Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/07/05

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Subject: [Leica] Re: How much is enough?/Gear I wish I'd kept
From: amr3 at uwm.edu (amr3@uwm.edu)
Date: Thu Jul 5 09:35:20 2007

It would be excruciatingly hard for me to reduce to just four cameras.  But 
the
top candidates would be:

Leica M3                         -My favorite camera.  I like the viewfinder
best, and love the lens release guard - all M's should have one.
Rolleiflex 3.5 Planar         -Because I always wanted one, and it gives such
sharp negatives.
Nikon F                           -For close-ups, long lenses, and 
especially my
"Velmar" lens.
Voigtlander Bergheil with 105mm Heliar     -For sentimental reasons--my 
father's
camera that took most of my baby and growing up pictures, and was one of the 
two
first cameras I ever used; the other--a Foth derby.

Second tier, but ones that I would miss greatly:

Olympus XA                   -A truly pocketable camera.  But I wish it could
have a 50mm.
Leica IIIf                         -I like it a lot, but mine is unusually 
noisy
for a Leica.
Retina IIa                        -I saw one for sale in a hardware store 
window
in 1961 for $25.00, and  couldn't afford it, but never got over wanting one. 
Finally found one in nice shape, for $65.00, at a collectible camera sale in
2005.  It is nicely compact, but clunky to use compared to the Leicas.
Voigtlander Bessa II        -6x9 in a compact package.
4x5 RB Graflex with 120 rollfilm adapters   -For using my 9" Verito lens.
4x5 "Roshak" home-made box camera       -For using my 6" Darlot lens.
Stereo Realist                -I'd use this a lot more if Kodak still had the
premium mounting service.
Olympus OM-2n              -For when I need a built-in meter and auto 
exposure.
4x5 Speed Graphic         -For flashbulbs and using my 125mm f/2 Xenon.
Konica III w. 48mm f/2 Hexanon  -Took my best-selling picture.

The only regret I have for selling gear concerns a Leitz OSBLO (LTM rear cap
telescope eyepiece).  I bought one for twenty-five cents at a photo rummage 
in
the seventies, and sold it for $25.00 in 1984 to help finance my Rolleiflex
purchase.

Alan

Alan Magayne-Roshak
Senior Photographer
Photo Services
Univ. of Wis.-Milwaukee
Information & Media Technologies
amr3@uwm.edu
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Alan+Magayne-Roshak/