Topic: A life lesson, an M4 and a roll of FP4+

[johnha]

Although I've often thought about it, I didn't think I'd ever buy a Leica, too eccentric, too expensive and too quirky. When the M6 was still available new I researched them and started looking for a used 0.58 'finder (I wear glasses) but couldn't find one anywhere near any sensible budget (and then there's a lens...). Later, I couldn't understand why they'd swap the convenience of a rewind crank for a knob (MP & MA) - although they'd sell you an optional crank adaption for a not-so-small-sum. Even later I wondered why they decided to omit a meter from the MA - I can live with a meter-less camera from the '60s when they were difficult to perfect, but surely today they should be standard? The lens names sound like something from a Cold War code book, leaving an un-educated user scrabbling around trying to translate them into focal lengths & apertures...

I'm a Pentax SLR user mostly (some electronic, some mechanical and some meter-less), I have mechanical delights like an S1a, Spotmatic, KX & MX, an LX (possibly one of the best SLRs ever made), a decent set of Takumar and Pentax K lenses and countless oddities to call upon. My favourite focal length was 40mm (SMC-M40mm f/2.8 pancake), later becoming 43mm when I could justify the FA43/1.9. Why would I decide to buy a Leica with all the expense involved and limitations of a rangefinder?

Partly the reason to experience one, maybe there's something in it I've been missing all this time (and my Zorki-4K fails to deliver). A discussion on another forum mentioned that many of the expert repairers are retiring and there won't be the skills or parts to repair even mechanical cameras at some point - I surmised that as Leica look likely to be building them for the forseable future that they'd be the best bet, the last ones to hang up their pin spanners...

The real catalyst though has been a huge lesson in life, a horrid year of dreadful ill-health of a family member, constant hospital visits, supporting each other, no time for anything but (hard won) sleep. Fortunately things are slowly now turning around, improvement, some 'spare' time (not much really but something) and hope for the future. The lesson has been to grab what you want while you can, activate the rainy day fund when it's already been pouring down for months and try and make some part of your day happy doing something you want to do. It's been a tough lesson, it's taken time, but I've now bought a Leica.

It's a bashed about silver M4 (possibly from 1966), it wasn't enormously expensive, it met my criteria for being a user camera and I won't be afraid to scratch it. I bought it with a Voigtlander VM 40mm f/1.4 (MC) lens - my favourite focal length. The M4 doesn't have 40mm frame lines, but it brings up the 50mm lines - I simply frame for 50 and allow a bit extra (I struggle to see the 35mm frame lines with my glasses). I'm starting to understand some of the magic, sometimes using a meter and sometimes not but my understanding of light is improving with every shot, although I'm still a bit 'finger & thumbsy' when handling it.

Some of the results from a walk with it and a roll of FP4+:

Halloween Guardians by John Halliwell, on Flickr

Vape shop window by John Halliwell, on Flickr

Two benches by John Halliwell, on Flickr

Five Trees by John Halliwell, on Flickr

Gigs by John Halliwell, on Flickr

Meaningful message by John Halliwell, on Flickr

I'm drawn to photographing graphiti/urban art but have generally stopped posting it - the above is an exception because the message seems so important today.


John.

[BernardL]

I understand your argument. And I like your pics. But they might just as well have been taken with, say, an Olympus 35RC (40mm give or take a few is also my favorite focal length).

Happy days to you.

[kentish cob]

If owning and using a Leica makes you happy, John, then who would begrudge you the chance to do so.
After all, no-one would bat an eyelid if you chose to spend your hard-earned on a top flight DSLR.

I was going to write something about inspiration/aspiration with regards to photographic kit, but purely by chance, in the current Black + White Photography magazine there's a piece by Chris Gatcum all about equipment preferences, that includes this little nugget:

"And should we actually manage to get our grubby little mitts on the object of our desire there's every possibility it will inspire us to shoot more and to shoot better - and that can never be a bad thing."

So use it and enjoy it, John, and I sincerely hope you're able to put your annus horribilis behind you.

[cs1]

I absolutely agree with Peter. Taking a photo is as much about the whole process as it is about the result. If the Leica makes you enjoy the process more than another camera, it's a perfectly fine reason for getting one.

[Late Developer]

Nice photos and I hope the health issues are now becoming a distant thing of the past.

Owning and using Leicas can be a very enjoyable experience.  I've owned several down the years and enjoyed them all.  However, I came at it from the wrong end - I went for the Mint / Mint- examples and that was an expensive lesson.

However, most of what I shoot in 35mm is d*g*t*l these days (though not all, as I have a nice Olympus rig) and I was able to get a great trade on my Leica stuff against a Rollei and some other bits and bobs.

If you like "wide" you can pick up the non-ASPH 28mm f2.8 Elmarit-M in user condition for reasonable. That, and your 40mm, would be a great walkabout / travel set.

[hookstrapped]

Oh, this thread makes me smile. I too bought a Leica, an M2, and loved it and since sold, miss it at times. But I get my 40mm fix with a Rollei 35S (I also had the Voigtlander -- such a nice lens) and my 28mm fix with a Minolta TC-1 (also had the Voigtlander 28mm 1.9, another very nice lens). And I'm also a fan of Pentax SLRs.

I also very much appreciate your perspective on life that brought you to the Leica. Happy shooting!