AW: [Leica] Back to the fifties, meter trimming of CL

[Michael Dienert <MDienert@foq.de>]

hello CL-Fans,

if anyone is interested in the original procedure of how to trim a CL's
meter you can contact me. 

i have leica's original instructions. the procedure is rather easy. all
you need is a light source, a tiny (electronic) screwdriver and a
lightmeter as a reference and some patience (5 resistor trimmers must be
adjusted gradually).

it's not a big issue to do it yourself. i successfully proved it with my
own CL. 

and there is ABSOLUTELY NO REASON of buying any obscure battery adapter.
the only difference between mercury and silver-oxide cells is a minor
variation of the output voltage: 

now, if you trim the lightmeter for a given battery-type - or in other
words for a given supply voltage of the electronic circuit of the light
meter -  this voltage difference will be taken into account, it cancels
out. 

the lightmeter will be perfectly calibrated then but of course you must
stick with the battery type you used during calibration.

trust me, electronics is my daily profession.

best regards

michael
> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von:	Doug Richardson [SMTP:doug@meditor.demon.co.uk]
> Gesendet am:	Mittwoch, 5. Mai 1999 12:50
> An:	leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> Betreff:	[Leica] Back to the fifties
> 
> Tom Rice wrote:
> 
> >I'm very well served by my screwy old Leicas, thank you.
> 
> A few weeks ago I want on the LHSA trip to Wetzlar and Solms. I took
> my 'flex and M6 outfits, and in a moment of nostalgia, my late
> father's 1939 IIIb, 1938 f.3.5 Elmar, and 1937 f2 Summar. The speeds
> up to 1/40 weren't running properly, so I stayed at 1/200 and hoped
> for the best. I enjoyed shooting with this old hardware - I'd
> forgotten what fun it is to use! I still miss the IIIg I had in the
> late 1960s.
> 
> Tom, if you still have that CL, get it CLA'd to fix the meter problem,
> then buy a CRIS adaptor to allow a modern silver-oxide cell to be used
> in place of the 625, and enjoy many more years of using it - I'm
> convinced that Oskar Barnack would have loved the CL.
> 
> Your "Back to the Fifties!" philosophy has its advantages - folks like
> you and I can ignore the ongoing debates about aspheric lenses,
> autofocus, and rumoured M7s and R9s, while a '50 jahre' track record
> shows that this older kit has no significant quality control problems.
> As Marc James Small says in his book on LTM lenses "... in some things
> at least, they really did do things better in those days of old!"
> 
> BTW, I've found that on the few occasions when it's not resident at
> the Leica UK repair department my M6 makes a great exposure meter for
> my IIIb and M2.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Doug Richardson