International User Meeting / Hessenpark near Solms / June 13th-15th 2008

[bcorton]

Our plans for a nanny have fallen through, so I will be unable to attend the conference. (It is the only week all summer that I can't make it as my wife has a must-attend conference at the same time). Oh, well. I do hope this will not be the last meeting of its type.

I will be going to Germany later, just on my own, and would still like to arrange a factory tour, and maybe a self-guided tour of Wetzlar as well if such are possibilities. Does anyone have information on whom I should contact to arrange a factory tour? I've been to the Leica website, but could find no information on factory tours, or the Leica Academy or anything.

Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.

Brent

[rohi]

Originally Posted by bcorton

Our plans for a nanny have fallen through, so I will be unable to attend the conference. (It is the only week all summer that I can't make it as my wife has a must-attend conference at the same time). Oh, well. I do hope this will not be the last meeting of its type.

I will be going to Germany later, just on my own, and would still like to arrange a factory tour, and maybe a self-guided tour of Wetzlar as well if such are possibilities. Does anyone have information on whom I should contact to arrange a factory tour? I've been to the Leica website, but could find no information on factory tours, or the Leica Academy or anything.

Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.

Brent

Hi Brent,
for your factory tour, get in contact with Ralph Hagenauer (ralph.hagenauer at leica-camera.com) or Karl-Hans Welcker (Kamera at t-online.de). For the Wetzlar-Tour, you can write to Holger Daberkow (h.daberkow at t-online.de).

Regards, Robert

[bcorton]

Thank you, Robert. 'Most kind.

Brent

[Rona|d]

update/additional topic for the meeting:

There will be a guided tour through the house of hessian photo history (also located in the Hessenpark) by Mr Emil Bock on Friday, 13th 17:30h and Sunday, 15th.06.

(Sorry, german language only. Maybe one of the participants can translate the basic information)

Enjoy,
Ronald

[andybarton]

Sounds interesting Ron

Will there still be enough time to get to dinner at 19:00? (Always thinking about where my next meal is coming from )

[rohi]

Originally Posted by andybarton

Sounds interesting Ron

Will there still be enough time to get to dinner at 19:00? (Always thinking about where my next meal is coming from )

Andy, when you are hungry, you can leave the guided tour, walk straight to the guesthouse and have your meal. The distance is about 50 meters...

Robert

[Rona|d]

Robert, about 54,680665 yards/ 164,04199 ft, they are not familiar with our metric system on that little island

Originally Posted by rohi

The distance is about 50 meters...

[andybarton]

I think I can manage that

Thank you.

[bindrar]

Hi

I have now received permission to attend (lots of brownie points over the last month).

I havent decided yet between train or rental car (the missus will keep our car for the weekend) and am waiting for confirmation of which hotel still has rooms.

I look forward to meeting you all.

Yours

Ravi

[andybarton]

Ravi

That's excellent news. I look forward to meeting you in a couple of weeks.

[rohi]

Originally Posted by bindrar

Hi

I have now received permission to attend (lots of brownie points over the last month).

I havent decided yet between train or rental car (the missus will keep our car for the weekend) and am waiting for confirmation of which hotel still has rooms.

I look forward to meeting you all.

Yours

Ravi

Ravi,
thre are some other members, who come from Switzerland. Perhaps you can share a care with one of them?

Im looking forward to our meeting,
regards,

Robert

[dcoombs]

My apologies, but something has come up which prevents me from attending. I'm really sorry as it looks like it will be a lot of fun, and I was looking forward to meeting other Leica Forum members.

Enjoy the trip, Doug

[andybarton]

Just arrived home (couldn't stay all weekend).

What a great couple of days I have had. Met up with some old friends (Robert Parker, Carl B, Andreas, Ron Schmidt to name but a few) and met some guys for the first time (Jaap, Ivar, Ravi, Robert Hill, Andy from Munich, to name a few more) They are still enjoying themselves in the sunshine in the forest, and I wish I were with them.

I will say it here now, it was a pleasure being there.

Had the full tour of the factory from blank glass to the M8 line, in the company of a charming and very helpful member of the Akademie. It was a real eye-opener, and whilst I knew how lenses are made in Solms (as opposed to anywhere else...), the scale of the operation was a surprise.

At dinner last night, we were fortunate enough to have Stefan Daniel with us. While my German is so bad I had to have a Norwegian translate for me (Thanks to fluent Carl for that), I did enjoy what Herr Daniel had to tell us, as did the other hundred or so members who attended. Many thanks must go to him and his colleague for taking the time out from their weeks in the run up to what will, no doubt, be a very interesting Photokina

So, I look forward to seeing the results of the walk round Wetzlar yesterday, and the wildlife stuff the other guys were doing, plus all the workshops today and tomorrow. For €15, the weekend's activities and lectures etc can't be beat! I would propose a single thread on the German for all the results.

So, if you haven't been to this year's meeting (or even if you have) and can make the next one (whenever that will be), I can thoroughly recommend it.

Congratulations and many thanks to all the organisers, sponsors, the wonderful people at Leica and everyone else.

[That's enough gushing for now - Ed]

[robert_parker]

I'd just like to second what Andy has said above - we were made extremely welcome and there was a huge amount of interest and activity - I'd certainly recommend it to anyone.

The presentation by Herr Daniel was very interesting and Herr Hagenaur (sorry for the spelling) gave an excellent factory tour.

Thanks to Andy, Carl, Ivar, Jaap, Ravi, and Max for being excellent company during the stay (with a special medal for Carl and Ivar for acting as my co-divers and navigators ) and I look forward to meeting everyone again soon

Ps. Will post the photos in the German forum.

[kalle]

Hello Gentlemen,

I think I got some of you in my Picture, before I took back my lend M8, isn't it?
Regards,
Kalle

FT200828a.jpg

M8, 2/28

[robert_parker]

Originally Posted by kalle

Hello Gentlemen,

I think I got some of you in my Picture, before I took back my lend M8, isn't it?
Regards,
Kalle

Kalle

I think you may be right !!

Kalle---Hessenpark-14-June-08.jpg

[Ivar B]

One of the advantages of the Leica M systems is its compactness and low wight. Do you agree, Robert?

[robert_parker]

Originally Posted by Ivar B

One of the advantages of the Leica M systems is its compactness and low wight. Do you agree, Robert?

Well, that lot's not bad if you're used to a R9 / DMR combination !!

[k_g_wolf]

Hello Ivar,


those camerastraps react beautifully to the wooden structure of the building behind ...

That alone seems to have been worth the trip ...

En