I guess I will be a perfect Leicaphile. I am trying to decide between a Black Chrome .72 TTL and a LHSA Black paint model. Part of my enjoyment of using a tool (photographic or otherwise) is in the intrinsic beauty of the tool. I know both can take the same pictures.

I would like to know if the LHSA is in any way a more intrinsically beautiful tool and why. Tell me about the poetry of holding the camera in your hand. I am not interested in resale value. It will be used to take photographs, not sit on a shelf. I regret selling any of the cameras I have ever owned. I plan to never sell a camera again.

-- Jesse Kramer (Jesskramer@aol.com), February 05, 2002

Answers

On average a painted body will be warmer in the hand and less likely to freeze your fingertips than chrome (even black).

That can be pretty beautiful this time of year. 8^)

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), February 05, 2002.

I would buy the one that makes me cringe less at the thought of dragging it across the top of a chain-link fence or bouncing it across a stretch of pavement. Get the one you would not be afraid to take to Coney Island with you on a saturday morning, Unless you would rather it look good in your living room next to your collection of one-of-a-kind die-cast metal Ferrari replicas.

-- Tom Nutter (tmnphotos@erols.com), February 05, 2002.

I don't think that anything is "intrinsically beautiful" - beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder. I would buy the camera you like more after looking at them in person. The only disadvantge of the LHSA Black Paint camera i can think of is that there aren't too many black paint lenses...

My person prefernce for a beautiful leica would be a Titanium M6, but that is me.

-- Matthew Geddert (geddert@yahoo.com), February 05, 2002.

It is more beautiful. Why? Because it is glossy. Be happy, buy.

-- Mani Sitaraman (bindumani@pacific.net.sg), February 05, 2002.

I have the black paint...it is the best...and then you also have that beautiful Leica script logo and the brass beneath...the more wear it shows, the more beautiful it becomes...

-- mark schafer (someofme@mac.com), February 05, 2002.

Beauty lies in the eye of the beer holder. (Although many Leica users prefer single malt scotch whisky.) Chrome is cooler in the desert, although the matching lenses are heavier. Black is cooler in SOHO.

-- Phil Stiles (Stiles@metrocast.net), February 05, 2002.

It simply HAS to be black darling!

-- Giles Poilu (giles@monpoilu.icom43.net), February 05, 2002.

ANY black paint camera has a far nicer finish than a black anodized chrome finish camera. If I had the bucks, and was choosing between the two you are suggesting, I would go for the black paint LHSA camera everytime.

And IMO there is nothing wrong with enjoying the beauty of a camera as a piece of industrial art. Just don't get so carried away that you never shoot with it! :-)

-- Bob (bobkramer@coopercarry.com), February 05, 2002.

And what's wrong with coney island on a saturday ?

-- leonid kotlyar (kotlyarl@mail.nih.gov), February 05, 2002.

IMO, yes the LHSA is one of the most beautiful M6's to be had. Aside from the glorious black finish, there IS some extra je-ne-se-qua to holding and shooting a brass-bodied camera. They sound different too - - smoother perhaps. All that being said, I have not been able to justify the extra expense for one for myself yet -- but perhaps in the not-so-distant future...

;-),

-- Jack Flesher (jbflesher@msn.com), February 05, 2002.

Coney Island on a saturday is beautiful.

-- Tom Nutter (tmnphotos@erols.com), February 06, 2002.

Gents:

In the 40s & 50s, Coney Island was beautiful on Sunday afternoons-ask the ghost of Weegee!

It still is if you speak, or want to learn Russian. It's also a great place to get first class Russian cameras and lenses.

I had a titanium M6 and it got a tiny scratch on the top plate and the value went in half: it is not a user, but a showpiece.

What I would love to see out of the factory is a totally black version: black not red circle with the script simply embossed, as would be the M6 designation and all the othern script: a real sleeper.

Click Click

-- RICHARD ILOMAKI (richard.ilomaki@hotmail.com), February 07, 2002.