Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/08/02
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On Aug 2, 2007, at 4:45 PM, Doug wrote: > We were all non-Leica users at one time. That's not really the case. In the '50s and early 1960s Leica outsold all other brands of high end 35 mm cameras by quite a margin. My first good camera in college was a Leica IIIc with a 50 mm Summitar, a 35 mm Elmar, and a 90 mm Wollensak. As far as precision cameras went, Leica and Contax were the only game in town (and Leica was cheaper). The first new Leica I owned was a first edition M3 with a 50 mm Elmar, bought in a duty free shop for the pricely sum of $154. I still have the receipt. Of course the SLR had not been popularized. Within 3 years after the Nikon and Canon SLRs were marketed, Leica sales fell through the floor. Not all of us are street photographers or shoot extreme wide angles in available llight. The SLR was simply better for most photography that professionals do. You use a SLR for your wonderful bird photography even though it is a Leica with a digital back. For contemporary photographers, the RF Leica is an acquired taste - and most photographers have not acquired it. Larry Z