I've got a little pt and sht digital, of course. Piece of crap. One of the Panasonics that are rebadged as Leicas, but I didn't buy the Leica. OK camera but it has a spec of internal dust that, these cameras essentially being pinhole cameras, shows up on the image at times, especially when I zoom.
OK, I can deal with that...never zoom. It's mostly a grandkid shooter, and travel notebook, so what the heck, keep saying I should get a good one, keep delaying, even the $80 a small digi on a blister pack feels like too much.
OK ... so this weekend I was out at Bonneville Salt Flats shooting with that thing and my Leica CL, shooting Pan F in the Leica, but as I was shooting I noticed that at the end of a roll, or near it, I'd wind and the camera would feel funny and make a brrrrr type sound and feel rough and I went
"Hmmmm?"
So I got home and took the film out and looked and, silly thing, the drive gear, that toothy thingy, is broken. Unlike every other Leica on the planet, in which that thing is machined out of solid brass, this one is metal core with the teeth put on around it like a tire, made of plastic, and on one of the two toothy thingies (is there a name for those?) the tire had broken, there's a small little gap there, so the tire is not gripping the hub, and if you push it moves.
Hmmmmm.
So I pondered -- this is my favorite travel camera, it is also my first Leica. Get it serviced?
Wow. $200 for starters, plus parts, can you imagine what the part would cost? I can: A lot. Plus this camera has had 38 years of hard labor -- lots of wear, a coupla bumps, the odd ding, the usual.
So I looked at KEH, which had one in Exc on their ebay store (also on their listings, I suspect) for $430, shipping included.
Pondered for a whole five minutes and hit "buy."
So I guess what this says is I'd rather drop $430 on a real camera that will probably last another 38 years, than even 1/4th that much on a digital camera that will turn to crap overnight, practically.
I like to think this is a good thing.
Here's an image from the CL. Still works, but it's overlapping pics if it slips. Not good.
And one showing the slip--actually a kinda cool double exp:
my blog: http://charlestrentelman.blogspot.com/2013/08/of-cheap-cameras-expensive-digits-and.html
OK, I can deal with that...never zoom. It's mostly a grandkid shooter, and travel notebook, so what the heck, keep saying I should get a good one, keep delaying, even the $80 a small digi on a blister pack feels like too much.
OK ... so this weekend I was out at Bonneville Salt Flats shooting with that thing and my Leica CL, shooting Pan F in the Leica, but as I was shooting I noticed that at the end of a roll, or near it, I'd wind and the camera would feel funny and make a brrrrr type sound and feel rough and I went
"Hmmmm?"
So I got home and took the film out and looked and, silly thing, the drive gear, that toothy thingy, is broken. Unlike every other Leica on the planet, in which that thing is machined out of solid brass, this one is metal core with the teeth put on around it like a tire, made of plastic, and on one of the two toothy thingies (is there a name for those?) the tire had broken, there's a small little gap there, so the tire is not gripping the hub, and if you push it moves.
Hmmmmm.
So I pondered -- this is my favorite travel camera, it is also my first Leica. Get it serviced?
Wow. $200 for starters, plus parts, can you imagine what the part would cost? I can: A lot. Plus this camera has had 38 years of hard labor -- lots of wear, a coupla bumps, the odd ding, the usual.
So I looked at KEH, which had one in Exc on their ebay store (also on their listings, I suspect) for $430, shipping included.
Pondered for a whole five minutes and hit "buy."
So I guess what this says is I'd rather drop $430 on a real camera that will probably last another 38 years, than even 1/4th that much on a digital camera that will turn to crap overnight, practically.
I like to think this is a good thing.
Here's an image from the CL. Still works, but it's overlapping pics if it slips. Not good.
And one showing the slip--actually a kinda cool double exp:
my blog: http://charlestrentelman.blogspot.com/2013/08/of-cheap-cameras-expensive-digits-and.html
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