25T76 Please, Vienna: may I have a Leica?

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E75, V23.

I don’t want to be a king; oh no.

But I am a man of wishful thinking, at least for the duration of this entry.

In Vienna’s 7th district on Westbahnstrasse, there are a couple of city blocks that’s essentially “camera & photography row”. Personal highlights include the Westlicht Schauplatz für Fotografie, which promotes the visual medium as an art form with key exhibitions; and next door a Leica store, one of two direct brand-to-customer shops in the city.

I have a second-hand Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime compact camera that’s always been fun to use, because it’s small, light, and wide. Remaining strong in its 8th year with a shutter count past 110-thousand, I’m thinking about what might be next. There are some choices, and going “fixed” again to the X100 series would be fine, but I think the model’s 35-mm focal length is too long compared to my sweet-spot between 24- and 28-mm. Leica’s exquisite quality control in all phases including parts and production has always been a key selling point, but realistically, their suggested pricing is usually beyond my limit. (That D-Lux 8, though …)

I press my nose (or in this case, mobile) against the window of the closed shop, and dream about what it’d be like to hold, carry, and photograph with one of these beauties in my hands. Fortunately, the shop is closed for the day, eliminating for today any chance for temptation.

The answer to the very first question is a solid and confident “no”. 😅

Westbahnstrasse in the 7th district: Leica store Wien West (left) and the Westlicht Museum for Photography (right).
Leica Sofort 2, Burton Edition: 595€.
Leica SLS-3 Vario kit 28-70: 6500€.
Didn’t I just see in person here in Vienna a print of this very famous image?
Leica M6 10557P “PROTOTYPE-like”: 5700€.
Leica M7 0.72 10504 chrome: 3900€.
ET Leica M8 10702 black: 1950€.
The shop has other products, including the Rolleiflex Tele: 1560€.
Ducati Sogno “Per Collaboratore”: 1560€.
The word “Leica” is an amalgamation of the company name Leitz and the word camera.

I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 22 July 2025. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

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