Raucous:
I've done the Rollex, Austen Healey, Volvo, Tartan racing sloop, BMW thing. I've come to realize that expensive toys do not necessarily equate to better toys, or to a happier life.
The Rollex has sat in my bureau drawer for 10 years because it doesn't work and never did keep good time; the Austen Healey was a piece of junk; the Volvo was a piece of junk; the Tartan, while exciting and enjoyable, was more trouble than it was worth. I do admit the BMW does still sit in my garage because if I sell it my wife will never let me buy another motorcycle. Besides, after 100,000 miles and 2 cross country trips I have grown attached to it.
I came close to buying a 911 once. But the salesman wouldn't give a penny on the price so I stomped out of the showroom in a snit. I have since heard numerous horror stories about the 911 and consider that day to be one of my luckier ones.
I find little pleasure in accelerating from 0 to 60 in 6.5 seconds knowing that I'm doing so in a poorly designed, poorly made, albiet stylish, piece of junk. My Toyota Tacoma, on the other hand, gives me great pleasure because I know it's probably the finest piece of engineering on four wheels.
You might be interested to know I once drag raced a guy on Rte 95 in New Hampshire. He was in a Porsche 911, I was driving my wife's turbo Volvo station wagon. I beat the pants off him. I watched him in my rearview mirror, in his sleek forest green 911, straining to keep up, the gold medallion on his hood receding into the distance... He probably needed a $6,000 engine job when he got home.
And the Tartan! Let me just say while it gave quite a ride, it was almost as much trouble as having 7 women in the house. Talk about maintenance!
I should also mention that I do own a Leica of sorts, a Z2X. When I bought it years ago the sale clerk recommended a Canon p&s or an Olympic Epic, which I had previously owned. The Epic was less than $100, the Canon slightly more. I went for the Leica, as the clerk shook his head, even though it was $330, because I assumed higher price meant better quality.
Well, shortly after the Leica's warranty expired, it quit. I remember that day well. I had slogged a few hundred yards out onto some tidal flats on a hot summer afternoon to get a shot of a stranded boat. That's when it decided to quit, as I stood there fuming, knee deep in mud. So I slogged all the way back to shore, hopped into my truck, drove home to get my $200 Nikon FM10, then slogged back out through the mud to get the pictures.
Leica fixed the Z2x for $140 plus shipping and I still have it. It quit again this summer, but I won't bore you with that story. Let me just say that the old FM10 once again came to the rescue.
Now about the Olympus Epic which you can buy right now from BH for $80 or so. The first one I had was bullet proof. It went everywhere with me and never failed. I found it one day sloshing about in the bottom of my sea kayak. I figured that was it for the Epic and was about to toss it overboard but decided to see if it could be rescued. I brought it home, flushed it out with fresh water, let it dry for a few day, then put a roll of film and fresh batteries in and - praise the lord - it came back to life and went another five years.
I do admit, in a side by side test, the Z2x does gives a better image, but not better enough to justify all its problems, certainly not it's 300 percent (plus repairs) greater cost.
As far as the acquisition of expensive toys somehow spilling over to a happy family life, I-don't-think-so. It's a lot more complicated than that...
Looking back I would have to say the things that gave me the greatest pleasure have been my Labrador retriever, my Toyota pickup truck (220,000 miles without ever having been in a garage for anything except brakes), and my Sharp watch that I got at CVS for $19.95 (the face even lights up when you press a button). It costs more than that to just put a new battery in my Orvis watch. It's easy to lose sight of things. After all, they only tell the time.
In the camera arena I would have to say I most enjoy my $200 Nikon FM10, although I did fit it with a $300 Nikon Tessar 45f2.8. It produces images as good as anything since, as we all know, the only things that matters in photography are the lens, the film, and the photographer.
I have other cameras but I like the FM10 because of its simplicity and its .86x, 93% split image viewfinder.
The thing that disturbs my about acquiring more Leica cameras is the reason why a lot of people seem to be buying them, this vague perception of Germanic quality (as in VW Jetta?) in spite of the litany of problems they seem to have. Just read some threads about the new R8 on photo.net!
I'll probably buy one anyway. Just thought I'd vent first.
Or you could just let it slide and make your own decisions.And I had to tweak around with it since the dealer didn't seem capable of fixing it.
) but I was responding to the posters comment:
