Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/06/28
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 03:24 PM 6/28/03 +0200, Nathan Wajsman (private) wrote: >I agree with Steve. The screw-mount Leicas may have been good user tools >in their day but that was 60-70 years ago. Today there are a mere >curiosity--fun to try but not really useful. And before I get flamed by >LTM afficionados, let me add that I did own a IIIf for a year or so and >decided to get rid of it for that very reason. > Hmm. Nathan, my first Leica is a IIIc which I still use regularly. It took me the best part of two decades to acquire the bits and pieces I wanted (or most of them, at any rate!) but I do have a really nice LTM set which works impeccably and which I use regularly. (EFKE film is a plus, incidentally, as this is the old ADOX formulation much trumpeted by E Leitz Wetzlar in the early 1950's. It IS fun to walk the walk as well as to talk the talk, after all!) Here is what I suggest that a starting kit ought to have, and the approximate costs in today's universe: Leica IIIc body $200 - 300 2/5cm Summitar or Summicron $75 - 175 2.8/35 Jupiter-12 $75 - 100 4/90 Elmar $100 Russian Multi-VF $50 APDOO self-timer $25 Geiss Synchro-Kontakt IIIc $40 The rest will come later, as your interests develop. You can go into acquiring dozens of LTM doo-dads, or you can move into the M world, as Nathan suggests. Many of us started with LTM cameras and then moved to M; some of us still use both systems and do so cheerfully. An M3 or an M2 is a wonderful beast, but, in the end, the IIIc is lighter and smaller and rather nifty to use. (See Jason Schneider's fine comments in his MODERN PHOTOGRAPHY column back in '87 or '88 for discussion!) One final note: I have relatively little money in my Leica gear, as I learned early on how to wheedle, buy, and sell, and have managed to sell a few prized items at prices sufficient to pay for a lot of additional gear that I wanted. In today's world, an eBay account is a necessity for this, of course! The sources I used to get a lot of this gear have dried up but, in the end, I do visit estate sales and garage (or should that be garbage?) sales on occasion and sometimes find a $5 item that I turn around for $50. (And, in the end, a Contax II set would probably be better than the IIIc, as it is more reliable and has somewhat better glass available at lower costs. But I have both systems, and find them compatible and not combative!) Marc msmall@infionline.net FAX: +540/343-7315 Cha robh bąs fir gun ghrąs fir! - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html