Hi all, first post, new Leica owner here...

[SugarBubble]

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Hi all, I am retiring in two months from my long career as a nuclear engineer, and treated myself to some quality equipment to reconnect to my old love of photography. 

I bought my first camera, a Minolta XGM after I graduated from college in 1982.  Used the heck out of that thing, but ultimately replaced it with the Minolta Maxim 7000.  I loved the whole auto focus and auto film advance, lol, and even started a weekend wedding business and developed the film myself.  Shooting weddings ultimately paid for all my gear, yee ha!  But then I had kids, and I set my cameras down except for family photos.  Fast forward to the digital age and I picked up a Nikon D7000, 2010 I think it was, and really enjoyed the whole world of 16 mp digital pictures, but I never really got the bug again like I had in the 80s.   But now, faced with the eternal question of what the heck should I do in retirement, I decided to come back to pictures.

So, in the past three weeks I bought the CL kit bundle with the TL 18mm lens (27mm equivalent), the TL 35 (52mm) and the TL 60mm macro (90mm equivalent).  I am done buying lenses, at least for this year!

I have used the 18mm the most, think DC cherry blossoms, its just so handy.  I got the 60mm macro last week and have enjoyed the macro mode shooting spring flowers and the like with it, also did some portraits of family members that came out nicely.  Just today I got the 35mm from the Leica store here in DC.  So have not used it yet other than a couple of test shots in the store to be sure it was working.

Why did I buy Leica?  I thought about a lot of cameras, and nearly pulled the trigger on the Fuji GFX system.  But the more I thought about it, I really wanted a small system I could carry everywhere.  Even with all 3 lenses and the body, my bag contents only weigh 4 pounds.  And if I decide to just roll with the 18mm, then I don't even need a bag... that is amazing!  I plan to travel extensively in my retirement, so I valued light weight and image quality above everything else.  I wanted auto focus and a good lens selection to boot.  I thought about all the major APSC cameras out there, for the smaller size benefits, and compared many review sites and user comments in various forums.  I held all the cameras in consideration in my hands before I plunked down my cash.  For me, in my situation, the CL was the winning camera.  I didn't care it wasn't the newest.  I didn't care it wasn't the cheapest (LOL).  I didn't care that video was rudimentary.  All I cared about were the aesthetics of the Lecia CL system and the images I saw being generated with the CL on this forum and others.  I have had no buyers remorse, except for some troublesome thoughts that I may need a video oriented camera to supplement the CL at some point, but that is a worry for another day.

Take care all.

 

Edited April 24, 2019 by SugarBubble
XGM not SGM

[johntobias]

Welcome and wow!   great kit !   The 35 is especially fabulous !   now get posting your results !  

 

[grahamhoey]

Welcome enjoy retirement as a lot of us do. Consider when you are thinking of new lenses the 18-56. It’s IQ is as good as the primes, except for the 35 which is exceptional. The zoom is a great travel lens. 

[wda]

SugarBubble, welcome to the forum. Enjoy your well considered new kit. Be creative.

[Marac]

Enjoy.... All the lenses are very good with this system, 35TL is my favourite.

[justbananas]

your reasoning sounds similar to mine, except that I'm not traveling in retirement, but with a toddler in tow.  Smaller, lighter, easy to manage = better 

 

The 35 TL is an amazing lens... I know it's kinda big on the camera, but dang I love it!

 

[Jake]

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"Fast forward to the digital age and I picked up a Nikon D7000"

I used olympus OM system and XA's, Contax T2, and rolleiflex among others, and picked the D7000 as the first real digital camera when it came out. Very nice camera when it was introduced and have used it for over ten years. I looked at the fuji's and the lumix series, but I chose the CL. And I'm not disappointed. At all. You won't be either.