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What effing universe is this?

There is an explanation for all this: romanticism. And whether we like it or not, Leica fanatics are the biggest romanticists in their camera purchase decisions. Every one is tinged with fantasy, be it emulating the eccentric street photographers of old with their mystical decisive moments, or the war photographers from Capa to Chapelle, hung with multiple rangefinders. It's a powerful selling point, and one that keeps some of us buying awkward old-fashioned equipment that actively makes life harder for us. Before the mob comes to lynch me, let me say I know this because I had that disease. Complete with the stigmata of black paint and brass gears, in my late stages I descended into M2 purity with no meter or batteries (or, perhaps, sense). I was cured by old film SLRs, as I rediscovered the uncomfortable truth that I was an SLR person at heart, and not a rangefinder person. I am not willing to confront how much money was spent on, what? - three M7s, two MPs, an M5, and M2 and one each of the M8, 8.2, 9 and Monochrom. Not much compared to all the lenses, I know. And now all sold at a considerable loss. All I have left is the stuff no one wants to buy (Visoflex, bellows, and Visoflex lenses). As they used to say in the anti-smoking ads in the Boys' Own Paper of the sixties, "the best way to stop is never to start". They say one hit of cocaine can make an addict of you. I say we should think that way about Leicas and Ferraris too.
 
So, what SLR did you end up with.?
 
CMoore said:
So, what SLR did you end up with.?
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Many, but nearly all sold along with all but a couple of MF cameras and LF cameras when I relapsed (leukemia rather than Leicaphilia) last time. I've kept a pair of OM-2ns (for nostalgia), one F6 (for use) and one F100 (for backup) as 35mm slrs. I'll be the first to admit the F6 is big and heavy, with lenses that are big and suspiciously light, and yet with all those disadvantages it gets out of the way and lets me do what I want.
 
As i get older, i realize that a 35mm SLR with AF might become a necessity.
I wonder if i should prepare now and buy something while they are still affordable.....and available.?
 
CMoore said:
As i get older, i realize that a 35mm SLR with AF might become a necessity.
I wonder if i should prepare now and buy something while they are still affordable.....and available.?
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Can't do any harm. I really felt at home with early AF SLRs. Single focus point, half-press the shutter and recompose. Still use the F6 that way most of the time. The cheapest way to try that style out would be the Pentax SF-1n (currently <$20), and the Pentax AF lenses were pretty nice.
 

First off, I wish you nothing but the best in your fight.

Re camera gear, how on earth did you lose money selling film M gear? I get digital M cameras, those like all digital cameras just lose money as they age. But film Ms? That stuff has done nothing but go up in value.
It is interesting to think about being an Rf person or an SLR person. While many of us use both, we know in the darkest depths of our hearts which type we prefer to use if it was just about 'us'. As a tool, AF 35mm SLRs rock.
They just do. Because they were designed to make technically perfect pics as easy as possible. And they are awesome for it. It is also why if I really need to get the shot, almost any AF 35mm slr would be a better tool than my romanticized Nikon F, F2 or even F3. My F4 and F6 just blow them away to get the shot. It's why Nikon, and other SLR mfgs, introduced AF slrs. If a Nikon F was the ultimate pic making tool, then Nikon would have left it at that..

But.. and it's a big butt.. I get such pleasure out of using film Ms when it is all about me. If I'm not rushed, and don't need "perfect" framing, I much prefer how I get along with them. From the feel, sound, and use. I'm not imagining I'm a war photog. Or a Cartier Bresson. Or an Erwitt. But I get why they used them.
Yesterday me and my gal took the ferry from Tiburon to Angel Island in the San Fran bay. We had our bikes with us. I had never been, didn't know what to expect but just imagined a day of fun and exploring. I have way too many cameras (see my classifieds and pick up a deal!), lenses etc and could have loaded down with stuff in preparation for what I could or would see. I just took one M, and one 35mm lens. And a bunch of film. We discovered perfect weather (!) - the forecast said it was going to be crappy - incredible views, and amazing old abandoned shells of the old military buildings.
I had the most fun and enjoyment shooting off four rolls of film, just goofing around, having impromptu 'model shoots' in the most beautifully patina buildings. Never wished I had anything else. The M just did it for me.

I am tempted to recreate the event but with one AF slr and one 35mm prime lens, and compare the experience to this one. I will lose the silence as I shoot in those hollowed out buildings, but will gain the certainty of nailed focus!
 
NB23 said:
I was too busy having sex with a newly acquired second focomat 2c, and ditching the recently acquired IIa, yesterday...
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It's alright, I can wait.

I do almost agree that the M5 is the best Leica ever, if it wasn't for my two M7s. There are two things which I don't like 'that' much about my M5. The long shutter release feel as the mechanics are required to move the meter stalk, and the hollowness feeling and sound of the body compared to the other Ms, due to it basically using a bigger shell.

If yours ever develops that notorious light leak that Leica itself documented in the 1970s (small triangle patch on the bottom left of the image), Zachs Camera Repair knows how to fix it. He is awesome (the other techs I tried could not fix it).
 
Huss said:
And unfortunately Henri and Larry both were killed in Vietnam.
On the other hand, a black Nikon F saved Don McCullin’s life while there…
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Is he the guy with a bullet hole in his Nikon-F.?
I thought it was somebody else (do not know who) for some reason.
Does he still have the camera.?
I would assume a guy would hold onto something like that forever, but it has been 50 years, so who knows.
 
Through the years I had always thought I’d like to have a film M one day. Part daydream, part fooling myself finally, at 60, bought a M4-2 to go with a 21 f4 and 35 f2.5 CV lenses already purchased in anticipation of finding a used body.
It was fun for a short time, but in the end all those 37 years with an OM-1 had spoiled me with the realization that I really do prefer SLR viewing and focusing. The OM with a 35 or 24 didn’t seem much larger, if any, compared to the M and not much louder. Also, without shifting my eye around I could not see the whole 35mm frame, much less outside of it anyway, so there went one of the supposed advantages of a Leica M.
Since even before Olympus came out with the OM my favorite viewfinder camera has been, and still remains the original Olympus Pen, the one with all manual exposure control and focusing by scale. Still have two of them. (This is NOT the Pen EE with the 28mm f3.5 lens and fixed focus! Fixed focus and EE exposure control are an abomination….ok, rant off.)
The viewfinder of the original Pen is a 7 component, projected frame, .5x magnification wonder that alone would cost $250 to duplicate today. The 28mm lens has the approximate angle of view of a 40mm on full frame.
All in all, a wonderful walk around camera….at least for me.
 
Olympus have designed/built some amazing cameras. My Pen FT is one of my favourite across all the brands I own. Just a fantastic design.
 
Huss said:
Olympus have designed/built some amazing cameras. My Pen FT is one of my favourite across all the brands I own. Just a fantastic design.
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I have a pair of OM1n and an OM3.
They are both fabulous cameras. I sold my Canon AE1-P and A-1 after i bought the Oly's.
BUT..........as you have discussed already. I have Too Many 35mm SLR.
And it seems i have the same sickness you and others do. I tell myself................."Oh Well, i will change cameras every 6 months"
Yeah, OK, that DOES work, as far as putting the cameras to use.
But it does not get me anywhere.
I have a pair of Nikon F2-S and a pair of Canon F-1N.
Those four cameras are all i will ever need to shoot 35mm film and i only need the Canon or the Nikon for that matter. Not both.

You have heard of "Painting yourself into a corner".
Well, i have Purchased myself into a corner.
It kills me to sell the Oly's, but i am just spinning my wheels with all this stuff.
PLUS.................i have a Minolta X-570 that i use to shoot color Negs or Slides.
PLUS...........i have a Minolta XD-11 i need to sell. It has about the Smoothest/Quietest action of any 35mm SLR i have ever cranked by hand.
AND i have a beautiful Minolta StR 202. I hate to sell that all mechanical beauty, but i never use it.

Its awful. Having too many cameras is just awful.
I donated a Minolta XG-M (great camera) and several Canon A-Series cameras to my local college.
I do not know what i was thinking.

There is an old saying................BEWARE the man that owns just one gun, he most likely knows how to use it.
The same wisdom applies with cameras, as far as i am concerned.
 
Owning one camera. Such a wonderful dream, and one that I've had often in the last decade or so. But my dammed ADD just won't let that happen. My passion for one camera is short lived then the next pretty bauble catches my attention. Last few days spent building a tracker so I can try out a little astro photography. this all started last week when I was picking up some wood screws and noticed they had 2 ft. lengths of 1/4-20 nylon all thread. First thought was 'that would be easy to bend around a 11.4 inch radius board'...and...the rest just followed, but finding a 1 RPM battery powered motor has been hard, which kinda surprised me. Might need to hand turn the contraption.
 


I hear you. Which is why I've been selling off so much stuff. I'm almost thinking I should only keep the AF 35mm slrs for the slr stuff, and the Leicas for the RF stuff.
But my F2 cameras have been Sover Wong-ed, so would it make more sense to keep those as well as the AF 35s? And the F3P and Ltd are sooo nice..

Unload everything apart from the F6 and a Leica... that will be the day...
 
Huss said:
the much much much better built M3 is a deal at $2500, especially DAG-d.
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And that camera just sold. I wasn't convinced that someone would pay that for a used M3 - even DAG'd - but that shows what I know.
 
And while we're at it,
Why are waist-level finders for medium-format cameras so ridiculously expensive?
You can almost get a used body or a lens for the asking price of a WL finder.
????
 
AnselMortensen said:
And while we're at it,
Why are waist-level finders for medium-format cameras so ridiculously expensive?
You can almost get a used body or a lens for the asking price of a WL finder.
????
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Because a bunch of the bodies that are still in working condition were sold with an eye-level finder only.
Most pros doing wedding work and the like tried to avoid the dreaded "navel eyed" view of the world.
 
I blame the self proclaimed photoexpert hipster youtube celebrities.
 
If I had “endless money” I’d be into helicopters. Not into hp5 vs tri-x debates
 
Kodachromeguy said:
....How about old geezers who collect stuff and have essentially endless money to indulge themselves?
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we geezers with money didn't get that way by spending foolishly.
 
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NB23 said:
If I had “endless money” I’d be into helicopters. Not into hp5 vs tri-x debates
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Really.....helicopters.?
You are a pilot i assume.?

We almost bought a house at The Sacramento Executive Airport.
It was cool as F.........but ultimately too far away from the Daughter and Grand-brats.
 
No way, I have nothing to do with helicopters... if I was rich though, I’d be into them haha

CMoore said:
Really.....helicopters.?
You are a pilot i assume.?

We almost bought a house at The Sacramento Executive Airport.
It was cool as F.........but ultimately too far away from the Daughter and Grand-brats.
Click to expand...
 
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