Happy 25th Birthday, Dear Leica Forum!

[LUF Admin]

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Today, the Leica Forum is actually turning 25!

With the start of photokina in Cologne on September 20, 2000, a new section was introduced on the Leica website: the Leica Customer Forum.

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

 As is often the case with the early years, my memories are a bit hazy. I do remember that the first few months were a bit bumpy: The forum was based on a very rudimentary script written in the Perl scripting language and had an extremely limited range of functions.

Nevertheless, this was the start of a success story: for 25 years, not a single day has passed without users exchanging ideas and information on the Leica Forum. This community has given rise to fantastic projects such as internal competitions, regular meetings like the One Challenge, and several books. Above all, however, the Leica Forum has brought people from all over the world together.

Personally, that makes me very, very proud!

Even after a quarter of a century, the Leica Forum is still going strong. We now have over 100,000 members, thousands of visitors come to the forum every day, and hundreds of users log in and post every day – over 5 million posts so far.

To put the age of the forum into a broader context: the Leica Forum has a longer history than Instagram (2010), the iPhone (2007), Twitter (2007), YouTube (2005), and Facebook (2004).

Thank you!

This is a good opportunity to say “thank you”:

• First and foremost, a huge thank you to all the moderators – the current team, but also everyone who has supported the community and me in the past. Without you and your commitment, the Leica Forum would not be such a great community!
• Next, we must thank Leica Camera AG and its employees. It has been a great privilege for me to work with Leica for almost 30 years, with a wide variety of departments (marketing, product management, development, service, and many others), first in Solms and now in Wetzlar. Thank you for the topics of discussion that your products provide, thank you for cultivating and keeping the myth alive, and thank you for so much personal passion!
• Last but not least: Thank you, above all, to all members, especially the active ones, but also to all readers. It is your contributions and pictures that make the Leica Forum such a lively community. Please keep up the good work!

The show goes on...

The Leica Forum has evolved along with the Leica products and your wishes: Many subforums and services have been added, and various servers are working in the background for the forum itself, for search functions, and, more recently, to protect the forum from attacks.

In order to build the entire structure, I have always been looking for new ways to finance the forum. If you would like to support us, we have two current offers:

1. As an anniversary offer, I have significantly reduced the introductory prices for premium membership for the next few weeks: instead of €40 in the first year, you pay only €24 (€48 in subsequent years). In return, you will not see any advertising – and, above all, you will be supporting the forum!
2. With lots of tips from the community, I have compiled an overview of useful accessories for the Leica Q3. In the first step, these include bags and half cases, batteries, and chargers. You can find all recommendations here, with comparable pages for the Leica D-Lux and M models to follow soon. If you use the links to purchase equipment, we will receive a commission in most cases, which helps us finance the forum.

Outlook

We have grown older together, the Leica Forum, its members, and I: I was 33 when we started, and now I am 58, so retirement is no longer an abstract possibility. I am not sure if I will continue for another 25 years, but I am certain that the Leica community will remain active for much longer—whatever technology or medium that may be in the future.

Thank you for the past 25 years – and a toast to the next 25 years!

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The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[Gibbo]

Thank you, Andreas! 👍

[Lelmer]

Thank you for all you did, Andreas, you can be very proud of it, indeed 👍

This forum is one of the most pleasant one I know (not only about photography). 

Long life to this forum.

 

[pippy]

Thanks for all your hard work over the years - it really is greatly appreciated - and Happy Birthday!

Philip.

[jaapv]

Another 25 years? Come on Andreas, if I can, you can! 🤣

[Topsy]

Happy birthday and thank you for being here.

[Keith (M)]

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Such a repository of information and guidance that combines well-mannered posts and responses in way that is very rare indeed in today's social media.  Long may it remain that way.

Happy Birthday forum & thanks Andreas!

 

[andybarton]

Congratulations Andreas. 

It's been an absolute pleasure being part of this Forum for about 23 of those 25 years. And thanks too, to everyone who contributes in any way, and makes this very special place  

Here's to the next 25!

[LocalHero1953]

Thank you, Andreas - I'm delighted I discovered the forum back in around 2011 (?). It is such a valuable resource of advice and info on everything from old lenses to wet shaving and fabric conditioner (NB don't try one with the other).

[evikne]

Congratulations! 🥳 And thank you so much for all the inspiration, knowledge and joy the forum has given me. And also some expenses... 😄😬

[wda]

Well done everyone! Do as I do, have a rolling 10-years plan. 😃

[GFW2-SCUSA]

This forum is a delight. I have learned and have been inspired and even added a helpful remark here. The general attitude is positive and fun. The rare grumpy person is gently (??) admonished when needed but never in an ugly way. We seem pretty good at policing ourselves. My only strong irritation is people who don't show their location not even a country!  For those of us who don't get to travel the world it is frustrating not knowing where a beautiful picture was made. Otherwise I am greatful to Andreas for all that he puts into this and am happy to chip in a few coins to be a Premium Member. 

I should add that I am also thankful to the various Moderators for the work they do as well.

Edited 55 minutes ago by GFW2-SCUSA
added text

[farnz]

@LUF Admin

Thank you, Andreas, for creating and maintaining a space online from which I derive so much pleasure every day! 

Pete.

[odd]

Congratulations!!

Joined the forum September 30. 2002 and are still her 😊

D Active the first years 📸  but now I’m swallowed by Facebook and other sosial media 😏

Edited 46 minutes ago by odd

[bobtodrick]

1 hour ago, andybarton said:

Congratulations Andreas. 

It's been an absolute pleasure being part of this Forum for about 23 of those 25 years. And thanks too, to everyone who contributes in any way, and makes this very special place  

Here's to the next 25!

Kudos to this…I too have been here 23 years…the best forum there is thanks to Andreas and the rest of the mods 😃👏

[Peter41951]

Congratulations, Andreas! 

Here's to the next 25 years.

Peter

[TomB_tx]

2 hours ago, LUF Admin said:

I was 33 when we started, and now I am 58, so retirement is no longer an abstract possibility.

Only 58? You can make it! I was retired at 62, and within 3 months was called back on contract that just kept going, now hired on at 79 and no end in sight.

[FMB]

Thank you for years of help. Well done.

Francisco

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Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear