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

And it pains me every time I hear this story.  And the ending, too (no R10).  
But you have moved on quite successfully.  Now all I need to do is figure out 
what path I will eventually take.

Aram


From: David Young 
Sent: Friday, July 24, 2009 10:11 AM
To: LeicaReflex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
Subject: [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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