[Leica] My Leica arrived last night

[calciua@hn.va.nec.com]

Last night when I came back from work I found a box sitting by my front
door. The delivery guy just left if there although it was supposed to be
released only with a signature. Oh, well.

Inside was my new Leica M4-P that I have been waiting for breathlessly
(well, almost). I was just about to put the baby down and tear into the box
when my wife's steely glance froze me in my tracks. I put the box down and
went about doing the daddy stuff, all the while fantasizing about the box
and its contents.

Finally, about an hour and a half of torture went by and the kid was done
with all his stuff and was getting ready to play, so daddy got a chance to
pounce on the box and tear into it with his bare hands (a knife helped with
the sealing tape). Under piles of Dutch newspapers I find a small bubble
wrap pouch with a black flat object inside. I try to open it, but the flap
is taped shut. Curses! Where is the knife again? Never mind, I will just
tear through it! And I did. Out comes this lens-less flat object. I weigh
it in my palm, I look through the viewfinder, I push the release button.
Hmm, maybe I should wind it first. Then I turn the speed selector. Nice and
smooth with positive stops at each speed. Let's see 1/125 - Click. Oooooh,
smooth. Let's try 1 sec. - Click. Oh, baby, this is great. Now I understand
the fondness for the Ms over the older III series. The shutter is a joy to
operate.

As fast as I could move, without running, I went upstairs and grabbed my
35mm goggled Summaron. Snap, turn, it's in. Look though the finder and,
again, wow. The frames are right on, the rangefinder accurate. What a
beauty. Now I have to find some film.

End of story. All the 35mm film in the house is gone. I bought my wife a
35mm Rollei p&s a couple of years back, when my son was born because her
p&s was a pile of dung and barely got any shots of the kid's first day in
this world. He shot the last roll a few days prior and we never got any new
film. I never much cared for 35mm and I have a large stash of 120 film for
my Rolleifleces sitting in my fridge (despite the lady's protests).

Today, I am going to 7-11 for a quick roll of film (whatever crap they
sell) and I will run it through the Leica, then hop to CVS for 1 hour
processing to gander at the results.

I may actually share some with you'all, although I doubt there will be
anything decent on the first roll.

- -_______________
Andrei D. Calciu
NEC America, Inc.