Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/08/15
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Paul wrote: <<<Later, they decided that the camera didn't look strange enough yet, so they added a third lug on the opposite end, so that you could hang it normally if you wanted to. The third lug is lower on the body than the top lug on the other end, so it ends up looking very asymmetrical.>>>> <<Only wimps hang their M5s normally.>>>>> OK Paul this is from the "Lead wimp" :) Just kidding. But this is a story of personal experience while in Wetzlar of how the M5 acquired three lugs, true story. When the M5 came out I purchased 3 bodies and got the first three arriving in Canada and the first thing I tried to do was hang the three of them staggered one above the other around my neck, as I used my M4's while working. Obviously three different lenses attached. However with two lugs it meant that the cameras just hammered against each other all the time and the one in the middle got the worst of the banging. Not sure which Leica Wetzlar technical genius thought "two vertical" were better than two horizontal, but a week after I received mine I had an assignment in Germany and took the time to go to Wetzlar to enquire about making changes to a "normal way of wimp carrying". :) At a meeting of technical staff, VIPs and other folks I gave them a demonstration of just how stupid the two lugs were for working photographers. I hung one camera first and explained how nice it seemed to hang, but that 99% of the pictures are taken horizontally therefore it necessitated turning the camera 99% of the the time. Then came the "cardiac arrest moment"! :) I hung the other two around my neck and there I stood with three M5's hanging vertically and banging against each other and it looked pretty stupid and impractical. The real attention getter was when I held the two outside cameras at a 45 degree angle and then let them go, both arriving at the middle camera with a resounding crash and major gasps from all in sundry. Then I said, " OK now can you understand the stupidity of this two lug arrangement?" "Can you please put another lug on the other side so I can save beating my cameras to death?" The cameras were gone immediately and very shortly I was standing in the Presidents office with my M5's nicely and wimpingly hung horizontally! :) And that was as far as I know, the incident that started the 3 lug version of the M5's. from the chief wimp. :) Then I got rid of them and now use M6's as you know. ted