Cameras that are more expensive than a Leica

[frank]

"Leicaphool" is defined in the last sentence of my above post.

Right. That wasn't made clear until your second post. Peace.

 

[E. von Hoegh]

Right. That wasn't made clear until your second post. Peace.

Mea culpa. Pax.

 

[frank]

I'm very sorry for my misunderstanding.

 

[miha]

Leica has become a cult camera. It used to be used by professionals, lately it's mostly used by amateurs. Not sure how their S line stands against Leaf, Hasselblad and such, could compete easily in fashion, product,... Most items are great and worth the money, some are not, like their Minolta made zooms from the past - they were fine but not for the price which was ten times over the original when new, or their overpriced compacts, lens shades, etc. I wish them well, the world needs diversity. They are trying hard to be unique.

 

[cliveh]

A Leica is the Aston Martin of the camera world.

 

[Old-N-Feeble]

A Leica is the Aston Martin of the camera world.

I'd MUCH rather have a Dodge Viper or Ford GT.

 

[cliveh]

I'd MUCH rather have a Dodge Viper or Ford GT.

Then you should get yourself a Konica Airborg.

 

[blockend]

The finest photographs have nothing to do with the 35mm camera they were taken on. Softness, shake, lack of edge definition, are irrelevant if the shot is brilliant.

 

[blockend]

1/250 or 1/125 is no big issue without tripod. I use them more for speeds of 1/30 and below...

Although acceptable shots can be made down to 1/8th sec by someone with steady hands, I recall a test that showed a photographer had to be shooting at 1/500th to remove all evidence of camera shake at big enlargements. Since reading that I've looked at many famous photographs, particularly street photos, and concluded the apparent sharpness is largely due to shutter speed, not just stellar glass.

 

[E. von Hoegh]

A Leica is the Aston Martin of the camera world.

Then you've never driven and maintained one. The A-M is also known as the British Ferrari; with good reason. They once came with a placque affixed to the engine, naming the man who built and tuned that engine. But like the Ferrari, they were a bit maintenance intensive. Not big stuff, but little stuff that needed to be attended to so it didn't become big stuff. Otherwise they were magnificent. Sadly, they haven't made a real one in a while.

 

[E. von Hoegh]

I'd MUCH rather have a Dodge Viper or Ford GT.

You sir, have no taste in, or appreciation for, cars.

 

[Slixtiesix]

Although acceptable shots can be made down to 1/8th sec by someone with steady hands, I recall a test that showed a photographer had to be shooting at 1/500th to remove all evidence of camera shake at big enlargements. Since reading that I've looked at many famous photographs, particularly street photos, and concluded the apparent sharpness is largely due to shutter speed, not just stellar glass.

Absolutely. That and the ability to focus correctly. Having the best glass is useless even if the plane of focus is only 1 inch from where it should be.

 

[cliveh]

Then you've never driven and maintained one.

True, but wish I had.

 

[pdeeh]

I see quite a few Astons round here; they are all driven by very rich, leathery old men, very slowly, taking their very rich, leathery old wives to Waitrose.

Hmm.

Maybe there is some connection between Leica ownership and Aston ownership after all ?

 

[E. von Hoegh]

True, but wish I had.

Actually the continuous close attention was part of the appeal, a bit like having a racehorse - take care of it, and it's wonderful. Neglect it, and it's an expensive nightmare.
But the maintenance thing was true of most all high-performance cars of that era, Jags needed nursing too.

 

[cliveh]

I see quite a few Astons round here; they are all driven by very rich, leathery old men, very slowly, taking their very rich, leathery old wives to Waitrose.

Hmm.

Maybe there is some connection between Leica ownership and Aston ownership after all ?

Aston Martin owners shop at Waitrose?

 

[pdeeh]

When one runs out of quail's eggs on a Friday evening and Fortnums won't deliver until Monday, what in the world else is one supposed to do?

 

[cliveh]

When you run out of quail's eggs on a Friday evening and Fortnums won't deliver until Monday, what in the world else is one supposed to do?

Go to the food hall at M & S.

 

[Old-N-Feeble]

You sir, have no taste in, or appreciation for, cars.

Ha ha... perhaps that's true but show me any Aston Martin that can compete with any Dodge Viper or Ford GT.

 

[Dismayed]

The problem with european society and us society , these countries educates the idiots and high iq people at the same level. They all find good jobs , earn 100 times than Turkish worker and they be part of a community. They have good education , lots of hobbies , lots of toys , lots of money - look at these nikon owners , they have 50 nikons - etc.

But the trick , big majority of these people have low iq , you cant change this whether you have 45000 atomic weapons or not.

They have no brain power to understand art , artists , collectors and logic behind that.

And they bash Leica , classical music , jazz music , rembrandt , van gogh , history... % 50 of the us public believes there are too much people living on earth and someone might erase them.

We are dealing with extremelly dangerous people , Leica is the least important

Have you ever been to the US? The contention that we educate idiots and high iq folks to the same level is absurd! Unfortunately we educate very few of ou citizens to their potential. And, no, not everyone here can afford toys - the largest employer in the US is Walmart, and many of their employees can't earn enough to cover the bare necessities of life.

I don't bash Leica - the quality is very high. But I shoot medium and large format when there is sufficient light - and that produces quality far above what is achievable from miniature formats. Oh, and FYI - I love classical music, my wife is an historian, and my 15 year-old son has read War and Peace, Ulysses, A Tale of Two Cities, Dubliners, and Finnigans Wake in the past 6 months.

 

[Sirius Glass]

A Leica is the Aston Martin of the camera world.

I would rather have a Hasselblad.

 

[Alan Gales]

Actually the continuous close attention was part of the appeal, a bit like having a racehorse - take care of it, and it's wonderful. Neglect it, and it's an expensive nightmare.
But the maintenance thing was true of most all high-performance cars of that era, Jags needed nursing too.

For a while there Lotus Elise's had Toyota engines in them. At least the motors were reliable.

 

[Pioneer]

For a while there Lotus Elise's had Toyota engines in them. At least the motors were reliable.

Well that isn't any fun!

 

[MattKing]

For a while there Lotus Elise's had Toyota engines in them. At least the motors were reliable.

Yeah, but the floor mats were really dangerous.

 

[blockend]

Like so many beautiful things, Leicas began to be bought by collectors and the more-money-than-sense crowd, which distorted their true value to photographers. Until the mid-1980s, a clean, used M-mount Leica sold for about a quarter to a third more than the equivalent professional Nikon, which I'd argue is about their proper value given the mechanical and optical quality.

Then Leica became an "investment" and purchasers became more interested in test charts and bragging rights than taking great photographs.