Leica photographers - the naked truth

[Huss]

Wow, what a cool and informative thread.

Welcome!

 

[henryvk]

The thing about denim that last is that it has to be heavy and and thus (at first) won't be terribly comfortable. Sort of a triple constraint of longevity, comfort and aesthetics. You can only pick two.

Btw I've read that, contrary to Hollywood imagery, cowboys in the 1880s and 1890s didn't wear denim but something called "california pants", which were made from durable, pre-shrunk wool fabrics and often reinforced with buckskin leather in the seat ("foxing") to prevent them from wearing out.

https://www.americancowboy.com/people/canvas-cowboy-30438

 

[Huss]

The thing about denim that last is that it has to be heavy and and thus (at first) won't be terribly comfortable. Sort of a triple constraint of longevity, comfort and aesthetics. You can only pick two.

Btw I've read that, contrary to Hollywood imagery, cowboys in the 1880s and 1890s didn't wear denim but something called "california pants", which were made from durable, pre-shrunk wool fabrics and often reinforced with buckskin leather in the seat ("foxing") to prevent them from wearing out.

https://www.americancowboy.com/people/canvas-cowboy-30438

I may be mistaken but I think denim became popular during the Gold Rush era. It was sold to miners/gold panners. That is how Levi Strauss (Levi jeans) got started.

 

[removed account4]

I may be mistaken but I think denim became popular during the Gold Rush era. It was sold to miners/gold panners. That is how Levi Strauss (Levi jeans) got started.

yup
the story is on the inter web
https://www.thoughtco.com/levi-strauss-1992452

 

[Huss]

I would take a piece of gaffer tape and cover the red Levi label on my Levis. When I walk down the street I don't want people recognizing my jeans.
Interestingly Leica owners do the same thing with the red logo on their cameras.

Coincidence?

 

[zanxion72]

I would take a piece of gaffer tape and cover the red Levi label on my Levis. When I walk down the street I don't want people recognizing my jeans.
Interestingly Leica owners do the same thing with the red logo on their cameras.

Coincidence?

Anyone that knows what a Leica is, will recognize it with or without gaffer tape on it. Anyone that has no idea what it is, will not bother at all, but will take it as yet another camera. As for your trousers nobody pays attention what brand it is and in many cases if you even wear one or not.
(Btw, not me, nor any other pal of mine cover anything on our Leicas with gaffer tape.)

 

[Pioneer]

The only camera I have ever used gaffers tape on is a Holga.

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

Covering Leicas with tape has venerable precedent starting with Henri Cartier-Bresson taping up his Leica with black electrical tape.

But the camera makers took all the fun out of it - making black 'professional' models of their cameras.

Then came the journalists who would take sandpaper to their new black cameras till the brass shone through so it looked like they had been up country in 'Nam for years rather than having landed at Saigon last week.

And that's why proper cameras are made from brass - sanding down to zinc or magnesium just makes it look like a beat-to-shit camera.

 

[Patrick Robert James]

I would take a piece of gaffer tape and cover the red Levi label on my Levis. When I walk down the street I don't want people recognizing my jeans.
Interestingly Leica owners do the same thing with the red logo on their cameras.

Coincidence?

I wear a pink clown nose and really loud Hawaiian shirts. That way no one looks at my Leica or my jeans. That'll teach 'em!

 

[Arthurwg]

Covering Leicas with tape has venerable precedent starting with Henri Cartier-Bresson taping up his Leica with black electrical tape.

But the camera makers took all the fun out of it - making black 'professional' models of their cameras.

Then came the journalists who would take sandpaper to their new black cameras till the brass shone through so it looked like they had been up country in 'Nam for years rather than having landed at Saigon last week.

And that's why proper cameras are made from brass - sanding down to zinc or magnesium just makes it look like a beat-to-shit camera.

I don't use gaffer tape on my M6, I use black masking tape. Anyway, the so-called "gaffer tape" is really duct tape. Real gaffer tape is so incredibly sticky and strong that you can hang a heavy mirror on the wall with it. That's why gaffers use it on movie sets.

But ML, I'd like to know where you got the story about photographers "in Nam" sanding down their cameras. Do you have a source for that, or were you there?

 

[Pieter12]

Real gaffer tape is so incredibly sticky and strong that you can hang a heavy mirror on the wall with it. That's why gaffers use it on movie sets.

My experience its the exact opposite. Real gaffer's tape is strong, but comes off surfaces easily and without leaving a residue. Duct tape is not as strong, but leaves a thick residue that is hard to remove.

 

[Huss]

I wear a pink clown nose and really loud Hawaiian shirts. That way no one looks at my Leica or my jeans. That'll teach 'em!

Please tell me you have a plastic flower on your lapel that squirts water.

 

[Patrick Robert James]

Please tell me you have a plastic flower on your lapel that squirts water.

Tabasco sauce!

 

[Pieter12]

I wear a pink clown nose and really loud Hawaiian shirts. That way no one looks at my Leica or my jeans. That'll teach 'em!

So it was you I saw the other day.

 

[Huss]

Tabasco sauce!

Ahh, Blindy the Clown, we meet again.