Where to buy your Leica cameras and equipment in Berlin? My favourite store is Meister Camera in Fasanenstraße, just off the Kurfürstendamm. Meister have other stores in Munich and Hamburg and are probably Germany’s leading non-factory Leica dealers. It’s strange that Leica does not have its own store in Berlin, Germany’s capital, but Meister Camera has all the image of a typical Leica boutique.
Meister Camera have just opened a new Hamburg branch at Großen Theaterstrasse 35 and I am looking forward to visiting if I have to go to the city in the future.
In Berlin there is also a Leica presence in the leading department store, KaDeWe on Wittenbergplatz, not too far from Meister Camera.
If any readers know of smaller dealers selling Leica equipment, especially vintage Leica, please let us know in the comments.
Meister Camera seems to be a beautiful place to go. Not only the shop but the whole street looks so nice. Great images you made there, inside and outside the shop. It will be on my to do list when I visit Berlin.
I’ll post here as I was out yesterday when the Berlin thread went up. I was only in Berlin once around 2000/2001 for a telecoms/cable TV Conference. The conference was in a hotel in the old East Berlin, but I wandered over to the West-side. It was probably the dreariest place that I ever visited, but maybe I should have stayed longer and gone around more on my own. Even a canal trip on a barge was underwhelming with nothing to see other than concrete walls, but at least the beer was good.
I am sorry to see that Meister Camera is developing the bland ‘Leica Boutique’ look, but it seems to be everywhere like a ‘bad dream’ these these days. Even Ivor’s place has a bit of this look, but as long as it has Ivor it will not be a boutique in my eyes.
Finally, I am suddenly getting pop up ads on this site, including some for comfort socks for seniors and I am only a mere boy of 70!
William
William, the eastern half of Berlin has indeed improved a lot in the past twenty years.
To be a true Leica Boutique you have to sell nothing else but Leica and have vast expanses of red-plush occupied by a single camera. Red Dot is not a boutique and, from what I saw, nor is Meister Camera. They are somewhat in the middle, with boutique-style cabinets but with lots of interesting stuff inside.
Strange you should mention pop-up advertising. I noticed this here in Berlin, especially in the iPhone viewer, and thought it might be something specifically to do with being here. Now you mention it, I really must check Google Adsense and see what’s going on. As far as I am aware, I authorised just one panel at the top of the web page, but these pop-ups have suddenly started appearing at random. I did nothing to sanction this and I don’t like it.
We have had the top-panel ad in place for about nine months and it seems to be bringing in about £100 a quarter — that’s just enough to cover some of the basic costs, but not enough to tackle the overall £2,000-plus cost of running the site. But if it gets too intrusive I shall stop it.
I would be interested in any similar experiences from readers in other countries.
Well now I see, immediately below William’s comment, the small ad:
Apartments for the over 70’s
Apartments for Sale in Weybridge, Exclusively for the Over 70’s. Coming Soon!
McCarthy & Stone
Now why would someone be posting ads for retirement homes for the over 70s in Macfilos (nudge nudge, wink wink)..?
Hmmm they must know a thing or two. I have written to our web-design company to see if they have any idea why these pop-ups have suddenly started happening. I just spent a frustrating 20 minutes on the Google Adsense site trying to discover if some box or other had been ticked by mistake. Needless to say I couldn’t make any sense out of it. If I can’t find the reason I might have to disable ads altogether.
I am seeing German ads, as you can imaging — and equally strange and seemingly well targeted!
In the meantime, apologies to readers.
“..If any readers know of smaller dealers selling Leica equipment, especially vintage Leica, please let us know in the comments..” ..d’you mean just in Berlin, or in other German cities?
In München (Munich ..also called ‘Monaco’, but not the one on the French Riviera!) there used to be Foto Reiter, at the back of the Rathaus (Town Hall), but that closed about three years ago. So, unfortunately, did Herr Modl in Wiener Platz.
However, Foto Presto – an unimpressive name – which used to be a small shop in Schwanthaler Strasse (opposite the Deutsches Theater) with a good stock of assorted second-hand cameras, a minilab processor and a (Turkish?) wedding photo business, has now moved to more swish surroundings on Rumford Strasse (near Isartor ..if that means anything to you) and a window full of second-hand Leica cameras, lenses (just bought a 75mm APO f2 there at a very decent price) and assorted accessories, plus medium format cameras, lenses, etc.
The big camera store Sauter on Sonnenstrasse at Sendlinger Tor (next door to the hospital ..handy if you need to pop in to the loo) also has a huge range of second-hand cameras and lenses at very good prices, including dozens (scores?) of Leica bodies, lenses and accessories (I once bought an excellent black M4-P plus black Leicameter for about fourpence-halfpenny there. Oh, and two OM-2 cameras which were thought to be broken because their mirrors were locked up ..but as any fule kno, you twist the shutter speed dial to ‘B’, as you squeeze in the teeny button at the bottom, and hey (Foto) Presto ..everything’s restored to normal again).
Cheapest place to buy Leicas: Germany ..except on eBay, where German sellers offer them for higher prices because they’re selling internationally.
Lots of very cheap East German cameras for sale in Leipzig (formerly East Germany), of course!
Thanks for all the information, David, which I and I am sure other readers will find useful. As it happens, I did mean in Berlin but I will file this away against a future visit. Strange you should say Munich is also called Monaco. It is Monaco in Greek, as I have often found confusing when chatting with Greek friends. There’s always the sneaking thought that they actually mean the principality. Where else is it know as Monaco?
“Monaco di Baviera, the Italian name for the Bavarian capital Munich” ..Wikipedia tells us ..but you’re right; I was thinking of the Greek name.
Ooops, and I forgot to mention the Leica Store in Munich (..it was a Meister Camera branch, but it may now have been taken over by Leica – I’m not sure..) where, if you get the right person, you get really good service: I bought a used screw-fit Elmar 50mm f3.5, and then the assistant said “oh, you’ll need the lens hood..” and went hunting for (and found) a metal hood to fit, and then “oh, and you’ll need a lens cap..” ..ditto the metal cap. Elsewhere these cost thirty to sixty quid ..but they were provided free.
As John Cleese used to say about the original Sony shop on Regent Street in the seventies(?) “..awfully nice people”.