Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/09/10

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Airport security
From: MSwiek@aol.com
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1998 09:37:39 EDT

Hey group,

Another experience at the airport x-ray machine in Washingtn, DC.  The
security officer insisted that I "turn on" my Leica M-4.  She did not accept
my explanation that I couldn't turn it on since it did not have any batteries
and that ther was nothing to turn on.  She insited that all cameras had
batteries "for the flash, film winding and zoom."  I told her it was an old
camera, before they required batteries, and took the lens off, opened the back
and fired the shutter a few times.  This prompted a call to the supervisor,
who examined the camera, and then swabbed it down with a cotton pad, which was
inserted into a spectrometer of some sort to determine if there were any
explosive residues. 

Experience in Japan was quite different.  There, the security officer
immediately recognized the Leica as a camera, nad we had a brief, cordial
conversation on the merits of the various M models.


Mike Swiek