Thursday, June 30, 2022

New Arrival. Small System Back-up Camera.

 


This is the second Leica CL camera that I have purchased from the Leica Store Miami. The cameras they've sent me so far exceeded my expectations for condition on each transaction.  Both cameras came impeccably packaged. I've blacked out the bar codes and addresses on the outer to preserve what little privacy I have left on the web. Disclaimer: I pay full price for the cameras and have no affiliation (other than admiration for their business model) with the store. 

The box was stout and well taped at every spot and juncture. I wish every other vendor could learn to pack as well...


The styrofoam noodles aren't just tossed on top of the box situated inside. In fact, it seems as though LSM has perfected some technique by which the noodles are equally distributed on every side of the internal boxes which is obviously better protection than just tossing a handful of cushioning in at random. I've had delicate stuff shipped to me by other vendors where the product is lodged directly against two sides of a box and it seemed as though the styro-peanuts were casually tossed in on another side as packaging theater of the worst kind.


Just under the top layer of styrofoam-noodles there is a black, cloth bag with drawstrings and a white line rendering of the Barnack original Leica camera technical drawing on it. Inside the bag is the printed receipt for the camera and a small assortment of Leica themed postcards. It's a wonderful way to envelope something as banal as a sales bill. 

In the nest of styro-noodles there is a plain, cardboard box which serves to protect the inner product box from abrasion and handling.


Inside the plain cardboard box is the actual Leica product box and it's very big considering how small the actual camera body is. Sorry that this image is a bit dark. It was shot with another camera maker's camera... kidding, just kidding...

The silver outer box opens up to reveal a black box which contains all the pieces associated with the camera. But each group of parts has a "drawer" within the black box to keep everything neat and tidy. 

I pulled the box just above out of the top drawer of the black box/assembly and it contained the actual camera body nestled securely in protective high density foam. Considering all the layers of protection I would be amazed at just how destructive a shipper would have to be to break one of these cameras in transit. I guess you could cause some damage if you were to toss it out of an airplane at 30,000 feet...


And just above the camera is revealed. I looked over every square inch and I have to say that this one appears just as a new one in an previously unopened box might. To add to that feeling the folks at Leica Store Miami wipe the previous user's info out of the camera memory, update the firmware to the most current rev. and deliver a camera that plays the original greeting screen and requires me to set the date, time and zone.

The team in Miami go out of their way to make the purchase of even an older, retired camera model that was never the flagship of the maker, feel very special and very valuable. It's so rare to find this level of attention to both packaging and to describing the camera in our pre-purchase discussion. Wow!

Another nice thing is the e-mailed notices that come at every juncture. Confirmation of shipping. Confirmation of UPS transfers. Confirmation of "out for delivery" along with an accurate estimation of the delivery window. And a delivery confirmation e-mail that came minutes after I accepted the package from the UPS driver. At every step of the way I've been so impressed by their service. Perhaps that's why this was the fifth time I've bought a used Leica camera from these guys in a little more than a year. 

I've put the original strap on, put in a freshly charged battery, put the shipped battery on the charger, formatted an SD card and run through the menus. We're good to go here. And I'm happy. 


Of course no one "needs" a second CL. For that matter, given the state of the industry and the economy, no one needs much more than a good phone to do current photo business. But it's fun and nice and I'll take my small system with me when I want to travel light but still be able to charge people for the work. 

Most photo enthusiasts or pros won't care much about the packaging and services offered by the Leica Store Miami unless they are interested already in Leica cameras and products. Why? Because that's the only kind of camera their store sells. You can't get a Sony there. You can't even get a Panasonic there. But if you want great information about Leica and then great service during a purchase I can't imagine a better photo/retail experience via long distance. Just amazing.

Thanks to David and Josh.





Wednesday, June 29, 2022

Street photographer in Paris. Last century.

© Kirk Tuck
 

My preferred camera in 1978. The Canonet QL17. Used here in Avignon.


 @1978 Kirk Tuck

Paris with the EOS-1 and the original 85mm f1.1.2 lens.

 


You know that power plant I always seem to love photographing? You can't get this view any more. Why? It's surrounded on three sides by giant, high rise buildings. Layers and layers of them.

 

But at one time (2010) it was out in the  middle of a field and the nearby warehouses were old cinder block buildings with one or two stories and a lot of lonesome space in between. 

Time flies when you turn a city into a Boom-scape. 

Ceiling Detail at the Alexander Palace in Pushkin, Russia. Just 400 meters from the Catherine Palace.


 1995 was also the year I spent a couple of freezing cold weeks in St. Petersburg, Russia. I was there with a team from the World Monuments Fund documenting art and artifacts from the last palace of the Czars. While I was looking up and photographing this detail in the Palace (then the headquarters of the Russian Naval Intelligence Agency) I was escorted by my translator and a military officer who came complete with a sidearm and a list of things I could NOT photograph. 

One of my "fondest" memories was standing knee deep in snow in front of the Alexander Palace shooting Polaroids to share with the two tank crews who were manning the tanks just in front of the entry way. It was a successful bribe that granted me access to photograph the exterior of the building on a chilly February afternoon. 

One of my most used Hasselblads on that trip was the SWC/M. The one with the super-wide Biogon lens permanently attached to the camera body. Ah, the film days....

We were, I think, the first western survey team allowed in the Palace in about 70 years. It was an interesting time in Russia....

Summer passtime. Looking through photographs. Finding stuff I liked. Figuring out why.

 

Alanis Morrisette at Liberty Lunch for Sony Records. August 29, 1995

What I wrote a few years later....

"...The distinguished members of the photo-press operated in the space between the barrier and the stage.  As memory serves there were exactly three photographers at the concert. It was a time of film and getting fun shots actually required some.....knowledge.


All I needed was one good shot. I was shooting in black and white and I took two cameras to the event with me. One was a Leica M4 with a 50mm Summicron, loaded with Tri-X film. The other was a Leica M6 ttl .85 with a 90mm Summicron, also loaded with Tri-X. I didn't plan on shooting much with the 90 but it sure made a nice semi-spot meter with which to gauge exposure."

The keeper image for me was the one I posted here. I used up one 36 exposure roll of Tri-X film. Of course it was all stage lighting as flash in the press pit was not allowed. It was a time when you really did have to know how to measure light with a meter, how to focus on a fast moving performer and how to wait for the right moment so you didn't run out of film. 

1995 is a nostalgic year for me. That's the year Ben was born. The year I went to Rome on a personal photo adventure with two medium format Mamiya 6 cameras and hundreds of rolls of Kodak's new chromagenic film, T-Max 400 CN. along with my photographer friend, Paul.  

https://filmphotography.eu/en/kodak-t-max-t400-cn/

When we got back from our Rome shoots Paul and I both made big prints and had a two person show at Austin's best Italian restaurant, Madam Nadalini's. Nearly 400 people came to the opening. It was an amazing time back when photography/art still had the power to enthrall ordinary people. And back when openings were a big social draw.

And in the middle of all that year's fun I found myself sandwiched between the stage and the crowd at Liberty Lunch photographing one of the most popular musicians of the moment. It was August in Austin and we were all drenched in sweat. The crowd of young kids, mostly women, roared every time a song started. It was a bit intoxicating. 

I made a print in the darkroom the next day and that was the coda. When I look back to see what we could pull off with completely manual cameras and "slow" film I am embarrassed for all the "photographers" now who can't conceive of working with anything less than complete automation and endless technical "training wheels." Or limitless ISO sensors.

But I'm sure the guys who photographed out in the wild, with glass negatives in giant bellows cameras, a hundred years ago, would feel exactly the same about my generation of photographers. 

Context is helpful.