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Thanks Dad !
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 16, 2015 5:50 pm    Post subject: Thanks Dad ! Reply with quote

It's been one of my great regrets having bought a mirrorless ILC and got caught a bad case of legacy LBA that my dad is no longer around to chat to about it. He was an inveterate buyer and seller of camera gear and the person who got me into photography many,many years ago. He bought me an Agfa Silette Rangefinder in the early 70's - I can still remember going with him to buy it from a guy in the classifieds (newspaper rather than CL). The (UK) Manchester Evening News - Under a Fiver section so that tells you how long ago it was.

He died five years ago and I got to clear out his accumulated years of collecting. I somehow managed to keep it for a few years not wanting to throw out so much old kit that you couldn't give away. When I emigrated to the US in 2013 (two years ago tomorrow) I had to be brutal and get rid of everything. As I was chucking out his collection of camera bags (why he had so many escapes me) I even found £400 in one of them - obviously his "hide from my mother" trading fund .

The one thing I kept was his collection of old Leicas and Leica bits. There are no collector models but hey - they're old Leicas they ain't getting dumped.

Fast forward to this morning and I'm wondering if any of the Leicas have detatchable lenses. Yes I know I'm stupid. I'm wondering if any will a) detach and b) work on my A6000.

So I've discovered in his box of bits the following.

Ernst Leitz Summacron 3.5cm F3.5
Ernst Leitz Summitar 5cm F2 (this has the push/pull lens thing with the scary back projecting element)
Jupiter 50/F2

And my favourite

Ernst Leitz Elmar 9cm F4



Thanks Dad !

<Apologies if you've read this post of mine elsewhere but would welcome any comments on the lenses>


PostPosted: Wed Dec 16, 2015 6:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Welcome rjm007


PostPosted: Wed Dec 16, 2015 7:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

What a great legacy!

My dad taught me how to photograph back in the 1980s. He was a Pentax man, though, not Leica. Unfortunately, his lenses and cameras passed out of the family as he aged and switched over to digital and P&S photography and before I took up ML again. Sad He is still alive and active in his 80s. He did lovely nature photography back in the day.


PostPosted: Wed Dec 16, 2015 10:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

In a strange way it was also my old man who got me into photography. He had a few cameras over the years, always simple ones, and he couldn't master any of them, he was officially the Worlds worst photographer! Laughing So, my brother and I took over to avoid family snapshots with fingers in front of the lens, badly focused, heads chopped off and just about every other photographic blunder you can think of. And even if I do say it myself, both me and my older bro' are decent enough behind a camera.
But we never inherited a Leica, I think the last camers he had, which I got for him, was a top of the range APS Canon IXUS, and he spent 5 weeks on a trip of a lifetime to Canada shooting every single picture in panoramic mode. Rolling Eyes
We learn from our parents in mysterious ways. Wink


PostPosted: Thu Dec 17, 2015 12:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I got my 'information' legacy from my mother. She was an inveterate hobby "trier" she would try this, try that, try something else. Get into it really good for a while then lose interest. Early 70's, my older brother (off to college) came back with a Canon FTb so she had to try it. She got an identical camera and she (and I) delved into it, built a darkroom in the "fruit room" enlarger chemicals all that stuff. After a while she lost interest and was on to the next thing, and I was off to college. But I always had an interest even if I didn't stay that deep into it. Bought a OM1 from a college friend which I used until I got a digital in 2002 or so (I still have that camera!). A Kyocera S3x. Lovely images (under the right circumstances!) for a 3 megapixel point and shoot that was the size of a pack of playing cards. I don't know what ever happened to the FTb though, hmmm.


PostPosted: Thu Dec 17, 2015 8:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I also can give credit to my father for introducing me to Photography in 1980 when i was gifted an instamatic at age 5.
Thankyou sir!!


PostPosted: Thu Dec 17, 2015 12:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Mine used to always take pictures, a Topcon R and a Topcor 58/1.8, till light leaks, and a shutter failure put an end to that camera, it was put away and he bought a Canon T70, he found it too complicated and hardly used a camera again, a shame, because I eventually bought my own T70 and found it super easy to use, I guess it was just the digital bits that he found intimidating, back to the Tpocor, sadly storage has not been kind, the glued elements in the Viewfinder and lens have separated, now it's kept for sentimental reasons, I have since become a big fan of Topcon.


PostPosted: Fri Dec 18, 2015 1:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My dad had a go with most things. Certainly had a lifelong interest in buying and selling and was certainly a keen photographer. In terms of marque he wasn't particularly loyal. I can certainly remember Spotmatics, early rangefinders and Leicas. Mostly a 35mm man with a few compacts and Olympus half frames thrown in along the way.

Later on he had Olympus SLR's and probably a Nikon or two but I suspect it was part of a collection rather than his active kit. Mostly he shot on SLR and later on moved to compacts. Even got into buying and selling on ebay. I still feel guilty about not helping him more with that as he was not only finding his way on ebay but also on computers in general.

Digital came a little too late for him. Mostly because the PC skills needed to handle digital files. I gave him my old Canon G3 but I don't think he really got to grips with it.

We did chat a lot about cameras and photography from when I was but a mere teenager and he was paying all my d&p costs Smile I suspect he might be a little baffled by the Sony A6000 I have now but we'd be able to talk all night about the lenses that could go on it.

Every time I put one of those old Leica lens on any camera I have I'll think of him and I guess that would make him smile.