[Leica] Repairs/M6TTL - Image

[Mike Austin <maustin@uswnvg.com>]

Hello,

Thanks Pete.  Thanks Walt.

The dealer that I bought my M6TTL is helping me quite a bit.  The dealer was
quite embarrassed to find out that the M6TTL was "grossly misaligned".  Im new
to the Leica M, so I really didnt know what I was supposed to be looking for.
Slowly Im learning what to look for.  I like Leica Binoculars (10x42BA).  I
like the Minilux.  Im trying to like the M6TTL.

The dealer shot a couple frames of slide film through it.  Although we didnt
have anything set up to figure out where the subject fell into the depth of
field...and this was at 1m.

With print film, I use 1x1 inch engineering paper to help me figure out where
the subject fell into the depth of field.  We used a loupe, Leica's Depth of
Field Tables, and the negative to figure out where the subject and focus point
were in relation to each other.  The subject was approx. 1.7m from the camera
when I took the picture.  At approx. 1.7m, he counted 5 clear squares in
front of the subject and 3 clear squares in back of the subject.  This was
using f/2 with a 35mm lens.  We figured that it should have been 4 clear
squares front and back.  

I took shots of signs (stop signs, road signs, direction signs) from a
distance.  The rangefinder did not bring the images together at infinity.  It
was a hair short of infinity.  We looked at the negative with the loupe, and
the sign was not clear.  A sign that was midway to the sign I was using the
rangefinder on was clearer.  

A couple of photos I had taken of trees without leaves came out fuzzy.  It was
not sharp.  

The only way I could figure out how to determine where the focus point was in
relation to the subject was using the engineering paper with 1x1 inch squares.
The subject need to be close enough to allow me to see which squares were
clear.  Also, the depth of field needed to be several inches so that the
squares could be counted.  Doesnt Leica have something similar?

But you know, having to do all that with my film....and time....I should have a
collector series thrown my way....

Three or four RFDR adjustments.....is there a Chilton's, Haynes, or PhotoFacts
for the M6TTL somewhere so I can do this myself??  haha

Thanks for the input!!