[Leica] Outrageous buys

[vroger at gmail.com (Victor Rubin)]

Hi All:
Alan wrote:
Camera:
When I was a student in 1972, before I could afford even a used Leica,
another kid offered me a Konica III with inoperable leaf shutter for
$10.00. Since I was desperate to have some sort of RF camera, I bought it,
figuring I might be able to get it working.  Well I did - that night.  It
looked to me like the blades were stuck with grease, so I unscrewed the
front group of lens elements and applied lighter fluid to the shutter.
After a while it freed up and I had a user.  It would gum up again after a
few weeks, but I would just give it another shot of fluid.

I took my all-time best selling picture with this camera:

<http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Alan+Magayne-Roshak/Signs+1_AMR.jpg.html>

It has a really sharp 48mm f/2 Hexanon lens.  The ads in the 1950's
said,"The lens alone is worth the price." ($119.00)  They weren't kidding.
I still have it.

I wanted to make a comment on the Konica III "The Lens Alone is Worth the
Price". I also found this to be my first "dream" camera, although it must
have been about 8 years earlier. I kept buying used cameras at Willoughby's
Camera ("The World's Largest Camera Store") in NY, and kept returning them
within 1 week- because of real or imagined problems. The manager finally had
enough of me- "Pick out any camera you want- but you can't bring it back" he
said. I picked the Konica III out of the used camera cabinet. I sold it
years later- it was a fabulous piece of equipment. I went to work for
Willoughby's through school- and my early days as a less than successful
commercial photographer. The Konica  III was one of the best pieces of
equipment I ever owned. What got me started on 35mm photography, however,
started years earlier when, again at Willoughby's I went to a "bargain box"
and for one dollar I bought a little 35mm "box" camera with a stuck shutter.
One rainy day, I decided to fix the camera. Scraped the rust of the sutter
and applied a little butter ( I had no oil at home). Camera workd forever-
and got me started. Those were fun times. vroger