On Sat, May 30, 2009 at 11:27 AM, Bob W <p...@web-options.com> wrote: >> >> Anybody else read >> http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photograph >> er/2009/05/a-leica-year.html >> Mike Johnston's little ode to simplicity and the Leica as a teacher. >> >> I'm seriously thinking about giving the basic concept a try. Not with >> a Leica though, but rather with either a Yashica FX-3 or Nikon FM2n >> and a fast normal. I don't feel like paying the Leica tax and my FX-3 >> in particular cost less than the eBay/Paypal transaction fees on even >> a cheap M. >> > > The follow-up piece is quite interesting too: > http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2009/05/why > -it-has-to-be-a-leica.html > > The Leica 'tax' is a myth, as he points out. I have recently sold my M4-2 > which I had for about 8-10 years for about the same money I paid for it. > Admittedly I spent £150- on it a few years ago for a service, but for a 1968 > camera it did pretty well. My E-1, on the other hand, is worth nothing now. > > The older photographers among us had little choice but to learn the way Mike > suggests. My early photography was with an MX which I bought by not smoking > for a year. I generally shot black & white and rarely had anything enlarged > because I couldn't afford it - just the contact prints. I still have all the > negs and contacts and there are probably hundreds of photos I should scan > and enlarge. But I can't be arsed. > > Bob >
The Leica tax is not a myth. Even if you consider the capital expenditures a wash, a comparable 35mm SLR of similar vintage to an M4 will cost no more than $50 and is often available much cheaper than that. In other words buying the SLR will cost you less than shipping, fees and taxes on the Leica, which you won't recover when selling it. Heck, my FX-3 cost me $5 out of pocket and $25 total (traded in a FR on it, payed $20 for the FR, got $20 trade-in value). Even a Nikon F can be had under $100. With very few exceptions, and nearly all of them fully-featured pro bodies, 35mm SLR's are available for the price of beer. -- M. Adam Maas http://www.mawz.ca Explorations of the City Around Us. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
