE LIGHT IMAGES." We did a bit of a test shoot all on
automatic! 

I set the T-Max @ ASA 800. Shot a couple of walk about rolls. Then around
the house another  and darkroom, some outside at dusk. Later. we had 5 rolls
exposed, various LEICA lenses used and all kinds of light and intensity
conditions........... "ALL FRAMES SHOT WITH CAMERA SET ON AUTOMATIC! No
fancy ass changes! NADA! These were all shutter speeds set by camera and my
glimpse in viewfinder if I felt comfortable with what I saw. "CLICK!" tHAT
WAS IT!

Souped the 5 rolls together in deep tank in D76. And surprise of all
surprises every frame was perfectly exposed. The detail wasn't relevant!
They were just test throw-a-way rolls.

When dried they were contact printed and a few selected for 8X10 prints and
some 11X14 for book  reproduction to see what they looked like in big print
size. ALL ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!

The next morning I phoned Leica, immediately ordered two more bodies and
left for Phoenix USA the next day when they arrived! And the book began
shooting with 5 incredible lady doctors that Dr. Steve Barbour had arranged
for me to work with for a couple of weeks!

Those of the LUG CREW who later purchased book copies after publication have
all been complimentary about the images that obviously were all M7 captured!
If one has any questions about the M7 quality "ASK ME!" Or better still
purchase a B&W all Leica camera created book copy from me! Yeah I know it's
a bit of plug for Friday sales! ;-)

By the way Sandy Carter also bought a couple of M7's of her own. So every
image in this beautifully printed B&W book are all LEICA / available light
images if you really would like to see what you can do with a LEICA and the
light you see with everyday whenever! SOME EXAMPLES in the LUG Gallery or my
webpage:  TEDGRANTPHOTO.COM

OH YEAH. I shot 500 rolls during the coverage for the book. All shot at ASA
800! And every exposure was "camera selected" a few minor adjustments
depending what I saw in the viewfinder shutter-speed and my gut told me to
make the slight change. :-) Damn fine film camera.

Then I switched to M8 and basically shoot in the exact same manner! KISS!
"SEE-CLICK!":-) 

cheers,
Dr. ted