recommend Leica review/article to convince my wife I need one

Chris Lange · Mar 13, 2014

A) Used normal (not special edition/material) Leicas are expensive relative to your other cameras, but they are not "expensive". A body is as much as an entry level DSLR...600-800 dollars.

B) Get a Voigtlander lens if you can't find/afford used Leitz lenses...a 35/2.5 or 35/1.4 for an M2 is a sweet little package.

C) Have you used a Leica before? They are, after all, just cameras. Built to an exponentially higher standard than something like a Canonet, but still just a camera.

D) Best finder magnification, in my opinion, is the .72ish range. Allows for 35mm lenses, feels good with a 50, and I don't use anything longer than that so couldn't care less about what the 90 frame is like.

cliveh · Mar 13, 2014

BetterSense said:
All my other cameras aren't worth enough to make it worth selling them. I could sell them for maybe $300. That probably buys a Leica lens cap.

But does your wife know what all your cameras are worth? Sell them and tell her with the money raised you can now afford a Leica with enough left over to buy her a pair of shoes.

John Koehrer · Mar 14, 2014

elekm said:
Or you can just do what you want and deal with the consequences later.

It's easier to buy it and apologize than to ask permission.

Buying a Leica and using brand X lenses is counterintuitive, after all you need a Leica.

Mark Fisher · Mar 14, 2014

Here is my rationalization....errr, I mean rationale.......it is a beautiful, functional object that simply doesn't exist anymore and it will not depreciate much if any if I want to sell it. If you buy a user grade m2 or m3, you are looking at $5-600. Add a vintage Canon 50mm or older 50mm rigid summicron and you have something to enjoy and will probably be able to sell for close to what you buy it for. Hard to find a better deal than that. By that measure, a Leica is a pretty good deal.

jscott · Mar 14, 2014

You might try a Leica Barnack screwmount (iiic or iiif) to start with if your vision can handle the squinty viewfinder. They are cheaper ($600-800 with lens) than the M series, yet can take great photos. All the ones I've had needed CLAs, but then worked like charms. Try to get as new as possible (late 50's). The iiig is the best of the screwmount Leicas, if you can afford it (about $1K with lens); nice larger viewfinder. I got an early M3 and have had a lot of problems with it, like the counter not working, and my CLA person unable to fix it; again, look for as new as possible/avoid the early numbers.
Best of luck; there are a lot of these available! Careful, they can get addictive.

ambaker · Mar 14, 2014

Ken Nadvornick said:
No! No! No! No! Nooooooooooooooooo...

:eek:

Agreed! It could then become one very expensive Leica. Unless your half of the equity in the house would pay for the camera...

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Bill Burk · Mar 15, 2014

Say you really don't really need it... but an APUG'er was in a bind, needed to buy his wife some jewelry, and you figured it was the least you could do to help out a fellow in need.

EASmithV · Mar 15, 2014

Nikon Sales Catalog, circa 1970... wait, that won't help

jerrybro · Mar 17, 2014

Find a marked down used one and show her how much money you'll save buying it "on sale".

MartinCrabtree · Mar 18, 2014

Perhaps remodeling the kitchen/living room or some such diversion is in order.

fstop · Mar 18, 2014

You are not talking a lot of money for any of those cameras. less than 1700 with lens.Just buy it.

mhcfires · Mar 20, 2014

I started with a IIIa, found a very nice IIIf, then found a very clean user M2. I'm using a C_V 35mm Nokton most of the time with the M2, I use all three cameras. If my wife were still alive to witness all this, she would have a fit.

m

snapguy · Mar 21, 2014

My Toyota is better than your Benz. I had two Leicas -- one was great, one was lousy -- and I got rid of them. I still have my Nikon F.

Thomas Bertilsson · Mar 21, 2014

Nobody needs a Leica. You want one. What's wrong with that?

My significant other and I keep separate finances. Every month we both take a portion out of our pay checks that is 'me' money. Whatever we do with it, is insignificant to the other person. Sometimes I spend it on camera stuff. Other times I spend it on a nice dinner with her, or a weekend in the next town. She might go to the nail salon and have her nails done, buy some music or some books that she likes, or maybe treat me to dinner.

In my old marriage we had joint finances, and that always got murky. After the divorce even there has been 'discussion' of what money went where. Very ugly. I wish we had done the 'me' money then too. It's a good method whether you pool all money into one bucket, or if you keep it separate.

Mustafa Umut Sarac · Mar 21, 2014

I really need a summitar , elmar or summicron because I used them and know what they can do. If you havent used owned a Leica , as tasting a 12 years old whiskey first time , you would need to know how was a good whiskey or good lens effect your photography

Everybody needs a holiday in Fiji but only few lucky ones goes there , good news , for Leica it starts from 10 dolars at thrift stores to climb to 250 dollars for a 3c.

I think using a canon or nokton lens is to change the head of a blonde woman with a black one.

blockend · Mar 21, 2014

Mustafa Umut Sarac said:
you would need to know how was a good whiskey or good lens effect your photography

A good whisky has a negative effect on a good lens, and I speak from experience.

pen s · Mar 21, 2014

I thought I wanted a Leica M, dreamed about it for years. Then, when about to retire I took a bunch of cameras, obtained over the last two decades, give or take, and sold them at a photo swap meet. That gave me the money to get a M4-2 (that looked nice but had been serviced by a tractor mechanic) and a couple of used CV lenses. The lenses are really very good, I never had the money to even consider Leitz lenses and I doubt these give up very much, if any, to Leica glass.

Now the kicker. You may find, that after a time, the having is not as pleasureable as the wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true. (credit: Mr Spock)

Oh, the M4-2 that looked so nice? It didn't work for long. Purchased from a privite party at the photo swap meet so no recourse. Had to spend another $200 to have Youxin Ye to put it right. A word to the wise. Purchase from a reliable vendor with a warranty.

budrichard · Apr 20, 2014

Buy her a Rolex.
Worked for me.-Dick

fstop · Apr 20, 2014

budrichard said:
Buy her a Rolex.
Worked for me.-Dick

You bought his wife a Rolex?

benjiboy · Apr 22, 2014

If I wanted a Leica my wife would be all for me getting one, she knows I'm not a shopaholic because I've only bought 2 cameras in the past 25 years and if I had a real need for one she would be happy for me to buy one, but ironically I've never had any desire for one.

recommend Leica review/article to convince my wife I need one

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