Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/03/15
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 11:33 AM 3/15/2000 -0500, BOB KRAMER wrote: >5. There really is a silky smoothness to the operation of an M3 that is a >true pleasure to experience, that doesn't seem to be there with an M6. > >6. The M3 is built like a tank. I bet it would make an excellent weapon if >one were attacked on the street. <g> These two statements are actually contradictory. The reason for the smoother film-advance of the M3 and M2 cameras comes from the use of brass gears in the film wind-on mechanism. Leitz found that these wore out with time, so they went to steel gears, which are not as smooth -- the brass, being relatively soft, "laps in" over time to make a wonderfully fine fit of gear-tooth on gear-tooth, while the harder steel takes a LOT longer to wear in this way -- but which last indefinitely. The difference is probably not of much interest to most of us -- I recall the MBTF was something like a million exposures on the brass gears, and 10 million on the steel gears. But a professional might well take a million exposures in ten years or less, so it did matter to that part of the market. Marc msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315 Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!