Well, having spent almost two weeks in Italy, I have to report that the only Leicas I saw were in 2 camera stores in Firenze (Florence). This would include R, M and P&S's. Not a single red dot in the streets, among thousands of P&S's of various brands, and a small number of SLR's which were about 80% Canon EOS, 10% Nikon AF, and 10% "classic" manual SLR's of the 70's of various brands. Digital P&S's were represented in very small numbers, although DV Camcorders proliferated. I did see one gentleman tourist carrying a Minolta CLE with a Cosina/Voigtlander 15mm Heliar on it. Also, at no time did anyone pay as much as a sideways glance to what I was carrying. I think anyone who tapes over their Leica nameplates in the interest of security is wasting tape. On another note, I found some very interesting things about my R system and choice of lenses, which I will write up as soon as I'm over jet-lag ;>)

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), September 17, 2001

Answers

Jay

I completely agree with you about the lack of interest the public take in Leicas or red dots.

-- Robin Smith (smith_robin@hotmail.com), September 17, 2001.

Jay:

I spent one week in and around London, UK, last month. I used a Leica M6 TTL camera with a variety of lenses and shot slide and color negative film. Not once did I see another Leica user! No one even looked twice at my small metallic old fashioned camera.........

-- Muhammad Chishty (applemac97@aol.com), September 17, 2001.

I very often get helpful people telling me, "excuse me, sir, but your flash didn't go off," when I photograph indoors with my M6 (and no flash), which looks much like a P&S to most folks.

-- Tim Nelson (timothy.nelson@yale.edu), September 17, 2001.

Well, I was there in Florence three weeks ago for a whole week. I had my M6 + 21 or 35 hanging around my neck with the Leica neoprene strap. Every Leica-thing on the body was taped over, and the two red Leica discs on the strap were already removed. A couple of people (middle aged Italian gentlemen, I'd say) looked at me and negotiated that they knew where it was at. One guy yelled LEIIIICA! really loud, and started to talk to me all about it. But I didn't see any other Ms, altho I looked very hard.

-- Michael Kastner (kastner@zedat.fu-berlin.de), September 17, 2001.

I was in Santa Fe, New Mexico (USA) a few weeks ago during Fiesta and saw two people with TTL's on the Plaza. One had a black body with tape (the camera, not the owner) and a 50cron and a 90E on a lens holder. The other, carried by a British woman (heard her speaking) was chrome with a 35Acron. Fun to get an acknowledging glance from fellow owners.

-- Ken Geter (kgeter@yahoo.com), September 17, 2001.

I live in a tourist area (Carmel, CA) and can only remember seeing two Leica M's. The great majority of tourist here walk around with digital movie cameras.

-- Sanford (sanford@usa.com), September 17, 2001.

In 30 years of travel, only four: IIIG (New Orleans, Fat Tuesday, blonde babe), M3 (London, HC-B), and a black II or III (Matterhorn, elderly German speaking couple), CL (Smithsonian tour of USSR, nice couple from San Francisco).

-- Bill Mitchell (bmitch@home.com), September 17, 2001.

You'll see more in a day in Tokyo than in all those 30 years of travel outside of Japan, Bill.

And if you walk around Ginza, you could walk into 6-8 used camera stores in no time, and pick through at least a few hundred used Leicas.

Screw mount Leicas are especially popular, you'll be happy to hear- something about them appeals to the Japanese sensibility of minimalism-Shibui, I think.

Nikon FMs and F2s are popular amongst the college student crowd in that happy land, where almost everyone carries a camera, all the time.

-- Mani Sitaraman (bindumani@pacific.net.sg), September 17, 2001.

Once at the Anza-Borrego center in So Cal, a gentleman with his M6 (I w/an F). Once in Vegas at the Viva Las Vegas festival, a woman journalist with an M6TTL+flash and I w/a IIIf and the bulb flash unit. I mentioned that she should upgrade to what I was carrying! No one ever comments on my gear Leica, Nikon or otherwise. I did spy a photog on the tube the other day during a Bush interview w/a black M and chrome lens amoungst all the noisy AF SLR's.

-- Dave Doyle (soilsouth@home.com), September 17, 2001.

"I did spy a photog on the tube the other day during a Bush interview w/a black M and chrome lens amoungst all the noisy AF SLR's."

Probably a White House photo staffer - they've been Leica addicts every since Kennerly ran the place (Ford admin.), for silent fly-on- the-wall stuff while the bigwigs meet to figure out how to send Osama to his reward, etc.

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), September 17, 2001.

I live in Amsterdam, you would see several Leicas on the streets here.

-- Haim Toeg (haim_toeg@bmc.com), September 18, 2001.

Re Mani above: FWIW, in the biggest and best and most expensive shopping house (KDW) which has everything here in Berlin, the Leica department at any time looks something like this: out of 10 customers, 7 are from Japan, 2 are from the US, and 1 is from around the ward here. Not sure if that has anything to do with black tape, though.

-- Michael Kastner (kastner@zedat.fu-berlin.de), September 18, 2001.

A few years ago I made frequent trips to NYC and the most common single brand/model was Leica M6. You'd see a zillion cameras, lots of different kinds, very few the same. But, on a sunny Sunday afternoon in Chelsea you'd see 3 or 4 M6's.

-- Jim Shields (jim.shields@tasis.ch), September 18, 2001.

Im Munich (Bavaria), the 'used' shelves of any photography store with some self-respect have at least one LTM Leica, and quite often several ones, lest the abundant Rolleiflexes adn -cords feel lonely. During the tourist season, you see large groups of Japanese tourists crowding in front of the store windows; Michael, it's usually 9 Japanese to 1 American up here :-)

In the past two months, I've seen three Leica Ms in action, one with the 2.8/50 chrome, the other two users moved so quickly and stealthily that I couldn't tell. One of them carried his camera under the jacket.

-- Oliver Schrinner (piraya@hispavista.com), September 18, 2001.

I was taking photographs in Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia (where I live), on a weekend a few weeks ago and this guy looked at my M6 and asked me how old it was.I told him and he remarked that the camera looked like something made about 30-40 years ago. I proceeded to explain that the basic design of the M6 began back in the 50's and remains basically the same with the exception of the built-in light meter. It turns out the gentleman was from Paris and said he had never seen a camera quite like this one.He did not recognize the camera as a Leica but did recognize it's distinctive design.I found this interesting, to say the least.

-- John Alfred Tropiano (jat18@psu.edu), September 18, 2001.

Two short stories to kindly desagree with you: 1) recently in Dijon (France) a very young man rapidly seen in the street with an old Leica M on his chest. 2) during my last holidays in Italy, Murano near Venice; I was looking at the photograph shop; the man went out door, kind and said: "you have a Leica M; which one? M6?" and he told me he had a M3 and all the lenses he owned. Today, we are not yet "dinosaurs" !! My best regards Alain

-- alain.besancon (alain.besancon@chu-dijon.fr), September 18, 2001.

A few years ago in Beijing I went into a small local photo shop near Wanfujing to buy film. I had my chrome M4 hanging around my neck. There were 3-4 salesmen and all of them stopped what they were doing to look my way. After a brief pause one of them said "Oooohh... Leica!"

It made my day.

-- Jay D (jayd@netvigator.com), September 18, 2001.

In my home town Mazatlán Mexico, twice, first a man with a screw mount leica he picked out from a ladies bag he carried, very strange, he was using a 50 summitar, the other one was Tom Gallagher and his wife Arleen both with Leica M6, of course I follow them up, we didn´t stop leica talk for the rest of the week.

-- r watson (al1231234@hotmail.com), September 19, 2001.

Interestingly enough, Leica enjoys quite a fame in China among old peoples -- younger ones go with Canon. I guess it is because the Chinese camera factories were established with the help from USSR and East Germany -- ultimately Leica style. Later Minolta has great influence -- also Leica side.

-- J. S. (Jeremybear_99@yahoo.com), September 19, 2001.

Hi, friends:

Just to contribute one more vision from another far-away-from- everywhere-else place: in Concepción, my home town in Chile (and in the whole country in fact) I remember to have seen only two Leicas in my 50+ years: one my father owned for a short time and the one I saw an English tourist carrying around our main square in Concepción.

My father's is a faint memory.I mainly remember my older people were excited about it.

The English man's was a minty M6 or that is what it looked like from 10 m away with a very conspicuous red circle.

At the moment my M3s have no visible company around. And with no red circle and their appearence of old (which they are) and inexpensive (which they are not) cameras they call nobody's second glance except for my friend waiter at the cofee shop who said "beatiful little camera" one of the first times he saw one of them with the 9cm chrome Elmar.

Now that he has a copy of his portrait taken with the same camera and lens he has turned much more respectful about the "little camera" (though the scarse sharpness due to hand hold rapid exposure, I know).

Regarding the black tape: I remember somebody else's opinion time ago: most camera thieves are no camera experts; they will steal whatever camera happens to be at hand and unattended with or without red circles (or any other colour, of course). So I don't tape my red circled R4... but keep its strap always turned around my wrist.

Have fun Jay. I also was very happy hearing from you again and felt in the right place when I noticed how many of us were concerned about you.

-Iván

-- Iván Barrientos M (ingenieria@simltda.tie.cl), September 20, 2001.

By the way: this is my friend's picture . . . provided it works this time.

-Iván

-- Iván Barrientos M (ingenieria@simltda.tie.cl), September 20, 2001.

A guy with a CLE and 15mm Heliar? Could it have been me?--only I was in Napoli in July. Ditto about Japanese and Leicas. Here in Kobe-Osaka and in Tokyo and Paris. In London a few people stopped to talk to me when they saw my CLE and 15mm Heliar. Vancouver. Rumor was that a "yuppie-looking" guy with not only a Leica but also an Rapidwinder was seen walking around downtown. Me? I'm not "yuppies-looking." More buddy-can-spare-a-dime looking. But Japan--Leica haven. Leica freaks always stop to compare notes.

-- Alex Shishin (shishin@pp.iij4u.or.jp), September 22, 2001.

I was shooting at the reopening and re-lighting of the Quebec Bridge this past fall. The bridge is famous in Canada because it fell twice in the early 1900's killing dozens including 33 Mohawk Indian ironworkers from my home town of Kahnawake. It's considered the worst construction failure in history.

Anyhow, there must have been a dozen press photographers there covering this official government function. All of the photographers spoke only French and mostly had digital cameras. Talk about feeling like a dinosaur. I was on hand snapping away with my antique M3 and I was given a thumbs up sign for being a traditional shooter. I even got a hand shake with much pointing and click click sounds....and "ah Leica ah leica!" I guess you had to be there right.

-- Martin (amloft@yahoo.com), January 04, 2002.

you guys I work in photo lab , and i was a non beliver in the whole Leica thing.but thier nice I must say, every now and then some shooter brings in an image that has something more than the other guys. does'nt happen all the time but when it comes it hits hard.

-- james kaushner (jkphoto@mac.com), May 30, 2002.

I'm not sure if this is completely OT for this thread, but here goes. I was at a county fair (Palm Beach county!) photographing with a 500c/m and 80mm lens. That was it, no flash, no large case of stuff, no nothing else (well, I had a neckstrap....). Mostly I was taking pictures of the various midway attractions, some of the local exhibits, animals. Really nothing special. After about 2 hours of this, a courteous but insistant police officer told me I'd have to leave. I was taken aback! The problem was me taking pictures! I quickly pointed to the virtual sea of camera toting people around us. His response was that no professional photography was allowed, and since I had a professional camera, I'd either have to leave, or put the camera in my vehicle if I wanted to stay. I asked him why he thought my camera was only for professional use, and his response was that anything Hasselblad or Leica was forbidden. Needless to say, I was pissed off, but the light was almost gone, and my wife was getting tired and didn't want to cause a scene, so we left.

In retrospect, and I think about this a lot because it still annoys me, I think this cop was waaay overboard, and probably taking matters into his own hands because he had a knowledge of cameras or photography (since he know the brands and how to identify them). I feel like going back next year without the wife in tow, just to see how far I can push 'em back!

-- Charles (cbarcellona@telocity.com), May 31, 2002.