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Abuse for using a Leica???


barnabythebear

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9 minutes ago, Viv said:

The 2cv was a great design for its time (pre-WWII). Wonderful ride, easy to drive and maintain, cheap to run. In terms of design, right up there with the VW Beetle.

I regret that I never had one.

I had five of them in various versions at one time.  Great fun and easy to service.  All you needed was a couple of 19mm spanners, a cross head screwdriver and a set of feeler guages. 

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24 minutes ago, Viv said:

The 2cv was a great design for its time (pre-WWII). Wonderful ride, easy to drive and maintain, cheap to run. In terms of design, right up there with the VW Beetle.

I regret that I never had one.

Wasn't it designed for French farmers, to go anywhere on their land? And not break the eggs on the way to markef?

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1 minute ago, wda said:

Wasn't it designed for French farmers, to go anywhere on their land? And not break the eggs on the way to markef?

Yes; pretty much.

I believe (IIRC) that the boss of Citroen at the time specified that it had to be able to be driven across a ploughed field carrying a basket of eggs in the back without one of them breaking and the roof had to be high enough to allow the driver and passengers to be able to wear their Sunday-best hats. Famously it was to be designed as "an umbrella with wheels"...

Partly to comply with the first part of the above the very earliest(*) 2CVs had seats which were simply fabric suspended over tubing - in a manner similar to a deck-chair - as in this fashion there would be less 'bouncing' and more 'swaying'.

As far as the OP goes I, like others who have posted here, have never (yet) been on the receiving end of negative comments as far as my Leicas are concerned - quite the reverse in fact - and, co-incidentally, most recently just last weekend when a couple of friendly chaps who were out 'mudlarking' started up a conversation as we were all traipsing about the shingle at the edge of the River Thames at low-tide.

Philip.

* Unfortunately I can't remember if this was just the prototype / pre-production vehicles or if the seats were like this at the start of production. Nor, it seems, do I still have my original source material to hand. Perhaps someone out there can enlighten us?

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I would never take this kind of thing personally, it is a fact that we’re out there using gear that looks ‘quaint’ and often costs 10 times more than similar specced gear so at some point it’s going to get noticed. And as has been pointed out here, it goes both ways. The gear I have is certainly not expensive compared to most here but I still got the shriek “nice camera dude!” By some cyclist racing past me in the opposite direction last year.

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Sorry, I’m at a loss to understand what is abusive about what the guy said, or how you conclude that it pertains to the Leica brand at all. You say the guy sneered the words but he was a stranger so how could you possibly know that it might not just have been his normal voice? In any case I fail to see how “where’s your proper camera then” can be construed as abuse. I’d characterise it as just a flippant remark. Am I missing something?

Edited by stray cat
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Here's a fairly likely explanation for the rude comment:  Since the Q is small and has a form factor that's relatively unusual, the person commenting probably thinks big SLR or DSLR cameras are the only serious ones.

 

BTW:  Since first getting into Leica in 1999 I've only had positive comments about my gear.

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Those with nothing clever to say will frequently say something ignorant, condescending, or just plain stupid. 
 

Not worth the time it took to replay the comment in your mind. Enjoy your Q2, most certainly a proper camera. ;)

 

Edited by Mute-on
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On 3/28/2022 at 8:32 PM, barnabythebear said:

Hi all,

Just an anecdote from the weekend.

I was out enjoying the sun and taking some shots around Notting Hill, London with my Q2 and a guy (American for detail), walked past and sneered at me "where's your proper camera then?". I was quite taken aback but It got me thinking about whether other photographers resent the brand or its users? I sometimes read the comments on Leica news items over at DP Review and there does seem to be a minority who have trouble with Leica and its users.

Thank you,

Nige.

Are you sure he wasn't carrying a Leica over his other shoulder and you didn't see it?

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
On 3/29/2022 at 9:32 AM, wda said:

Wasn't it designed for French farmers, to go anywhere on their land? And not break the eggs on the way to markef?

One of the original design criteria was that the car should carry a basket of eggs across a ploughed field without breaking them, hence the extremely soggy, but surprisingly comfortable lateral tube suspension system that caused an alarming amount of body roll (known as 'doorhandling' by 2cv aficionados).

Other requirements were that the roof was high enough to enable top hats to be worn inside the car and the seats should be easily removable for picnics.  The flat twin air cooled engine was very reliable.

  

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At one point I used to carry a user IIIc around all the time (as I now carry a Fuji X100T, but best not to mention that), in case anything happened worth snapping. Passing Trafalgar Square in London, I saw a large and excited crowd gathering - a football team had won something or other, and their supporters were celebrating. I fished the Leica out of my bag and took a few shots. One of the crowd noticed me holding this antique and (with no hint of irony and probably without recognising the brand) commented  'shit camera'.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was once asked why I still used 'that old Russian clunker', and hadn't bought myself a decent camera.

Then there was the time that an elderly gent told me that it was really nice to see someone still using "one of these old Contax cameras".

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  • 4 weeks later...

When I was younger and walking around with a Leica, nobody cared or said a single word about it.

Now I'm an old fart and look like somebody's grandpa.

But film cameras and Leicas are now considered fashionable, and very often some hot young girl who has been influenced by Instagram will come up to me and say "Wow, is that a Leica?"

Often they will be toting a Pentax K1000 or Nikon FM.

My only problem is where were these hot young Leica lovers when I was 25?

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On 3/29/2022 at 7:59 AM, adan said:

What I can't imagine is any American saying "Where's your proper camera, then?" The usual American phrasing would have been "Where's your real camera?"

People often adopt words and phrases when living somewhere for a length of time, whether it's a regional dialect in your on country or somewhere else entirely. When I met my wife (we're American), she'd already been back in the US for a year after working in Manchester for two. Her vocabulary was still full of "Britishisms" that she'd picked up, but alas, many of them faded over time.

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On 3/29/2022 at 8:30 AM, Mute-on said:

Those with nothing clever to say will frequently say something ignorant, condescending, or just plain stupid. 
 

Not worth the time it took to replay the comment in your mind. Enjoy your Q2, most certainly a proper camera. ;)

 

Wisdom for the ages.  To further refine the sentiment, I would add "Those who are afflicted with RPD will frequently say something ignorant, condescending, or just plain stupid."  More evidence of that fact: 

Quote

Last year while shooting birds with an SL2 in a park near my home (in Singapore) a cyclist (American) stopped behind me, watched for a moment, and said sarcastically, "Canon or Nikon just won't do, eh?"  I ignored him and continued shooting.

More wisdom for the ages -

Quote

...it's generally best to just keep working on one's craft and ignore the noise. 

Ignore the snots and continue to hone the cutting edge of your photographic sword.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(and for the uninitiated, RPD = Rectal Personality Disorder)  😎

Edited by Herr Barnack
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