<Begin Rant>

We probably are all guilty, each and everyone of us is doing their fair share of internet shopping… saves you a couple of bucks and there is no hassle with finding a parking lot or moving slowly through some crowded high streets… when you can the stuff shipped to you in an instant.

Generally, when it comes to professional local photography shops I try to support those. My Leica & Nikon cameras I always bought through the local high street retailer (must be existing for 40+ years now and is one of the main Leica dealers here in the south of Germany) next door. Naturally, the cameras & lenses come with a (slight or quite higher) price.

What sincerely winds me up, and this has happened to me a couple of times now, that even shop assistants here (long term employees) or even the owner is unable to help or they even sell you the wrong / incompatible parts. And these are dealers have Leica’s (M,M9,Monochrom) & Nikon’s (D800e,D4) sitting on their shelves.

An example – I have been searching long and hard for a proper remote shutter release. They sold me two kits and they were sure one would be working at least fine. This was not the case… thus I went back on the internet and finally found the perfect wireless remote: RFN-4s by SMDV (through Amazon). Some initial tests showed that this combination works great with a Nikon D3s and also D4 (from a friend). So this is possible after all.

Sometimes (small understatement), I have to admit I have focusing issues (especially without my eye glasses) when it comes to shooting wide open with the Noctilux. Therefore, I checked today with my local Leica dealer, if they have the viewfinder magnifier or correction lenses in, so I could test those to see if they help. Unfortunately, they didn’t which is ok, but the best statement then came from the sales guy:

well … when I carefully look at my photos, most of them are also slightly out of focus, no big deal, that is ok ….  it is quite normally actually

😛 …. why would I want a Leica lens then?

<End Rant>

B-)

PS: Robert, thanks a lot for the tip regarding these new font emoticons!