In 1977, I was in New York City for a UN study trip with my church. I was way too young to appreciate all that the city had to offer, but I was a big enough photo geek to appreciate that at that time, the city probably had more camera stores than any other city in the world. When I was there, I tried to go to as many as possible with the goal of buying a Leica. That I didn't know how to use one and did not have any real idea of all there was to the Leica line didn't stop me on this quest.
I kind of think its like your first car, and how you remember all the details, and the memory of that camera has stayed with me. It was a Leica IIIa with a serial number of about 175,000, and it came with an Elmar 50 mm lens. It was $225, which was a problem since I only had $200 to spend. After I came back the third or fourth time to moon or pine over the camera, the guy said OK, I'll sell it for $200--I think mostly to keep me from coming back and bugging him.
In the years since then, I guess I have owned 50 different Leicas, but they come and go, you know. I have looked for a Leica similar to that first one, but never found one that had the right serial number or they were too much money for a camera that would mostly sit on a shelf. Then, one showed up for pretty much the same amount that I paid 30+ years ago and I snapped it up.
How fun, and on a recent snowy morning, I took it out for a test drive and shot my first roll of 35mm film in years. These photos are not high art by any means, but it is pretty cool to even get photos from a 75 year old camera and lens. The process involved to actually focus a camera, correctly set the shutter speed and lens opening, and hold it still enough to get a sharp photo was fun. Who needs that auto exposure, auto focus, image stabilization stuff? If nothing else, it confirms that all these years later, I am still basically a camera geek.
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