Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/11/20
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I told them that I know two people that dropped their camera in a lake, and one in the ocean. The M3 that I personally have is a replacement, by Wetzlar, for an M3 that tried to swim in a lake. I ....................... An Indian guy approached me on the street in Bombay with a M3/50DR to sell. He said he saw my Leica(Black M6 with Red Dot) around my neck and had just the camera for me. I noticed him watching me and worried that he was going to mug me. When I pulled the bottom plate off the M3 dried river silt dropped out. All the mechanicals were rusted or glued together. The lens, however, showed no sign of immersion. He enticed me to his little stand in an arcade where he had a Reid, gold-plated, with red snakeskin cover and a matching clip-on rangefinder. The lens was a gold-plated Leitz Elmar 50/3.5 Marked E. Leitz, New York. The shutter curtains were red fabric but non-functional. He wanted $700 firm for it. I had no idea if it was a valuable collectible and couldn't afford to risk that kind of money. I did buy a Rollei XF35 (big mistake) and a very clean Yashicamat 124G from him. I shot test rolls of APX 100 and had them developed at a local shop. Now I realized I should have bought the Rolleiflex 3.5 Planar he was offering for $100 but I didn't know the value at the time. Some of those people out there in the world do know a Red Dot when they see one. Bill Lawlor