Leica M7 a la carte arrived yesterday!

[segedi]

M7 a la carte Black Paint with .85 viewfinder, MP-style film advance, .85-4 framelines and no engraving. Took 5 weeks and 2 days.

[Роберт]

Congrats with this fine camera.



Now the right pictures.



Efke 25 in Beutler. M7 + Summarit 2,5/75mm

[barzune]

OK

[Sim2]

Ooooo, was it your birthday? Sweet present to yourself - hope that it lives up to the expectations. Enjoy, have fun and get some great pics!

Sim2.

[segedi]

It was a birthday gift actually.

[karl]

Why no engraving? I'd have mine in chrome with engraving.

[2F/2F]

I am 20 percent jealous and 80 percent disgusted! Kind of like when I see a beautiful Ferrari on the road, but then actually think about the fact that someone spend more money than I'll make in 20 years on that car just to drive it in stop and go traffic on the 101, passing thousands of hungry homeless people on the way to wherever it is he/she is headed.

[segedi]

No engraving - don't like to advertise and like it bare

2F/2F - I'd be 100% disgusted seeing someone photographing said homeless people with even a crappy camera in order to get gritty street pics and exploit them.

I was out shooting this weekend and was hit up by two homeless women. Instead if ignoring them or telling them I couldn't help I bartered with them. Photos for money. And since I only had about 36 cents in my pocket I told them I was going to the store and would be back.

They had heard that before... But when I did come back they had moved and were surprised to see me. they got 2 bucks each for a minute if work, so I think they were happy. And I talked to them, know their names, know why they are on the streets and was a dare example of human kindness in our brief encounter.

While I've never been in their shoes, I have been down to a few dollars in the bank before finding a job. And now I'm in a situation that for some reason inspires disgust? I don't get it.

[2F/2F]

I think my feelings and point were stated pretty clearly, and you must have expected at least one person to have something like them when you decided to post the way you did. If you don't get it, then you don't get it. It's OK.

And what does exploiting homeless people or your story about how swell you are to them have to do with anything I said?

I simply cannot fathom spending huge sums of money on some of the things people spend it on. Just the age old moaning about how people with money to blow choose to blow it; you need not be offended.

And, as I said, it's a great camera. I just think you are foolish for buying it. And I wouldn't have said anything about it if not for the manner in which you posted. And it is OK for me to think all that and to say it.

[Brian Legge]

Lets be fair here. Any of us - given different parents, different situations, etc - could have very different lives where the idea of owning a camera at all is a luxury. Glass houses and all.

We all know people who spend more money on cars/houses/shoes/etc than we could fathom. I'm slightly jealous of people who not only have the money but have the willpower to spend it on decent cameras (or any other item which exists primarily for their happiness). I have some sort of basic guilt that kicks in any time I do something for my own pleasure or enjoyment. Spending more than $200 on anything is a major challenge, irrational as it is knowing that it may be something I could use for 50+ years.

Anyway, that is a beauty of a camera! I hope you make good use of it! Share some photos once you shoot them!