Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/08/27

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Subject: Re: [Leica] was:Availability 90 APO in US. Now Sandy loading
From: "A.H.SCHMIDT" <horst.schmidt@actek.com.au>
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 20:40:42 +1000

Ted Grant wrote:

> Snip:

> WNow the ultimate M6 loading test ....Do it with your eyes closed or in
> complete darkness! Or without looking at the camera at all. When you do it
> ten times in a row and it takes up and advances perfectly, you pass the
> loading examine! :)
>

Ted,  I once worked with an English chap. He told me, when he was in the army
during the second world war, they had to learn to load the Leicas (mostly models
III, IIIa and IIIc's) with their eyes closed. This had to be done, until they
could do it in a certain time without fiddling. It had to be done in one go. Only
if they could do it like this, where they allowed to use the Leicas.By the way,
the British forces used mainly Leicas and Contaxes for the cameras in the field.
(Also the spies preferred Leicas). The Leicas and Contaxes where often bought by
private companies like Wallace Heaton, and then sold to the war office without a
profit being made by this companies. The owners had a guarantee, to purchase a
Leica after the war for the price they sold it.

Regards,  Horst Schmidt