The camera arrives in a thin, brown cardboard box. Inside the box is another box, also cardboard, but this time shiny silver with a small red dot on the side. One opens the top and the sides fall away in unison, like a Buster Keaton film set, only to reveal yet another box, this one black with hidden magnetic clasps. Open this and there is, of course, another box, grey and black this time, with that red dot again, and within this – finally – is a block of aluminium that has been polished by hand for 45 minutes (you can see a film of this on YouTube that’s called “The Most Boring Ad Ever Made?” ). Inside this aluminium block is 100 years of German engineering, and when you hold it in your hands you may unaccountably feel, as I did with all that cardboard detritus happily discarded around me, that you are holding the weighty sum of human worth.
I have lusted after Leica for many years. Every 3 years, when it’s time to update my camera body, I spend half an hour reading up on Leica and browsing used camera forums to find a deal and ultimately give up. Maybe I’ll buy one next year but I said that last year.
I think they’re beautiful cameras, exceptionally well built and I also think pompous assholes own them so maybe I’d fit right in?
Aside from the celebrity endorsements, fanatic fans and rave reviews, there’s no denying the photographs that below in Life magazine are almost all taken with a Leica camera. That’s a huge deal. These are exceptional cameras and I’d love to own one…one day.
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