Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/10/21

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Subject: Re: [Leica]M6 for Brian
From: dmm@bronze.lcs.mit.edu (Andrew M. Moore)
Date: Wed, 21 Oct 1998 13:44:37 -0400 (EDT)

Regarding donations to buy an M6 for Brian:

For a group of us who seem to spend so much time arguing with each
other over Leica and non-Leica issues, it's nice to see so many
LUGgers come together in offering their donations towards this gift.
It's a truly remarkable and generous thing to see!

However, in Brian's "defense" :), should we be so quick to assume
that what's best for us is best for him?

My wife has offered on many occasions to give me a slide projector as
a gift, since my only means of viewing all the chromes that I shoot is
through an all-plastic instrument that I bought for $3.00 (US), but I
would feel much better buying it on my own (or at the very least, 
specifying exactly what I want, but that makes me feel like I'm
demanding the gift).  I'm eagerly awaiting the appearance of the
Leica Universal 5x Magnifier, hoping that the price won't blow that
idea away.  Does anyone have any information on that?  I digress.

Buying/receiving a camera, as is the case with so many other
purchases, is a very "personal" decision (for me, anyway), especially
given the variety of models and often high prices.  The only times I
can think of when this might not be the case is when the owner (to be)
isn't very attached to the object.  In that situation, the owner can
get great satisfaction out of the object since he probably isn't
longing for something else.  But if that's the case, an M6 is probably
overkill.

I think a greater number of people would benefit if we were to
contribute to a cause that supported the list itself in some manner
(hardware, software, or other), so that 1) all the list members could
benefit, and 2) I believe Brian would still be satisfied and probably
honored.

I'm not saying that I'm not in favor of the M6 idea, but I think that
we should be sure that it's something he wants and that he would be
honored to receive, since those are two very likely reasons why we are
doing this in the first place.  I also understand that picking away at
this process too deeply sort of defeats the idea of a "gift", but
I think these ideas are worth some consideration.

I've received a wealth of valuable information from the LUG, and
I'm very grateful to its contributors and maintainers.  I hope that
I can be counted as one of them.  And a big thanks to Brian.

Andrew