Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/11/02
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Steve Kobrin 58 years old, teach international business and international politics at the University of Pennsylvania. Married with three children by previous marriage; 33 (lawyer in North Carolina), 31 (park ranger in Boulder) and 18 (Smith College undergraduate). Began with an Argus C-3 when I was 12 or 13; my first Leica was a IIIC which I bought in 1967 and was stolen in 1971 in Venezuela. I replaced it with an M3 in '73 which came to an unfortunate end when a canoe swamped -- sounds stupid, but it was a very slow moving stream with an unexpected log dam. Moved on to various Nikons, but I was never really satisfied and picked up an M3 three years ago and, in good part due to the LUG, have been hooked since. I have a collapsible 50mm Summicron, 2.8f Summaron 35 and Elmar 90 for the M3 and a IIIf with a nice Summitar and a 3.5 Summaron with various meters, viewfinders, shades, etc. I shoot both B&W (mostly TCN400 at this point) and chromes about equally, although I find I tend use one or the other for a while. In addition I have a Rollei TLR MX-EVS which has been modified with a modern screen and a Rollei 35S which I always take on non-recreational travels. At the end of the day, I find that I really enjoy using older rangefinder Leicas to take photographs and I have stopped worrying about whether my lenses are the sharpest or have the best contrast, etc. I have not done my own darkroom work since the 70s and am debating whether to set up a chemical darkroom or go digital via scanning and printing. Steve