Let’s have a dispute about it.
Once you dip even a casual toe into the arcane world of Leica, you realise that apart from producing some of the world’s most expensive cameras, they have also manufactured shitloads of accessories over the years. Almost all of these are given five character names, a standard that was set when “Leitz” was mashed up with “camera” to produce LEICA.
Feeble camera history geek that I am, I found all this to be fascinating and have delved lightly into the subject, and deeply into the requirement for one particular accessory. My Leica IIIC is in factory fresh condition having had a CLA; the only weak point being a feeble rangefinder image. This could be resolved by replacing the beam splitter in the rangefinder unit; but Leica don’t make them any more (their parts service for sixty year old products is a little limited); and even if I could find one it would mean sending my camera overseas for an expensive repair.
Fortunately, there is a much cheaper alternative; place an orange filter over one of the viewfinders to accentuate the difference between the two images. Of course Leica had an accessory that carried out this function, in fact it had two. For the earlier cameras there was the ORAKO (orange Kolor?) filter, and for my IIIC and later cameras which have a bigger viewfinder window there was the OKARO (fuck knows). They both looked similar and seemed to come in a variety of slightly different designs, so I had to rely on the expertise of the seller to ensure I purchased the right model.
So I went onto eBay and bought an OKARO. After a couple of weeks it arrived and with my little face shiny with anticipation I tore open the package and installed the filter on my camera. Except I didn’t, because it was too small. It perched neatly on top of the viewfinder window such that I could use it if I lay on my back; but it was not suitable for any other positions.
What to do? At that time I was not the world class expert on OKARO/ORAKO that I am today so I was a little reticent about complaining to the seller who presumably knew about these things. So I decided to buy another one to prove that there were two sizes and that the initial one was incorrect.
Pleased with my plan I went back onto eBay and ordered a second OKARO. It came. I smiled. It didn’t fit. I wept.
By this time, further research into this most tiny of devices had convinced me that both dealers had sent me an ORAKO instead of an OKARO. So I contacted both of them.
The supplier of the first item was called camerawestm who never bothered to respond to my request. Bastard.
The supplier of the second item was called leicastoresf and they came back immediately expressing concern. There then followed an extensive email exchange as they tried various stock items on various cameras in search of a real OKARO. While they were doing this, I discovered a piece of information that turned out to be crucial to the solving of the puzzle, the OKARO has a diameter of 11mm, the ORAKO 10mm. Out with a ruler and I was able to confirm that what I had was indeed an ORAKO.
Pretty exciting moment I can tell you, a bit like discovering a cure for AIDS but with slightly less world-wide applicability.
Armed with this new information, leicastoresf sent me what they were sure was an ORAKO, and I sent them back what I was sure was an OKARO. Today their offering arrived, and:
(If you don’t know what you’re meant to be looking at, top right, round orange thing, fitting like dream to my machine).
Things I have learned from this adventure:
ORAKO’s are 10mm OKARO’s are 11mm camerawestm sucks leicastoresf don’t suck and you should buy everything from them. I am a sad anally renetive camera geek who should get out more (but I knew that already).
Comments 🔗
2015-03-21| RJM saysAnother lovely amusing article. Nice read.
2015-03-21| subroto mukerji says“The only difference between boys and men is that the toys get costlier.” ahem …
2015-03-21| Grant says…and he who dies with the best toys wins…
2015-03-22| subroto mukerji saysJokes apart, Spike fully deserves the wonderful gear etc., that he’s managed to acquire; he’s earned it. Most of his photographs are a treat for the eyes. Love his writing, too, it’s so irreverently British…and me a inveterate anglophile from way back when :) [Fade in to lopsided, cynical grin on Spike’s face] Subroto Mukerji, New Delhi, India
2015-03-22| ChristianPFC saysanally renetive -> anally retentive
2015-03-22| Spike saysSubroto, you are man of perception and intellect. Indeed I deserve it, although less for the photos and more for enduring thirty seven years sat in an office surrounded by bullshit.
2015-03-22| genuinej saysThe anus certainly appears to be your area of expertise!
2015-03-23| Jerry saysWow! The ruler is still pink, after all these years…. BTW, I hate those razor-sharp zoom ins of yours….
2015-03-23| subroto mukerji says37 years? Not bad. I worked for 19 years in a bank and quit in 1993 while I was still ahead. Total of 42 years before the mast, the last 12 spent joyfully as an editor. Retired, became a ’lightweight photographer’ a la Robin Whalley, having acquired an assortment of small cameras including an E-PL5 and a GX1 (the review of which led me to PD). Love the ‘Walking Street’ shot, BTW…my fave ! One last comment: from GX1 to E-M1, the quality of the output has remained equally high; there’s very little to reveal which camera was used to capture which image. I revel in your accomplishment.
2015-03-31| Adam Miller saysHello Hugh, This is Adam from the LeicastoreSF account that was helping you on eBay. I was able to finally take a moment to read the blog post that you had created. I am glad I was able to help you and that we both learned quite bit about the small little filters. While reading the post I had a small laugh, the camerawestrm account that you had contacted is also ran by me. The owner (my boss) forwards me the emails and he though the message sent to camerawestrm was a duplicate of the leicastoresf message. :D