Kirk falls off the camera-sobriety wagon....yet again..... close friends tortured by the deliberations...

 

A Guest Post By Henry White.

If you know Kirk I guess you know that this was inevitable. He just finds it very hard to pass up bargains, especially when they are about cameras or lenses that he really likes and uses... a lot. While he spends way too much blog time hashing through why he thinks the original Leica SL is a "marvelous" and "intriguing" piece of industrial design, and a damn fine photo machine, it's really an SL2 and recently the SL2-S that he carts around when he's "on the clock"; when clients and their money is involved. Just ask him how many times he's used one of those "darling" M series cameras for a paying job and watch him squirm trying to give you a cogent answer. 

While the man may  be addicted to all sorts of eccentric cameras he's made 90% of his fees from photography in the last four years with one camera. An SL2.

Last year, about midyear, over a cup of coffee or two at Trianon Coffee, we discussed where the business was headed, where the economy was heading and if he was taking any steps to reconcile his projections with his buying habits. This was just after his rash purchase of a new car.... An unneeded new car...

He thought about it for a few minutes, took a bite of banana bread, washed it down with some Kona coffee and then muttered, "I guess I have enough cameras for now. I could probably not buy another camera for the rest of the year and that would be...prudent." As Tuck is very verbose you can be assured that I am paraphrasing and editing down his initial response but you can also be assured that the bones of his soliloquy are there. He basically pledged to himself not to buy a single camera in all of 2024. About a month later he called to let me know that he'd slipped, fallen off the wagon --- so to speak --- and "had to" buy one more camera. It was an SL2-S. 

His rationale? "It was too cheap to pass up." Followed by, "I always wanted one for work portraits. You know, for the smaller raw files." Okay. So one camera for the whole year. His friends secretly celebrated not having to get more of those phone calls that start with, "Okay, I don't know if you know what's going on with the camera market but.... and they are a sizzling bargain!!!" This would be the introduction to half an hour or forty five minutes of highly descriptive points about why a particular camera or lens would be just the thing to complete his inventory of "work" cameras. As though being able to profit from a particular camera was something he really believed possible. Self-delusion being a powerful elixir. 

But I guess the important point is that he made it through the entirety of last year having purchased only one new camera. One. A record achievement. The most frugal camera buying period since the middle 1980s. And he was so proud of himself...

My heart skipped a beat when I got a call today, looked at the caller I.D. and realized it was our favorite camera addict. I had an inkling of what to expect. I knew we'd be talking about some camera that just came out and I was tempted to just send the call to voicemail but I knew deep down that Tuck is tenacious. I'd be sending calls to my voicemail hourly until he reached me. I might as well run toward the rationalizations; whatever they might be.

When the call connected this was the start: "Okay. I know you don't keep up with Leica stuff but here it is. Remember my SL2? I paid $5600 for it brand new back in 2020. It's been a great camera. Now, all of a sudden Leica has launched two different cameras that are being couched as serious upgrades. But wait. That's not the important point. The interesting thing is what's happened to the Leica SL2 market. Prices on used ones are falling off a cliff. Almost literally. You can buy a mint condition version with a 30 day warranty for less than $2,000!!! Imagine that. A two thousand dollar Leica with 47 megapixels and a build quality that's off the charts. For a little more than I'd pay for a re-badged Panasonic LX100ii. (the Leica D-Lux 8: $1599). Remember that huge photo shoot for XXXXXXX? And that other shoot we talked about for YYYYYYYY? All done with the SL2. And dude! Only $2K." 

I asked him what he would use it for and that was a mistake. Kirk can rationalize a purchase at the speed of light. In minutes he was traveling the world with a matched set of SL2 cameras and a carefully selected selection of prime lenses. Shooting always in a square format. Pulling giant prints from the files and seducing clients into booking him left and right. I sighed, poured a glass of Screaming Eagle Cab, took a sip and listened absentmindedly. 

He pulled out all the stops. Did I know the SL2 has better image stabilization than the newly introduced SL3? And better/higher flash sync? And it's already able to shoot 5K video. And the shutter sound is nicer. And the body is more durable. And, and, and....

I stopped him and said, "Look, all these are good arguments and I've heard your belief that cameras are getting worse and worse while the older models you like keep disappearing. I understand the compulsion to stock up on the cameras you love while you can. Just the same way we all stocked up on Kodachrome when we heard it would be discontinued. So why don't you just go ahead and buy one of the "phenomenally priced" SL2 cameras from a trusted dealer and be done with it?"

The conversation was quiet for a minute. Then he responded: "I already did."  And so Kirk made it through almost one month of 2025 with admirable restraint but he somehow escaped from that retail resistant straitjacket we tried to wrap him in and went off the rails. 

We finished up the call but we promised each other we'd have lunch soon. I can hardly wait (sarcasm indicated here). He'll be certain to bring the new camera with him and, over burgers and fries, I'll have to hear yet again how this camera will "change his life for the better." 

I once asked his kid about his dad's camera buying habits. He just laughed and changed the subject.

 

Kirk did ask me, after he'd secured the camera he wanted, to do a public service announcement here and let everyone with good camera taste know that used SL2 cameras are currently flooding the market. But he warns that it will be like what happened with the original SL cameras last year. They vanished from the used market as aficionados snapped up the best ones in the market. Now the leftovers are priced higher than they were two years ago and even those are very hard to find. He suggests you line up and get your SL2, or several of them, now. Before it's too late. 

I shook my head after I hung up the phone and wondered if it will ever stop. But, if it did, what would Kirk focus on next?

He was too busy re-reading old SL2 reviews to write anything so I agreed to step in --- just this once--- to do my part. After all, he is my boss.