Author Archives: ryboltcox

In 1979, Leica produced two very special cameras, an M4-2 with a 50mm f1.4 Summilux and an R3 Electronic with the 50mm f1.4 Summilux-R. What made these cameras special was the fact that there were only 1,000 of each and that they were gold plated. The cameras were to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Oscar Barnack’s birth. Each camera had the dates and a facsimile of Barnack’s signature engraved on the back. The cameras are also individually engraved with the number from the series. My M4-2 is number 100-0535 and the R3 is 100-581. In addition to the gold plating the cameras are covered in a snakeskin covering.

Perhaps a little flashy for some people but I smile every time I see them. Here’s why; they were a gift. Many years ago, on my birthday, I came home from work and walked past the wall unit that covers one side of our living room. The wall unit has high intensity lamps mounted in the top. They were on and the cameras were sparkling in the light. My boss, who had bought the cameras new, had smuggled them into my house and into the wall unit.  Thanks Denny.

On May 15, 2010, I will be retiring after 33 years in the Photographic Industry.

One of my counterparts from another store and I were talking about it and we agreed that what we had done, for pay, might possibly have been the best job in the world. We did something different every day, we got to talk with people who had the same interests that we had, and we got to play with all of the coolest toys.

One of the best parts of my work was seeing and getting to play with the finest vintage cameras and other pieces of photographic apparatus. In my blog I will be talking about various pieces of equipment that I’ve owned, shot with, and loved.

This is one of the most beautiful of all of the cameras I’ve owned. I call it the Titanium Panda. My friend Mark Theken made three of them. They began life as a silver M6. Mark had titanium tops and base plates. The result was a very striking camera that had the extra heft of the silver camera. I owned two of the three. They had very subtle differences in that the rewind crank and the advance levers were of different colors.