Happy birthday Leica.

Legion said:

Leica, the high end ones anyway, are kind of like the Rolls Royce of cameras. Extremely expensive, but hand made with the kind of precision that you don't see often any more.

While they have always been pricey, they have gotten to a ridiculous point, in a digital age where things are obsolete in a few years. In the film days a working stiff photographer could justify the expense, saving all his pennies, or getting a bank loan to buy one, and a couple of lenses (the really expensive part), because he knew it was an investment. If he looked after it, the film Leica would outlast him. One of mine is ten years older than me, and it still goes like a train.

These days they have become more of a status symbol for rich, usually Chinese, men wanting something to hang around their neck to show off to their mates. In fact, if it wasn't for the boom in the Chinese economy Leica's camera division probably would have gone out of business.

Hopefully some of these new Leica's are being used to create good shots, they are lovely machines. But sadly, no longer within reach of most people who could do the most with them.

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