A Leica Factory Visit

I remember when I first used a Leica camera. It was back in 1986 when I was photographing the Americas Cup in Fremantle. Local WA photographer Roger Garwood had invested in an R4s system and showed me the results on Kodachrome. I was intrigued, not to mention impressed, and borrowed an outfit from what was then Perth Pro Sales. The results were quite remarkable. I was used to the contrast of the Nikon and Canon systems; the Canon L series glass was awesome, less contrasty than the Nikons but still more contrasty that the Leica. It was this 'openness' of image that attracted me to the Leica results, something that is hard to pin down but is quite obvious when you see it. I was not in a position to buy the R4s in those days, but I remember clearly the build quality, the image quality and the overall feel of the hand-built cameras and lenses.
Fast forward to 2010 - I was invited to become the Leica S2 Ambassador in Australia and started to use the S2 as my 'large format' camera much as ...