Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/11/25
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I bought an M4-2 new shortly after they came out. Two months later I was hiking in the mountains, with the camera and an equally new 35mm Summicron hanging from my shoulder by the official strap. Suddenly the camera fell onto rocks, destroying both itself and the lens. The eyelet to which the camera strap was attached had loosened from the body. Leitz replaced both the camera and lens immediately (the passport was not yet invented). I was never able to have the rangefinder adjusted properly, and what adjustment there was, never stayed put. From my first IIIg and Ig to my present M6's, I've never had such a dog. With respect to durability; my Nikons need regular servicing (both before and after nasty failures), and the lenses have shown all the variability from sample to sample that anybody has ever complained of; my Leicas have failed in various ways over the years, and the lenses in a whole range of new ways (just ask me!), Canons have had a strange variety of electrical problems, 3 of my Rodenstock LF lenses have had element separation (70's vintage lenses), Linhof tripod heads and tripods have warped under normal use, Sinars have come apart, Hasselblads have become unreliable and useless, but the only camera system I have used extensively which never gave me problems was Konica Autoreflex (don't laugh). I had about 10 different bodies in the late sixties and early seventies, and never a breakdown, even in -50 temperatures. The lenses were good; definitely up to Nikon standards, and for the missing focal lengths, eg 28PC, Konica made and adapter. Too bad they gave up on SLR's. I'm thinking of getting a Hexar. * /|\ Henning J. Wulff /###\ Architecture |[ ]| henningw@portal.ca