[LRflex] Was: Flying Lessons... Now: Long Story

Walter wrote:


David,
Thanks for your response.  I'm surprised that you no longer have an 'R'
body.  I would be interested to know the story.


OK, Walter.  You asked for it!
I was originally a Nikon man ... having started with an old "F" (with the clip-on Selenium meter) in the mid 1960's.
After a brief fling with the Olympus OM system (which I really liked!) I moved to Leica in the early 1980's, and never looked back. After working my way through the R3, 5 & 6 (as well as a few "M" cameras) I acquired an R8. After experimenting with digital, (the 20D) I "graduated" to a DMR with the "8". The resulting combination is big, heavy and simply superb. Doug Herr's work will attest to that... and I don't think he will disagree with my assessment.
In early October, of 2006 I was one of the speakers at the LHSA's "World of Leica" convention in Wetzlar. Whilst there, the camera had the temerity to quit. 1/2 second exposures were required, it seemed, even at ISO 1250 in broad daylight - regardless of the chosen aperture!
But, if it had to quit ... 5:30 on a Sunday afternoon, when I'd be at the factory at noon, Monday, was the perfect time to do it!
Early Monday morning, I spoke with Christian (Erhardt - the sales manager for Leica USA) and he said they'd try to have it fixed by the time I was done, at the factory. That didn't happen, because the Tuesday was German Reunification Day - Germany's biggest holiday - and the service department had taken Monday off, to make a long weekend of it!
Ralph Hagenauer said "no problem ... I'll lock it in my office, and we'll have it fixed Wednesday." This was not a problem, as I was to be still in Wetzlar for an M8 course. 

(Earlier, I'd had on of 8 early production M8, for pre-release testing ...
see: http://www.main.furnfeather.net/Links/M8.htm and
http://www.main.furnfeather.net/Articles/First%20Impressions%20-%20M8.pdf )
But, that Tuesday, Solms suffered incredible rains. I'm still not sure just what happened. I have heard that the roof leaked badly while others say that part of the roof collapsed. It really doesn't matter. Ralph's office was flooded and my R8, DMR and 80~200/f4 were all severely damaged by water.
They loaned me an R9/DMR with another 80~200 Vario, for the balance of my trip and within a month, the 80~200 was back in my hands, beautifully cleaned and rebuilt. But, it took them until late January to replace the camera with another R8 which had been in the warehouse for 10 years or more! (This could be determined because a few, very early production R8s had a blue VF display, rather than the ubiquitous, and much more readable, yellow display. The replacement had a blue display!) However, the DMR they sent, was my original one, simply dried out! With electronics that doesn't work and so that camera lasted less than 24 hours, before it too failed.
I wrote a long email to Steven Lee (the president of Leica, at that time) and, to my amazement, got a phone call from him within 2 hours! He promised to send me a new R9 and another DMR. It took Leica until April to do this and when it came that camera lasted less than 72 hours before it went intermittent!
Although the demise of the DMR had not yet been announced, it seems that Leica were down to their last few units and were sending me refurbished DMRs.
After much discussion, they purchased the DMR back from me, at full retail, and I sold the R9 to another list member, who is, I understand, very happy with it. (I'd now moved firmly into the digital world and without the DMR I knew I'd not use it.) Although I know Doug prefers the finder in the SL, the R8's finder is excellent and I found the R8 the nicest camera to use of any I've ever owned.
In the end, I was without a camera for 8 months. When they emailed to say they'd send me a cheque, I went camera shopping that very day, buying a 30D. Eventually, I wandered into a dealer, intent on purchasing two Canon lenses for the 30D and discovered the Oly E3. Within half an hour I'd purchased the E3 and a couple of Oly lenses. These fulfill my needs when I want AF (such as at rodeos) and I can still use my Leica glass for the critical work. (The 30D, btw, is long gone!)
The smaller sensor means that I can get the same "reach" with the Telyt 400, for my wildlife work, as I did with the R8\, the Telyt and the 2x converter ... but without the 2 stop loss. And the in-body IS means my Telyt is now Image Stabilized. The E3 is festooned with more buttons than I like, but they are well protected and very seldom "bumped" unintentionally.
For me, the camera is almost as comfortable as the R8/R9, while being both smaller and lighter than the R8/DMR yet still with a brilliant finder. Not quite as good as the R8, but better than the R4 though R7 models. The E3 is now discontinued and the replacement E4 (or E5) is expected this fall. I am already saving my pennies!
So that's my long story.... The coming S2 is far beyond my reach and the long promised R10 is now dead. So, I am resigned to the fact that I will probably never own a Leica again. OTOH, I will use my Leica glass for as long as it and I last. 


---
David Young
Logan Lake, BC

Wildlife Photos: www.furnfeather.net
Rodeo Photos: www.galleries.furnfeather.net
Personal Website: www.main.furnfeather.net

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