How did you get into Leicas?

Needed a quiet camera to shoot meeting photos with, and Malone Camera in Dayton, OH had a nice used M2 sitting there the one and only time I was in the store. An adjustment here and there, and it was great.
 
I was a wildlife photographer lugging around Canon 1D bodies and 600 F4 upgraded to 800 F5.6 Canon glass. I then went the 5D mk2 route doing macro and landscapes. The final straw that broke my camels back was after lugging a Lowepro bag with 5D2 and assorted lens plus Gitzo and RRS ballhead up Snowdonia, god that was tiring. I must have been reading a photo mag soon after and saw the Leica M9 as it had not that long been released. A train ticket was soon purchased and i made my way to Leica Mayfair for an M9 experience. Really loved it and was even more amazed when we got back and reviewed the images. The camera was so easy to use, rangefinder focusing was simple enough and i didn't even need a user manual. 1 month later and the order was placed, 3 months later it was in my hands along with a 35mm Cron. I have since sold the M9 and Cron but have missed Leica so much that i am about to purchase an M in a couple of weeks time along with another Cron. I guess you never knew what you had until it's gone.
 
First real camera was a Nikon F70 which I never really bonded with. Soon replaced by a Nikon FM2n. It was then that I knew that I loved small, heavy cameras with simple dials.

Later, after much deliberation, I bought a Minolta CLE with the 3 lens kit. A true gem of a camera that introduced me to rangefinders.

In the early 2000's I became distracted by digital with first the D70 then the D300 then one day, on a whim, I shot a roll of XP2 with the CLE and I fell in love with the film/rangefinder thing again.

Soon after that I was in a local camera shop that had one small shelf of Leica gear. They had a new MP body. I had just received my tax retrun so it made perfect sense to spend it on a camera body. Strangely it took a little while to bond but it has long since become the camera I would keep above all others.
 
In 1980 a workmate had two cameras for sale. A Pentax Spotmatic with a 50mm lens and a Leica M2 with a 35mm lens.

Either for $100.

I had a Spotmatic, so I bought the Leica.

I still have the Leica, in fact I used it just yesterday.
 
As I'd been shooting film since the early 1970s, I'd been aware of Leicas as the epitome of engineering and lens quality but could never afford one. I used Olympus OM, Canon A-1, F-1N and, more recently, Nikon 35mm systems.

Then I made acquaintance with some of the folks on another film-based photography web forum that got me really interested as their output using Leica bodies and glass was exceptional. As digital cameras were in the ascendancy, prices of Leicas dropped (a bit) and I managed to get my hands on an M6 classic 0.72 and 35mm Summicron. I loved the output but hated the film loading mechanism. I sold it.

18 months later, I bout an M6TTL 0.72 and 50mm Summincron. Again, loved the output and suck with the loading mechanism for longer - but still didn't like it. I can't remember what I traded it for but it's gone and I don't think I'll be going down that route again. I have a Bessa R4M and a couple of lenses and they suits me fine for the RF work I do.

Leica is a real enigma for me. I love the cameras and lenses, the brand and the solid feel of using them. However, for me, they are far from the best cameras, ergonomically and I always feel a bit conspicuous when I have one round my neck / over my shoulder. I'm also coming to the conclusion that photography is more about the photographer than the kit......
 
I can't remember why I switched from Nikon to Leica back 20 + years ago, but once I did I knew I had something special. These days I no longer use Leica, but I will always apprciate the M.
 
My grandfather use to tell me there is no finer camera then a leica when I was very young (under 10 y/o, he shoots a iiiF) and that stuck. So when I got into photography I spent a number of years drooling over pictures online until I had a job that allowed me to save up and buy my first M6. Haven't looked back since.
 
I got seriously interested in photography about age 11 after finding a folding Kodak 620 camera in the attic. Before that it was just plastic box cameras, and the pictures never came out well. Having the ability to focus and set aperture and shutter speed opened up a whole new world. And having to set them all by guess (no rangefinder, little DOF, and no lightmeter) was quite a learning experience.

One day my dad brought home a crumpled paper bag. Inside it were 2 Leica screwmount bodies and 4 lenses (35-50-90-135). He had mentioned my interest in photography to a client of his, an elderly bachelor, who said he had some cameras he never used and maybe he (my dad) would buy them off him. I was gobsmacked, because I knew what a Leica was. My dad did not, so after a couple weeks of using the cameras, when it came time to speak with the guy about selling, he wanted $500 for the set and my dad uttered a few profanities and gave the bag of Leicas back. A year later the guy's house burned to the ground, Leicas were destroyed.

But the Leica bug had bitten me, and a few years later in college a used M4 called to me from the campus photo store's case. Still have it (the M4 and the Leica bug :D)
 
Bought a Canonet, liked shooting with a rangefinder. Bought a Yashica 35GS, enjoyed that too. Thought about getting a Bessa, but I knew i'd never really be happy unless I had a Leica body. Found an M6 on Adorama's used section for a good price and bought it. I think that was 2009. Still my most used camera.
 
I started shooting film with my father's old Nikon F, then a friend showed me the virtues of the Rolleiflex, and I had the camera bug. So I bought a IIIf and Elmar and all was lost when I pulled the first roll out of the developing tank.
 
As a child I wanted a relationship with my father; I was into sports and he wasn't but he did collect cameras. I have always been interested in all things mechanical and his camera collection was quite extensive. Along the way I became quite fond of photography, and basically shot for my highschool yearbook, did a wedding, and some other professional jobs. However, the professional side of photography sucked the fun out of photography for me.

I learned throughout my years of trading and buying/selling cameras that the holy grail in 35 mm was a Leica. He found a man who had inherited a Leica M3 DS with an assortment of other Leica goodies, but had no interest in the camera. Unfortunately, the shutter curtain was broken, but he agreed to trade the camera for a smith and wesson 357 revolver (strange trade I know). The M3 was then serviced by Sherry Krauter, and came back in beautiful shape. I shot a few rolls through it and was utterly smitten. However, Dad would not allow it come out of its glass case with some serious stipulations. When I was about to graduate from college, he asked if I would like a Leica for a graduation present. I debated greatly what to get, and finally we found a Leica M6 TTL.

I was lucky enough to take the M6 on some great adventures and use it extensively. I still have it, and will never sell it.

I think for me the Leica was the culmination of a realization. I love photography, and well engineered devices. The Leica M6 was perfect in that respect as it is a quite underwhelming (in terms of sophistication), well engineered highly portable, high quality camera. After shooting F100s, and the first wave of DSLRs I craved a back to basic camera that really made me focus on composition and not much else. That is ultimately led to me to ask for a Leica. That and fondling the M3...
 
With the birth of my daughter (that is her at 2 years old taken with the R9 and Apo 90 Summicron), I wanted something more than the Sony digital compact. I tried Canon and Nikon digital SLRs but they just didnt seem like cameras I could use (I grew up with Canon FD, Yashicamat and a Zorki 4k). There was no shutter dial, no aperture setting on the lens ... you had to read a manual. I mean, this is supposed to be a camera for heavens sake, not a video recorder.

Then the shop owner showed me the R9. Heaven. It fit into my hand comfortably (the Nikon 750D is the first Nikon that does that); I could immediately see how to use it. It was much more than the others and the offer was there of a digital back. So I bought it.

It was big and heavy and when I wanted something smaller and lighter, the dealer let me borrow an M7 with 50 summicron for the weekend. Heaven. I got quite a few keepers on the one roll of film I shot. I realized I didnt like the zoom lens on the R9. So, I ended up buying the M7 with a 35 summicron, and now .... I have a full house. M, M8, M7, M6, M3, Zeiss Ikon (the best viewfinder of them all), R9 with DMR and R4. Enough lenses that I only buy interesting ones now, not because I need the focal length. And numerous other film cameras of all manufacturers.

The M3 needs a service but I have put at least 3 rolls of film through each of the Leicas this year (except for the R4 which has a light leak).
 
My grandfather had a Leica M3. I only saw it very rarely.

My father had a Leica IIIf. To him, it was almost a Sacred Object. He had Elmar 35, Summicron 50 and Hektor 135mm lenses for it, as well as the Visoflex and bellows for the Hektor. The bellows/Viso rig was used in his dental practice to document work that he did on jaw reconstruction, etc.

My first interaction with a Leica was learning how to use the macro rig so I could do the photography while he managed the patient. I was 9-10 years old at the time. I had learned how to process film myself at the same time by doing his in-office X-ray processing.

So when I got to high school, I dreamed of having a camera "like Dad's." My grandfather loaned me his Rolleiflex to learn with, my mom gave me her Argus C3; I used both a lot and looked forward to being able to buy my own camera. When the time came (1969, my sophomore year), however, it was a Nikon F Photomic FTn with 50/1.4 lens that my uncle helped me buy (meaning, I gave him all the money in my summer savings and he put up the rest ... :).

Later that same year, I was down at Olden Camera in Manhattan for the umpteenth time, hovering over the used camera counter and salivating over the Leicas there. The salesman had gotten to know my face too well, he turns to me and says, "Hey kid, are you ever going to buy anything?"

"I want a Leica like that one," I said, pointing to one that looked like my father's, "but I can't afford that one." It was marked at $250 with a lens. I didn't even know what model the one my father had was at that time...

"Hmm. Lemme see," the salesman grunted and walked into the back room. About ten minutes later, he came out with two old Leicas each with a lens on it (turned out to be a IIf and IIc, Elmar 5.0cm, Elmar 3.5cm). "Okay, how much money you got?"

"I have a hundred and nine bucks," I pulled out my wallet and took all the money out, put it on the counter.

The salesguy squinted at me, plucked a ten dollar bill out of that and pushed it back to me. "You need that to buy a roll of film and get home. Take the cameras; no one wants this old junk anymore. Now stop hanging around the store and go bother someone else." I saw the grin on his gruff face as he said that.

They were beat-up old things, the IIc had some pinholes in the shutter (eventually put new curtains in), but they worked and I used them for the next fifteen years or so, when I wasn't using the Nikon F or any of the other of the train of cameras I bought and sold over the years. I loved the "old junk that no one wanted any more."

Both were ultimately lost in the line of duty ... but that's another story.

G
 
In 2006 I was fudging around over at p.net with a D70 getting frustrated with the bone heads over there and someone suggested I check out RFF. I lurked here briefly then joined and started to realise that a DSLR was not the answer to learning much about photography so decided to get an old Fed and learn how to shoot film.

Smitten by the rangefinder bug I went throught the Leica collecting stage and at one point had thirteen of the things but eventually cut that back to a couple of cameras and a few lenses. I currently have an M2, Leica ll, 1930 1a and my M240.

I have numerous other cameras but I do believe the Leicas are a little bit special ... nothing else feel quite like them. The fit and finish is outstanding and they have a heft in the hand that defies their size. Some of the hype about them is over the top at times and the gangsters who sell them at Solms should be wearing a patch on one eye and a parrot on the shoulder ... but they are a great camera!
 
After wrestling with a variety of SLRs, digital and film, I took a risk a few months ago and went with a Leica M6. I looked at a few others (Voigtlander, Zeiss Ikon, older 60s RFs) but once I felt the M6 and tried it out... I knew it was where I wanted to put my funds.

I am now grateful being able to accurately focus F1.2 in super dark environments with a super silent shutter with a camera that could probably go to more places than I could possibly go ... and still work.

CV lens though :)
 
I came to photography sideways. My ex wife and I took up scuba diving in the mid 1980s, and we decided at some point that we should get a Nikonos camera to record our adventures underwater. Long story short I decided that photogrpahy was easier on land than under water and bought a film SLR as well. That in turn led me to develop an interest in older cameras.The idea of shooting with a fully manual camera - so I made all the decisions was appealing. And from there it was only a small step to Leicas. Fortunately my camera guy sold second hand cameras and was a Leica buff and it was him got me interested in rangefinders. From an M4P (he had one on his shelf that he was willing to discount), eventually three lenses for it, then an M3 and a couple of contemporary lenses for it as well, followed later by a LTM and lenses. The rest is history. In a sense all of that is past. I still own an M3 which gets a run occasionally, but my main shooting Leica is now an M8 as digital is just too damn convenient. But as I have aged and my eyes have deteriorated even that is now a struggle, except for static shots and I mainly shoot with digital SLRs (if I want their flexibility and creative potential) or small format digital cameras if I want convenience. So in a sense I have come a full circle, but I can never let go of Leica entirely. They still have a cachet that others lack. Its interesting - I frequently get admiring comments (in every case from a young woman) about my Leica M8, I suppose many of them have never seen one although they know it looks old (a bit like me) and interesting (a bit like me). :^)
 
while studying my masters of fine art at st martins, i won an artist residency to beijing. after a month of shooting in china with my bessa r3a and 40 nokton, we ended up in seoul as my wife had an exhibition there after my residency. walked into a camera shop where an m6 with 50 cron started talking to me. walked out after parting with my bessa kit and £500 and a massive smile on my face.
 
Bill Clark said:
I started buying Leica cameras and lenses a few years after joining this forum.
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Me too. In the 70's my pride and joy was a canon ftb, and the only reason I knew what those were about was a great art teacher in the late 60's who had us all in the darkroom in 7th grade.

I really never knew about Leica at all.

I came here to learn about small great lenses for use in the backcountry on the Sony Nex-5, and came across many threads which lead me to believe the digital Leicas were the devil's spawn. I ignorantly joined the bashing myself at first, until Brian set me straight and showed me folks shooting the M9 on duty in Iraq.

At that point the M9 became formidable unobtanium, too heavy for my minimalist taste, but something special anyway.

I'd hoped the Sonys would get me there, but it became clear they don't touch the M9 and are essentially the same size.

Prices dropped to 3.5K and it was game over. :)
 
I had loved photography as a teen and before. In fact, I was the official photographer in my family. Studies, work and life got in the way until much later, with a serious job in hand, I returned to it and purchased a Minolta manual SLR.

Fast forward two years: I recalled all the photos I had seen in the magazine Life, back in the day, and wondered how could they be made if it wasn't with an SLR. And I also got bored; photography with an SLR looked like the never-ending game of having the longest or widest focal length to me. Someone recommended a rangefinder camera, and I got a Canonet (which I loved and still have), which was soon followed by other Japanese rangefinders. Eventually, when I started liking my photographs again, I purchased my first Leica (silver chrome M6TTL, still have it) days before my 45th birthday. My wife looked up from her book, saw it in my hands and said "So that's a Leica?"

"Consider it the equivalent of a little, red sports car" I replied.

She smiled and continued reading.

It's been fun ever since... and she's been a patient model.
 
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