Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/04/16

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Subject: [Leica] And a rather nice time after all (long)
From: John Collier <jbcollier@shaw.ca>
Date: Tue, 16 Apr 2002 18:49:58 -0600

Well it certainly was not what I expected and I had a very good time.

I am afraid that deep down I thought the Leica rep from Germany would be 
dressed in liederhosen and all the store staff would be wandering around 
muttering, "and just don't mention the war". Surprisingly, restraint was 
show by both sides. Once the rabbit was let loose it was very thick at 
the front with the local Germans but they quickly tired of trying 
different lenses on the M cameras and peering intently through the 
finder. Something we all do at first I guess.

I only intended to stay a short while and once things settled down I had 
a nice conversation about the Canadian distributor's repair department 
with Keith Matson. He is the Leica chap at Lisle-Kelco. As Emanuel Lowi 
had warned me in advance, he was a wonderful person; very knowledgeable 
and thankfully frank and honest about Leica in Canada.

As I gathered together all the broken cameras and lenses my four year 
old had tested, in preparation for hasty departure, a voice behind me 
asked if I was John Collier. I then turned and met our own Victor Wek. 
Too many nice people in one day can be wonderful and so it was.

We had the usual conversation about this and that Leica gossip, politely 
not mentioning Ted's underwear, and he even disarmingly asked me to show 
him how to load a M camera. I did but I am sure I saw a trace of an 
impish smile behind those glasses. I imagine he had a hidden camera 
recording the whole thing to play for his friends later. You know the 
whole trying to put tab A into slot B when you can only find slot c sort 
of thing that always charms us on those Funniest Home Videos shows that 
America seems to make so many of.

As once again I was preparing to leave, he mentioned his disappointment 
at Leica not having brought a 35/1.4 Asph to demo. I cheerfully lent him 
mine and busied myself with knocking various Leica bits and pieces onto 
the floor while he ran a roll through a M7.

One of the staffers surprised me by showing up with a IIIg on which were 
mounted a 35/2 Asph and its finder. I took one look through the 
rangefinder and remember why I thought LTM cameras are nasty little 
creatures only loved by those who actually do wear liederhosen and 
collect garden gnomes. I then took one look through the 35mm finder and 
fell madly, deeply in love.

The finder was bright, clear, with good eye relief and lots of room 
around the brightlines. A bit of a cloud fell over the proceedings in my 
eyes I as I cursed aloud at its unattainablilty. Keith then surprised me 
by saying he still had two in stock. I swiftly reduced his unallocated 
stock by one and the roses quickly opened their pedals again to the now 
bright and shining sun.

As Victor shot his last few frames I had a quick peek in a R8 
viewfinder. Holy doodle! That is a bright clear finder. Everything 
glowing that has been said about the R8 finder is one hundred percent 
true. I also fiddled with a Motor-M and am afraid my dislike of grips 
soured me on it.

Well the strain was beginning to be more than visible on the staff as my 
son had just finished disemboweling the filter drawers and once again I 
made prepartions, this time successful, to leave.

John Collier

PS: If you want a modern Leica 35mm finder, there is one left in Canada. 
Contact your nearest Canadian Leica retailer.

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Replies: Reply from Dennis Painter <dennis@hale-pohaku.com> (Re: [Leica] And a rather nice time after all (long))