Re: [Leica] Unfettered truth

[SP <spaniel@pacbell.net>]

Very well-written, Ted, and right on the mark. My father bought his
first Leica just before he flew to Italy as an Air Force pilot during
World War II. After D-Day he bought his first M camera with a 35 mm
Summicron. Then, in 1962, he bought a new M2 for $200+ which he uses
today, again using only the 35 mm lens. Every time he flys from the San
Francisco Bay area to my home in Sherman Oaks, CA, I show him the issues
of Leica Photographie Magazine that have arrived since prior visits and
as he peruses them he always utters "WHAT HYPE!". That is correct, but
lately he has gone overboard by repeatedly stating that all any
photographer needs is a 35 mm lens. FALSE! Every time I visit him and my
mother, he pulls out 50 years of slides and prints (all shot with his
trusty 35 mm lens) and, though the quality is outstanding, I experience
boredom from hours of seeing only that focal perspective. Furthermore, I
have obtained superb results with my 100 mm f/2.8 macro R lens, my 180
f/3.4 APO Telyt, and 280 f/2.8 APO Telyt by reaching subject matter that
could not be captured otherwise and these focal lengths surely add
impressive variety to my own viewing experiences. He expressed dismay at
my buying a new chrome R8 when I already had and had been using a new
chrome R7, even when I told him the former is much better than the
latter because of a much better control layout and a better flash sync
speed. He implied that I had become what you described in your reply to
Carl, Ted, but that is not true. I have 19, 24, 35, 50, 60, 100, 180,
and 280 mm lenses and the APO 2x extender for my R7 and R8 and feel I
essentially have suitable focal length coverage for most shoots. Of
course, if I could afford the Leica APO Telyt Module system I'd buy that
so as to have complete focal range capability, but that would have
nothing to do with the craving you mentioned, Ted. In closing, I LOVE 
the quality of Leica's optics and feel its mystique, but the craving has
ended and I am content with what I possess at this time though if I won
a lottery contest, the first thing I'd buy would be the aforementioned
module system. 

Ted Grant wrote:

> You're absolutely right!!!! :) The craving never ends, it is heightened
> yearly with the new this lens or that resolution solver, this one will give
> you more squigglies per millimeter than the Canadian version of '74, the
> motor will be here shortly so you better order it now to ensure you are the
> new kid on the block!! :)
> 
> Aa your camera bag becomes heavier, your bank account lighter, your wife
> threatens to leave you and return to her mother or worse, she'll have her
> mother come to keep an eye on you and those damn Leicas!:)
> 
> Meanwhile you are attached to the computer screen sucking in all the LUG
> wisdom and planning how to "get the new fix!"  An aspherical thing-a-me-bob
> that will make you the picture taking genious you think you are. :)
> 
> Once you are Leica smitten, you are Leica bitten! They'll own your heart,
> soul and all the money you can find!:)   Forever and ever and ever more!!
> :)
> 
> Ted Grant
> This is Our Work. The Legacy of Sir William Osler.
> http://www.islandnet.com/~tedgrant