How much Leica lore do you know?

[Huss]

I think the myths of dentists owning Leicas an Hasselblads comes from people bitching that they cannot afford those cameras.

They are expensive. But I don't drink/smoke/hang out at bars etc. That's a lot of money right there.

 

[Pieter12]

1. I do know a cardiologist who owns a Hasselblad film system (probably a Hasselblad digital system now, I haven't spoken with him in quite a while).
2. My uncle had a Leica with a 3-lens turret that was very cool. He traveled to Europe a lot and brought it back from Germany some time in the 50's I think.

 

[Sirius Glass]

They are expensive. But I don't drink/smoke/hang out at bars etc. That's a lot of money right there.

If you bought your Hasselblads ten years ago when I did and I posted that the prices were low, you would have yours now and be able to buy your drinks.

 

[MattKing]

I think the myths of dentists owning Leicas an Hasselblads comes from people bitching that they cannot afford those cameras.

It comes from those of us who used to sell them to:
1) professionals, who used them for business; and
2) amateurs, who included an unusually high percentage of doctors and dentists.
I also sold a few to tenured professors, when I worked at the store just outside the University gates.

 

[eddie]

My uncle was a dentist. He had a Retina IIIc. Hardly Leica/Hassy material.

 

[Kodachromeguy]

I think the myths of dentists owning Leicas an Hasselblads comes from people bitching that they cannot afford those cameras.

You mean the fraud-tographers on the infamous D review site? The same frauds who used to chant "Film is dead" up to about two years ago, when it may have dawned on them that film might actually be - gasp - cool again?

 

[Sirius Glass]

You mean the fraud-tographers on the infamous D review site? The same frauds who used to chant "Film is dead" up to about two years ago, when it may have dawned on them that film might actually be - gasp - cool again?

 

[MattKing]

My uncle was a dentist. He had a Retina IIIc. Hardly Leica/Hassy material.

As I understand it, in 1961 a Leica M3 with 50mm Summicron cost about $445 USD while a Retina IIIc with 50mm f/2 lens cost about $185 USD.

 

[Kyle M.]

Well there's the old myth that Leica's are some kind of ultra superior picture taking machines. But as someone who has used both a Leica IIIf and an M2 I have to say I still prefer Nikon SLR's and Nikon glass. I've also owned a Hasselblad and didn't get the hype either, so maybe it's just me. I've worked my whole life in precision manufacturing and while Leica's and Hasselblad's are finely built cameras I don't see where they are leaps and bounds ahead of any other quality mechanical camera.

 

[MarkS]

There is more Leica lore out there than any one person can ever know. In fact, more than even the internet can contain.

 

[Huss]

This thread will one day become part of the Leica lore.

I say by Sunday.

 

[reddesert]

I never knew a dentist with a Hasselblad nor a Leica.

Dentists used to have Nikons with a Lester Dine (Kiron) macro + ringlight, or of course the Yashica Dental-Eye.

The Lester Dine corp still exists but they sell digital Nikons and Canons now, still with ringlights.

The lore of dentists buying the luxury items for the well-heeled customer exists in other pursuits as well, I know a ski forum where there's a long-running joke about dentists and expensive skis, ski-wear, equipment, etc.

 

[SchwinnParamount]

Well there's the old myth that Leica's are some kind of ultra superior picture taking machines. But as someone who has used both a Leica IIIf and an M2 I have to say I still prefer Nikon SLR's and Nikon glass. I've also owned a Hasselblad and didn't get the hype either, so maybe it's just me. I've worked my whole life in precision manufacturing and while Leica's and Hasselblad's are finely built cameras I don't see where they are leaps and bounds ahead of any other quality mechanical camera.

THIS ^^^

 

[Bikerider]

Lore?
I know about Leica RFs and RF lenses. But nothing comes in my mind as the Leica lore.

Perhaps it should be described as folk lore. There are a number of myths and stories, it is a matter of sorting out the misconceptions and stories that have crept in over the years.

 

[Bikerider]

Don't know whether this would be called lore exactly, but look up "Leica freedom train " the Leitz family were genuinely good people that took risks to help others.

Not sure what you mean. What risks did they take - I don't mean this question in a derogatory way. I'm quite interested.

 

[AgX]

I already referrerd to this in post #35, but nobody bothered to inquire.

Basically the situation changed during the war. From mingling with and assisting jews making one socially suspect or being illega to being a crime.

 

[AgX]

Don't know whether this would be called lore exactly, but look up "Leica freedom train " the Leitz family were genuinely good people that took risks to help others.

That is based on a naive concept of good and bad. In such times of opression one hardly can just do one's thing.

Even a lot of acts by people postwar hailed for their resistance are questionable or plain stupid, harming people without having a foreseeable positive effect.


Concerning a manufacturer as Leitz, producing war materials with forced labourers, already shows the ambiguity. Any manufacturer at the start of the war could contemplate on closing his plant (although already this could trigger governmental opposition in cases of armament relevant products). But then chances were that the employees were drafted. Especially in the run of the war, when more and more so far deferred men were drafted. And then replaced by forced labourers.