Sold Everything For A Leica

[baachitraka]

There is a reason for 'study hard first' is, in no time you may fall into hyperbole of GAS. Nevertheless, I was on loans when I was studying and didn't had much at that time expect for good beers.

 

[macfred]

A Leica? Luxury.

Back when I was a lad all we had was an old shoebox and a maple leaf for film. We'd expose the leaf for 27 hours a day to get an image. And we were proud of it!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Yorkshiremen_sketch


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For completeness sake ...

 

[rwreich]

It's good that you got your Leica now instead of later. I keep thinking that I'd like to sell off a bunch of my pro Nikon gear and lenses and buy an M-A. The only reason I don't do that is because I'm sure my wife would catch on and kick me out of the house. After all, if you sell your workhorses, you won't be able to afford any film... That's what I keep telling myself.

Anyway, it's good that you got the Leica before you got the wife

 

[removed account4]

hey OP

good job with your studies, and have fun with the camera.
when I was a student I used a k1000. it was heavy and clunky
but did the trick. your M looks nice.
good luck ...
john

 

[CropDusterMan]

Leica. Good choice. Have fun Mate. ;o)

 

[CropDusterMan]

A Leica? Luxury.

Back when I was a lad all we had was an old shoebox and a maple leaf for film. We'd expose the leaf for 27 hours a day to get an image. And we were proud of it!

.

Maple Leaf?!! Luxury. We'd sprinkle some silver dust we'd hack out of our lungs from working in the mines 27 hours a day onto a worn out piece of burnt tarpaulin, load the tarpaulin into a rolled up newspaper with a tiny hole, take photos while our Dad thrashed us with a pipe and then develop it at night in the waters of New York's East River.

 

[baachitraka]

Maple Leaf?!! Luxury. We'd sprinkle some silver dust we'd hack out of our lungs from working in the mines 27 hours a day onto a worn out piece of burnt tarpaulin, load the tarpaulin into a rolled up newspaper with a tiny hole, take photos while our Dad thrashed us with a pipe and then develop it at night in the waters of New York's East River.

Luxury too.

 

[Jim Jones]

A Leica is a fine long-term investment. I bought a new IIIf for six week's pay in the second year of a Navy career, and never regretted the cost. By the time it got smashed in, a M2 was more within the budget. The M4 body bought new in 1970 for half a week's pay is still going strong. Many other cameras have come and gone in all those years. An engineering student should appreciate the design and build quality of Leica!

 

[Ellis666]

Exactly. Engineering of about any sort is a good living. I was an Electrical Design Engineer before retiring four years ago at the ripe age of 66. It was the wisest move I had ever made going to college...didn't have a lot back then but Uncle Sam helped pay for my education and I got something back from him. Never let anything stand in the way of a good education if you can afford it-do it at all cost if possible. The goodies come later.

Thankyou, I study Mechanical Engineering; Electronics in engineering is tough, I didnt even know what a resistor was when i started so i've had to put alot of time into that aspect of my studying.

 

[Ellis666]

Good for you Ellis, try to not listen to some of the older crowd here, an education comes in many forms, not just the kind that gives you a degree. And compared to many things, a used Leica M6 is relatively cheap. My M6TTL cost a total of $1,500 after I had the MP RF patch put in and a few other mods. The lens you are using too is super cheap for a 35mm 1.4, my Leica 35mm 1.4 FLE cost me $3,600 used.

The American way of thinking is what you are being fed here and I would not buy into it for a minute, that a formal education is the be all end all way to live your life...it is not. My education is not even an associates degree and yet I have been a successful photographer for decades, completely self taught and self made. I also live well, have nice cars, lots of great gear, eat at fine restaurants and travel to wonderful places.

While everyone was so busy trying to fit on the same path as everyone else...I chose my own path and I live a great life because or it. So don't buy into the American way of thinking...because as I look all around me, I see a whole lot of sad Americans.

Again, thanks, nice to see support from some people. I paid £630 for my M6 and £330 for the lens, Leica equivalent lenses are insane in cost so I couldnt even consider one, although i know they are incredible in performance to the cost is justified.

I see your point, I've worked far too hard to into one of the best universities in Britain (Exeter) to do anything stupid now anyway, like some of these people seem to assume.

Thankyou

 

[Ellis666]

It's good that you got your Leica now instead of later. I keep thinking that I'd like to sell off a bunch of my pro Nikon gear and lenses and buy an M-A. The only reason I don't do that is because I'm sure my wife would catch on and kick me out of the house. After all, if you sell your workhorses, you won't be able to afford any film... That's what I keep telling myself.

Anyway, it's good that you got the Leica before you got the wife

Don't worry i know the feeling, my Mum found a copy of my bank statement a few weeks after i bought it, good thing i'm 200 miles away!

 

[nolanr66]

Congratulations on your Leica. It's a good idea to buy one when you are in college because you and that camera can move through life together taking photos. The Leica is dependable and in years to come you will be able to get it repaired if needed and just keep on shooting. Good luck with your studies.

 

[Bill Burk]

That's funny. My sister was lamenting how kids these days don't do chores and that got me to thinking. Yeah I did a few chores. But my mom really did use to do too much for me when I was your age. She did things like organize trips to Grandma's or buy Christmas presents to give my cousins "from" me. So I didn't learn to actively reach out to people, I just sort of go along for the ride. I still do that. Mom still kind of always makes things happen.

But thankfully she never saw my bank statements...

In college my buddy Tom used his student loan for a Kenwood stereo. It sounds like a foolish thing on the surface, but he knew exactly what he was doing. Today he's planning to retire. His major was Economics. The stereo was a good value, he passed them along to me. The amp blew a power transistor but I've still got the tuner in my darkroom.

Spend time with your friends, aim the camera at them. I was thinking if I were in your place I would hang out with my buddy with the bike, spend a weekend making jumps in the hills with him and take a few shots of him building and jumping...

 

[Ellis666]

That's funny. My sister was lamenting how kids these days don't do chores and that got me to thinking. Yeah I did a few chores. But my mom really did use to do too much for me when I was your age. She did things like organize trips to Grandma's or buy Christmas presents to give my cousins "from" me. So I didn't learn to actively reach out to people, I just sort of go along for the ride. I still do that. Mom still kind of always makes things happen.

But thankfully she never saw my bank statements...

In college my buddy Tom used his student loan for a Kenwood stereo. It sounds like a foolish thing on the surface, but he knew exactly what he was doing. Today he's planning to retire. His major was Economics. The stereo was a good value, he passed them along to me. The amp blew a power transistor but I've still got the tuner in my darkroom.

Spend time with your friends, aim the camera at them. I was thinking if I were in your place I would hang out with my buddy with the bike, spend a weekend making jumps in the hills with him and take a few shots of him building and jumping...

Pretty much all of the loan money I get here is for my course and flat, my parents are well off enough that the government give me the least amount of money possible, which is fair, my parents ensure i have money for living but i still work when i can, for my leica i sold many the cameras i have collected over the last two years.

And regarding the last comment, that is exactly what i do, Bmx and Photography are my life, they go hand in hand also which is great. I moved to south England in september, before that i lived in one of the worst towns in Britain; now im here, ive got great friends, great views and great places to ride my bike and take pictures.

 

[eddie]

You can't study all of the time. You need other interests, to have something to look forward to, and to help you relax. Balance is important in one's life.

 

[Glenn Weaver]

You can't study all of the time. You need other interests, to have something to look forward to, and to help you relax. Balance is important in one's life.

This guy gets it. People are acting like you spent $40k on a camera setup. M6 is awesome, RF is awesome - hope you enjoy the shit out of it.

 

[blockend]

Pretty much all of the loan money I get here is for my course and flat, my parents are well off enough that the government give me the least amount of money possible, which is fair, my parents ensure i have money for living but i still work when i can, for my leica i sold many the cameras i have collected over the last two years.

Ironically, the impetus to buy my first Leica was the immanent departure of my son to university, the cost of which dwarfed the price of the camera! I'd managed to get through life as an amateur and professional photographer without ever owning one. Leica make very nice cameras, mechanically and optically, but they are just 35mm cameras, they won't sprinkle magic dust on anyone's photographs. For those whose priority is the photographic image, there are numerous other cameras that will produce similarly high quality results at a fraction of the price of a Leica, and some of them are equally well made, in my opinion.
That has nothing to do with people wanting a Leica, or their ability to afford one. I'm offering a practical judgement, not a moral one.

 

[rpavich]

What an insane thread.

A young man who just wants to share the joy of his new (budget) Leica, spends his time justifying it to people who don't even know him but feel compelled to rip him to shreds for his purchase.

Great camera and lens combo! Have fun, study hard, take lots of pictures of you and your friends and family...you will cherish them some day.

 

[blockend]

What an insane thread.

A young man who just wants to share the joy of his new (budget) Leica, spends his time justifying it to people who don't even know him but feel compelled to rip him to shreds for his purchase.

Great camera and lens combo! Have fun, study hard, take lots of pictures of you and your friends and family...you will cherish them some day.

The OP said he had used his student loan to buy the camera. That is entirely his business of course, but he offered the information. In the context of the British HE system, university education used to be free until the 1990s and a grant for living costs was provided. As central government decided a greater percentage of the population needed a university degree, a fee system was introduced, initially at £3k per year. The cost is now £9000 pa, and there are moves to uncap the fee which appear inevitable in the next few years. This would mean Oxford and Cambridge, and possibly universities like Exeter, demanding a tuition fee unrecognisable from the current one. My sympathy is always with the student, and their parents as the loan only covers tuition, not accommodation and living costs, the additional loan for which is means tested.

There is obviously much debate around education loans and fees, coming on the heels of "free" higher education. The desirability of using a student loan to purchase materials not directly associated with their university course, depends on whether one sees the loan as a privately managed financial arrangement by independent companies wanting to turn a profit over many years, or as an education "tax", which is the way government present student loans - earn low wages, repay none of the capital, earn a good salary, repay the loan with interest. I offer no opinion on the OP's choice of camera or payment method.

 

[rpavich]

The OP said he had used his student loan to buy the camera. That is entirely his business of course,

And thus ends the debate.

 

[blockend]

And thus ends the debate.

I don't think the internet works like that, though I commend you for trying.

 

[baachitraka]

Try to cover some events and get to know some people and who knows one day you will have a contract to shoot some events for money. ;-)

 

[blockend]

The best news in the whole thread is his university still has a darkroom and enlargers.

 

[rpavich]

I don't think the internet works like that, though I commend you for trying.

Coffee shot out of nose approximately 9 feet in distance

 

[CropDusterMan]

OP...What kind of engineering study are you working on? My greatest regret in life was not going into aeronautical engineering...would have opened many doors in my aviation career that will unfortunately remain closed.