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 Post subject: What was your first Leica ?
Unread postPosted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 11:22 am 
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I'm interested to find out how we all got started with Leica, for me it was quite recently with an M8, then three months later I dumped all my digital gear including the M8 for and M2 and also an M6. Best decision I ever made !!

What about you ?


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 Post subject: Re: What was your first Leica ?
Unread postPosted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 12:27 pm 
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Hi Anthony. My first experience with Leica was with my Dad's IIIg. He used it to take hundreds of Kodachromes in Europe, then just set it in a drawer. I think he preferred the Polaroid, which was new and exiting at the time. So I "adopted" the IIIg. I had absolutely no instruction in photography and besides, the camera had a pinhole in the shutter curtain which had me stumped for a while. I never got much use out of it, and it ended up with someone else in the family.

I really started to learn about photography in my first summer job during high school: my Dad - who was in the fashion business - got me a job as a gopher for a fashion photographer here in LA. I got a Pentax SLR which I carried everywhere and started looking at books by Avedon, Skrebneski, Adams, Frank, and Cartier-Bresson. I got to know my way around a B&W darkroom, and the following summer got a job as a clerk at Beverly Hills Camera. I added a Hasselblad 500C with an 80mm Planar lens to my gear, and began making extra money doing headshots for aspiring actors. I took some photography courses, started working with a Linhof 4x5 view camera, submitted a portfolio to Art Center College, and in 1972 was accepted there.

Then my Dad put a "course correction" into effect and I ended up in Law School.

While working as a lawyer, I sold the Hasselblad and purchased a used M4-P, and carried it in my trial case. I did a lot of candid and reportage shooting, and had a pretty nice B&W portfolio at the time.

Over three decades later, I retired from law practice and am studying and beginning to work as a portrait painter. I've returned to photography first with a Canon 5D MkII, which I later sold in favor of a Leica M-E with a Summicron-M 35mm ASPH. I've added an M9 and a Summicron-M 50mm, and now all is well in my little corner of the world.


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 Post subject: Re: What was your first Leica ?
Unread postPosted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 1:48 pm 
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On a whim I picked up the Zeiss Ikon and a bunch of ZM lenses early in 2008, as I wanted to see what the "state of the art" was in rangefinders... The type of camera I started on. It was a relatively cheap investment, but the performance, obviously - was top shelf.

Later in 2008 having decided that I loved the experience, I came across a used Leica M8 for sale (that belonged to Seal). Dragged it to Germany, Belize, around the Caribbean... I was hooked. Got the M7, M9 and MM later on.

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 Post subject: Re: What was your first Leica ?
Unread postPosted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 2:00 pm 
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Mine was D-Lux 4 shortly followed by M8.


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 Post subject: Re: What was your first Leica ?
Unread postPosted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 3:07 pm 
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M6 and 35mm Summicron ASPH back in 2000. Still got the lens but sold the M6 a few years ago to fund a 100mm APO Macro Elmarit-R and Elpro 1:1 unit.


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 Post subject: Re: What was your first Leica ?
Unread postPosted: Fri Apr 24, 2015 2:06 pm 
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James Lehrer wrote:
Hi Anthony. My first experience with Leica was with my Dad's IIIg. He used it to take hundreds of Kodachromes in Europe, then just set it in a drawer. I think he preferred the Polaroid, which was new and exiting at the time. So I "adopted" the IIIg. I had absolutely no instruction in photography and besides, the camera had a pinhole in the shutter curtain which had me stumped for a while. I never got much use out of it, and it ended up with someone else in the family.

I really started to learn about photography in my first summer job during high school: my Dad - who was in the fashion business - got me a job as a gopher for a fashion photographer here in LA. I got a Pentax SLR which I carried everywhere and started looking at books by Avedon, Skrebneski, Adams, Frank, and Cartier-Bresson. I got to know my way around a B&W darkroom, and the following summer got a job as a clerk at Beverly Hills Camera. I added a Hasselblad 500C with an 80mm Planar lens to my gear, and began making extra money doing headshots for aspiring actors. I took some photography courses, started working with a Linhof 4x5 view camera, submitted a portfolio to Art Center College, and in 1972 was accepted there.

Then my Dad put a "course correction" into effect and I ended up in Law School.

While working as a lawyer, I sold the Hasselblad and purchased a used M4-P, and carried it in my trial case. I did a lot of candid and reportage shooting, and had a pretty nice B&W portfolio at the time.

Over three decades later, I retired from law practice and am studying and beginning to work as a portrait painter. I've returned to photography first with a Canon 5D MkII, which I later sold in favor of a Leica M-E with a Summicron-M 35mm ASPH. I've added an M9 and a Summicron-M 50mm, and now all is well in my little corner of the world.

You sound like the George V Higgins of the Leica James.[emoji4]


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 Post subject: Re: What was your first Leica ?
Unread postPosted: Fri Apr 24, 2015 3:54 pm 
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Wow! Thanks...that's a high compliment. "The Friends of Eddie Coyle" is still a favorite of mine.


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 Post subject: Re: What was your first Leica ?
Unread postPosted: Wed May 06, 2015 6:37 pm 
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I just like the idea of a lawyer sneaking off for a bit of photography on the side.


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 Post subject: Re: What was your first Leica ?
Unread postPosted: Sun May 10, 2015 6:31 am 
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Minolta XE
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M6 TTL


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 Post subject: Re: What was your first Leica ?
Unread postPosted: Wed May 13, 2015 12:36 pm 
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M-E and few months later M7....

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