In both worlds

For the past few months I’ve been trying to decide, and settle on, a camera. One camera… singular. The camera must take the LTM/L39 lenses I’m accumulating. Why the LTM/L39 lenses? Because they don’t deliever clinical perfection. Furthermore…

The camera must be reliable. When I’m using the camera, it must not fail.

The camera must be simple to use. I’m pretty much through with all singing/dancing DSLRs and the ilk.

The camera must get admiring glances. Sorry… my ego kicked in on this one.

The camera must look familiar, but not be instantly recognisable. I’d like to be able to put the camera down and not have some scrote instantly take-off with it. Yes I know, the camera won’t be far from me anyway.

The runners-up.
Zorki-4K
Ok, admiring glances might not instantly spring to mind, but its reliability wins this one over. Plus, there’s plenty of information on stripping and rebuilding these available. Simple to use… to a point. I did find myself having to double-check the shutter speed, due to the marker dots being so close together.
Voigtlander R3A
The outsider. Unknown to me, in terms of build quality and reliability The fact that it takes the LTM/L39 lenses (with an adapter) and the Leica M lenses is a big plus with this one. Auto-exposure is also a big plus. Film loading, yep… thumbs-up. The one gripe on this one, before I even have one, it’s dependant on a battery.
NKVD-FED
The NKVD-FED in my collection. I’ve had to tell some people that it’s not a Leica. The ego got a nice massage with that. But, and one of the few downsides, it’s more prone to being swiped. If it were a normal FED, I’d not have a problem, but this is an uncommon 5-digit FED, complete with a YCCP engraving. Not easily found. The lack of a take-up spool means nothing. The LTM/L39 lenses would be out of the question though, thanks to it having a non-standard LTM index. Shame really.
FED-2
Nice camera. Wide rangefinder. Easy loading. Mechanical shutter. Takes LTM/L39 lenses. But, it can misfire on 1/60. A minor niggle is the film rewind routine. The shutter seems to fire again once film rewinding begins. I could overlook this ‘feature’, but I can’t overlook the misfiring shutter.
Leica Standard
Well designed and engineered. It doesn’t look like the typical Leica because it’s not the typical Leica, it’s rated as being uncommon, the ego gets its massage when people stop and ask. It goes without saying about the LTM/L39 lenses. This camera impressed me when I was in Wales and my arm was in a plastercast/sling: 2-handed operation only for (re)winding. Small enough to fit inside a jacket pocket. The one problem, its shutter is beginning to misfire.

The decision
The Leica Standard gets the vote of confidence. It’s had many admiring glances, a few puzzled looks, has delivered the results. It has no rangefinder built-in, so I’ll have to carry on using the apparently useless hyperfocal distance setup. Provided the sun’s out, I can use the Sunny-16 rule, or Sunny-11 if need be. The venerable 70-year old just needs a service, and it should be good for another 70 years.