Your first Leica? Tell your story...

[thondup]

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I got my Leica M3 in 1968 the year I graduated high school. The camera had a history it was given to my father by the U.S. government to take pictures inside Tibet in the early fifties. It came with a 50mm 1.4 lens. I still have over a thousand Kodachrome 25 slides from those days. Through the years I upgraded and today I have a M9 with a 35mm summicron asph and a M7 with a 50mm elmar M. In my 47 years of photography with Leica it has been one of the most relished experiences.

[bobfromfpl]

My first Leica was a Leica SL. I made a bank loan to purchase it along with 3 lenses and I purchased it from ALKIT Camera in Manhattan NYC.

Bob

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[Rolfus]

My first Leica was a M3. As I was a mountainclimber I bought the Leica CL with a 90mm lense, f 4.00

Whenever Cartier Bresson was in Lucerne, I showed him the city and the surroundings. I made a lot of pictures when he took pictures.

[wildlightphoto]

My first Leica was a new, old stock black chrome Leicaflex SL purchased for me in 1980 by my brother in Illinois and sent to me where I was living in a tent in rural Alaska. The lens I bought for it was the 400mm f/6.8 Telyt. The Nikon FTn I had been using for ten years was for sale right after I saw the first box of Kodachromes made with the SL & Telyt. I'm now using the R8 with DMR, possibly my last Leica camera body.

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Edited March 21, 2015 by wildlightphoto

[rob_w]

... right after I saw the first box of Kodachromes made with the SL & Telyt. I'm now using the R8 with DMR, possibly my last Leica camera body.

I have admired your photos so much over so many years -- your catalogue is reason enough by itself for Leica to resume making 400mm lenses.

[wildlightphoto]

I have admired your photos so much over so many years -- your catalogue is reason enough by itself for Leica to resume making 400mm lenses.

 

And a new R.

[mwilliamsphotography]

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My first foray into photography was shooting mostly B&W with a Canon F1 or FTB and a few primes. While working at an ad agency in Ann Arbor Michigan, I had a photography student from UofM process the film and make contact sheets for me. I started my photo book collection at the same time. Through those books, I became all starry eyed about the work of the great B&W masters, especially HCB and that whole gang of humanistic photographers. Every time there was any mention of the camera used ... it seemed to be a Leica Rangefinder. The Leica came to be synonymous with the type of photography I wanted to do.

 

So some 40 or so years ago I scraped up enough money to buy a new M4 ... and my most vivid memory was opening the box on my kitchen table and mumbling to myself ... "No more excuses Marc".

 

A few years later I added a Leica CL and the 40/90 lens combo and around the same time started processing my own B&W film. As soon as the M6 was available, I bought one while in NYC on business. Those two cameras (CL/M6) went everywhere I traveled to on business. Everything that came after were just variations on that theme.

 

I stumbled around with the digital Ms ... until the M Monochrome ... as I unboxed the MM camera that original M4 experience came back from 40 years ago at my kitchen table ...

 

- Marc

[Susan_NYC]

In the late 60s I was working in public relations at a major hospital in NYC. In my desk drawer were a camera and light meter for emergencies - when there wasn't time to call in a professional photographer. The opthamology department did imaging, so they showed me how to use the camera and developed my film. I had no idea that the camera was anything special - I later learned that the Leica M3 (or M4?) was indeed special.

 

I regularly shot "minor" ceremonies for donors who had paid for special equipment, for example, or when a group of vips visited the hospital, or when someone needed a head shot for files. My favorite shoot was when the chief of open-heart surgery invited me to shoot an operation, for the annual report. The Leica was that quiet.

 

When I left the public relations job I didn't anticipate missing that camera so much, nor did I realize how much it cost. I bought an inexpensive camera, which was no fun at all to use, so in the early 70s I pretty much stopped taking pictures.

 

Digital cameras came out. I always swore to myself that if Leica made a digital camera, I'd get one. Then the M8 appeared. I still couldn't afford a Leica, but apparently I talked about nothing else. My father insisted he'd give me an early inheritance for an M8, and in the fall of 2006 I got one of the first M8s to arrive in the U.S.

 

In late 2013 I went from the M8 to the M (240) which I was able to purchase with an inheritance from a good friend who would've been very happy to know what I'd done with the money.

 

That first Leica got me hooked.

[Gibbo]

My Father bought his M2, Summaron 35, Elmar 50 and Elmar 90 in 1968. At that point it was 10 years old and so was I. He made good use of it and also taught me how to use it. On occasion he let me take it on holiday! He also had a Soligor 105, an Elmar 65, Viso III and bellows.

 

In December 2009, on his passing, I inherited the camera plus lenses etc and it became my first Leica.

 

I've added an M240, an Elmar-M 50 and very recently a Summarit 2.4 75.

 

Thanks to his teaching me at a relatively early age, using a rangefinder is the most intuitive form of photography for me.

 

He also used a Sanderson half plate camera for architectural photography. I have it but haven't gone near it yet

[Manoleica]

My 1st M digital (Safari) developed 2 issues within 10days of delivery.

On its way back to the dealer, no Safari replacements available.

RIP.. The End..

[freshpaint]

April 1997 - Travelling with my 3 year old son a flight from Oslo to Melbourne, our newly refurbished Hasselblad was stolen during the stop at Singapore. As much as I was trying to keep a happy face, it hurt, and my son knew it. It was gone forever.

Meeting with an old friend in Melbourne, we went to a favourite used camera shop to see what was offering. There in the window was Leica M3 DS , number M3 - 785 323. It looked and felt ok - the rangefinder bright and smooth, the 5cm Summicron a little loose in the thread, but not seriously. I let my son have a feel of it, and then asked John, my friend. (John's a Leica expert from way back.) Finally again, asking my son "Shall we buy it?" .. and well, that was it. Since then the outfit has grown to include a few more lenses, Visoflex gear and a Reprovit 2A.

January 2015 - Shown here with a delicious chicken and rice meal in Bangkok, having just collected the M3 from AV Camera, who have an excellent camera service technician who did a top job. Cleaned and lubricated both the camera and the Summaron you see on the camera. The Summaron had the beginnings of fungus, the rangefinder goggles were out of alignment, and the focus thread was stiff. I guess none of this had been serviced since new. However, all the work was done for less than the cost of a quote in Melbourne.

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[serjohn]

 

First Leica I've ever owned bought last year. IIIc body and Summar lens. Body is in good shape but I think the lens will need a CLA. Have only run one roll through it but have fallen in love with how it all works. The build quality and details is why I had lusted after a Leica for years.

 

Thought at first about getting a M2 or M3 but was out of my price range but figured a LTM would be a good first one and if for some reason I didn't like it I could resell it for what I paid for it.

[stuny]

It was in 1999 and we were in an airport lounge on our way home at the end of a vacation. The magazine I was reading had an article on high quality compact binoculars. I'd always known the name Leica stood for superior optical quality at premium prices so I was quite surprised to see the price was actually affordable. A few weeks later we brought our Nikon compact binocs with us to a Leica dealer and tried out the competition, comparing them to our Nikons. Both the Zeiss and Leica's far out performed the Nikons in clarity and brightness, and were smaller and lighter (size and weight are important to us since we travel with carry-on luggage only), and in the bakeoff between the German brands the Leica 10x25 won and we took them home. (In 2004 that pair got ruined when Barbara slipped on some mossy rocks into a river in Belize - We replaced them).

 

Fast forward to late December 2000 and Barbara surprised me with an R8 and an 80-200 zoom. I quickly enhanced that with a second body (demo at discount) and a 28-70 zoom. That of course was the beginning of GAS, with me haunting eBay for anything with Leica on it.

 

Two weeks later we took the new gear with us to Egypt and Jordan.

 

 

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Edited March 31, 2015 by stuny

[mckay3d]

My first Leica was a IIIB with a 50mm f/ 3.5 Elmar. Purchased from Olden Camera & Lens in New York City in 1962, and it still performs well. I was in the U.S. Army at that time and stationed at Ft. Monmouth, New Jersey and was just an hour bus ride from N.Y. I remember that the Olden salesman wanted to sell me a well used 50mm f/2.0 Summar for it but somehow I knew the coated Elmar was the right thing for me. I wasn't wrong....

Now I have over 20 Leicas from the Model A to a Titanium M7. (Anyone want to buy it?)

Maurice

[wlaidlaw]

My first "Leica" was not a Leica at all. It was a Reid and Sigrist, possibly the only copy of a IIIC made to Leica standards. Reid and Sigrist were aircraft instrument makers, who were granted a licence and copies of the drawings, by the occupying British forces in the late 1940's. Much of the production was sold to the UK military and mine was very well used ex-army model III, with a "broad arrow" stamp on it and my birthday present in 1959. I used it initially with my father's 3.5 Elmar that he used as an enlarging lens and only later got the proper T&T 2 inch f2 lens. My father and I stupidly part exchanged the Reid for a new Mamiya SLR in 1963 or 4 and only later did I realise that I preferred RF to SLR.

 

My first "real" Leica was an M4 in 1967, which I still have but not the Summilux 50mm Type 1 lens, which was stolen.

 

Both my grandfather and father were Leica users. I still have one of my father's Leicas, a IIF and 50 Summitar. My grandfather's model II was sitting around my parent's house in a desk drawer during the 1950's with torn shutter curtains but my mother probably threw it out. . The Elmar I used on my Reid came off it.

 

Wilson

[bigdanmv]

I received my first Leica for my Bar Mitzvah in 1947

It was purchased at willoughbys in New York

Leica iiiF black dial with sum micron lens 50mm

Kept it until1979 and it never failed me

[luisrq]

It was in 1979, I had a Pentax Spotmatic, it was broken and needs repair, a oncle on my wife borrowed me his IIIF RD with a Summitar, I was so impressed! Immediately I've sold out all my Pentax outfit (normal, wide angle and zoom lenses) and bought a Leica R3 with a Summicron 50, my Leica has been growing with a Summicron 90, Super Angulon 21mm, Apo Telyt 180mm, and Macro accessories. I've added a Leica R4 and in 1989 a Leica M3 DS with a Summicron Rigid, everyday I was using more and more the M3 and in 1997 I've bought a M6 with the Summicron 35. In 2004 I did not using at all my Leica R outfit and I've bought the Leica MP and Leica M6 TTL. Actually I use too Leica M digital and several lenses.

[mweaverpics]

Around 1980 I was working at St. Louis Photo and had the ability to handle and use just about everything imaginable that could create an image. While owning Nikon gear (My favorite at the time was my F2AS) I was drawn to the Leica M's because of their size and optical quality. At the time you had manual cameras and the Nikon was much physically larger than the Leica M's but each pretty much operated the same way. You had to focus and set exposure then capture your image. If I ever wanted to use a Leica for something, I generally always could arrange it. I became one of the guys that sold the most Leica gear and ended up getting all kinds of Leica incentives. All the manufacturers had promotions to move gear and Leica had great incentives. Still have the Trinovids that were one of the incentives.

 

After a while being there, several of us left to start City Photo Stockhouse and we all pretty much worked for nothing in the beginning. One day I was presented a box with a brand new Leica M4-P in it in appreciation for what I had been doing at City Photo. Now.. back then the manufacturers had programs to get equipment out to those that sold it and as a result the baseplate had my initials engraved in it as any product that went out that way always did. I promptly got myself a Pentax digital spotmeter, winder and 35 Summicron. Picked up a M3 DS and 50 Summicron too. Sold the Nikon gear.

 

Got married, started having kids and rarely used the Leica gear. Figured I could use the money so it all went away. Times change and so do careers and now I'm a working photographer again. First purchase was M8 which was the then current model. It's still a great camera if you know how to use it. Then bought more Nikon gear. I also have the new M and a M6 TTL with motor. Got a DR Summicron modified to work on M8 and its great on new M with EVF. The 12mm CV is great on the M as well.

 

Given a choice, I'd much rather use the M's as they are optically very good, much smaller and easier to carry given same lenses vs Nikon and they also allow you be be much more unobtrusive when dealing with people. Not all cameras are equal at all things and as such you either adapt your style of shooting or use a different tool. I just find it's easier to have lots of tools and my preferred tool is a rangefinder Leica.. but sometimes you gotta use something else.

 

While shooting images of Ferguson MO, I had a distinct advantage over the Nikon and Canon shooters. No one paid much attention to me as they did the people with huge body and lens combos around necks or over shoulders. I also had a small bag of lenses that contained 12, 15, 21, 28, 35, 50, 75 and 90 mm if they were not on a body. While I suppose you could come close to covering the same focal lengths with a Nikon or Canon zoom, it's really not equivalent in my opinion.

[hhmrogers]

I bought my Leica IIIg, fitted with a collapsible 5cm Summicron, in Aden from the Miramar Bazaar Camera shop in Steamer Point Aden, on 17th October 1959, my way to an Army posting in Oman. I still have and use the camera and just recently had it serviced by Leica in Germany. The original receipt, for 960 East African Shillings, lies before me as I write.

 

Some of the pictures I took in Aden are at: oman Photo Gallery by Henry Rogers at pbase.com

 

Not so long ago I put together a couple of short videos about a mapping project in Borneo during 1964/65 mostly using stills from the same camera. They are at:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjYLS2PJwY4zLFxMOhqMqiQ

 

Here are pictures from Oman and Borneo and a couple from the Alps of around that time:

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Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear

[Phil U]

Some of the pictures I took in Aden are at: oman Photo Gallery by Henry Rogers at pbase.com

 

Not so long ago I put together a couple of short videos about a mapping project in Borneo during 1964/65 mostly using stills from the same camera. They are at:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjYLS2PJwY4zLFxMOhqMqiQ

 

Here are pictures from Oman and Borneo and a couple from the Alps of around that time:

 

Wonderful images and I really enjoyed the video - what an adventure and project, thank you so much for sharing.