::gulp::
Until this past week, it was the amount I paid (around $700) for the Panasonic/Leica 45mm macro.
But then I just dropped $1000 on an old Summicron 35mm. I really really (really!) hope I like it.
Not paranoid about damaging it, no more so than I am about writing with expensive fountain pens. Stuff happens.
As my friend
Kyle Cassidy says: "The M6 is what I’ve always considered “my camera.” It’s the thing I’ve bonded with; it’s the one I’d grab in a fire. It’s been through experiences with me and to me it’s unique in all the world. To drive that point home, I took a metal file to it, with some great vigor, while giving a lecture at the New York Leica Users Group at the International Center for Photography, horrifying a room full of Leica owners. The point being that file marks on your camera and dents in your camera and chipped paint on your camera are the things that make it
your camera and not someone else’s. I wouldn’t want a camera I couldn’t immediately identify in a pile. [...] A lot of times I’ll bring my M6 along even if I’m pretty sure I won’t use it because it feels like having a friend."
The lens I've gotten the least use out of is actually the one that's my first Leica lens (50mm f/2 Summarit from 1951) and my second least expensive. It needs to go to the doctor and yet I'm hesitant to take it. So that's the one I have the most difficulty with "value."
My 45mm, 20mm, 15mm, and 28mm are all used constantly. I'm sure I'll use the 135mm more once I get out there with it, but it's a new lens I haven't quite bonded with yet.