Leica Sightings

I could just work off the Leica Spotting FAQ and make this a huge post of screen captures, but that wouldn’t be very much fun! Instead this post is going to be a bit shorter as I’m only using sightings which aren’t on that list, and that I’ve come across without any prior knowledge.

Coraline (2009)

DVD/Blu-Ray @ Amazon

When you go to a fantasy stop motion movie with a Leica M3 slung over your shoulder, the last thing you’d expect to see is an anatomically correct version of your camera looking back at you right? That’s what I thought! That belief was snuffed forever durng the scene where Wybie asks Coraline to take his photo, and then hands her his camera.

I’m tempted to shake my finger at the movie for making a flash go off every time the camera is used, but I won’t. I’m letting that one slide for one simple reason—the frame lines look completely accurate during the through the viewfinder scenes. It is rare enough for viewfinders to be accurate in non-stop motion movies where the actual camera is on set.

Coraline also makes me wonder something. Knowing that a miniaturized replica M3 exists somewhere out in the world, would a collector purchase it for more then the cost of a mint condition M3?

The Stuff (1985)

DVD @ Amazon

The Stuff is probably the worst movie to ever have a Leica in it. At the same time, it also has one of the best depictions of using a Leica in a movie that I’ve seen. The way in which Michael Moriarty uses his black Leica in The Stuff very much like how I use mine when I’m on the streets. He does a lot of fiddling with the focus & exposure settings while it the camera is at chest level followed by quickly bringing it up to the eye to shoot.

Then there is this following encounter.

Holy Balls! Did you see that? Actual cinematic proof to the rumor that a black Leica is invisible! The factory worker saw the camera, but was still completely oblivious to it being used to take his photo.

Penn & Teller: Bullshit! Season 1 & 2

DVDs @ Amazon

The first two seasons of Penn & Teller: Bullshit! show Penn using a Leica camera during the title sequence. Sadly, by the fourth season he has replaced it with a digital point & shoot. Bullshit!

Until Dawn (2015)

Hey! The first video game entry on this short list.

One of the collectable items found in the PS4 exclusive game Until Dawn is an old busted up camera. Although a slight amount of photoshopping appears to have been done to knobs, it seems definitely modelled after a Leica III model of camera.

Kong: Skull Island (2017)

Brie Larson is seen using an old Leica M fitted with a googled f/3.5 35mm Summaron lens.