Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/10/06
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]actually, Pascal's statement about the indestructable FM series is, unfortunately, true....but only in comparison to the junk on the market today.... When the FM series replaced the Nikkormats in the late seventies, it was considered a somewhat flimsy camera by repair folks....I had the (good/bad?) fortune to work in a repair shop, and knew a lot of pros in the Houston, Tx. area....the FM/FE series was much "lighter" built in the film wind/shutter cocking area, and the counter....that ANY previous "pro" camera (compared to Nikkormat, Canon F1/FTb, etc....we saw a lot of film transport/shutter problems, particularly in the early ones...."pot" metal vs the beautifully finished gears and cams of the previous generation....the little MD-11 (immediately replaced with MD-12) was troublesome in some of the early units.... It's truly a shame, but by today's standards, the FM is a VERY well built camera...I'd wonder about the build quality of the R6/6.2, the Contax mechanical body (S2??) and the OM-3 if it's still made....I have NO experience with any of these newer mechanical cameras...wonder if anyone else does? Of course, collector aspects aside, I guess it'd probably cost over $2K retail today to build and sell an updated Nikkormat FTN, or Canon FTb, and I really wonder what a Contarex or a Nikon F or SP would cost.... Not the "boutique" S2, but a real, production camera.....I wonder if any company could bring it in at the price of Leica????? I bet this Leica stuff would look CHEAP (in price) by comparison...and I don't doubt that Leica is in the hole on MOST of their products....which is a shame..... We have learned to accept a much higher failure rate on many products today...cars are an exception....I don't remember that far back, but I wonder what the "five-year-failure" rate or whatever was on these vintage cameras in the sixties....MTBF doesn't really apply, because I believe that many of the modern day camera problems are "infant" mortality..... Enough rambline....just thinking out loud. I'd love to hear from a current repair person their opinions of what I've said.....maybe all of it is BS....I just "feel" this way... Walt On Fri, 6 Oct 2000 12:49:28 +0200 Pascal <cyberdog@attglobal.net> wrote: > >why not > >concentrate on the purely mechanical SLR and make that the flagship instead > >of the R8? The R8 just looks like an under-spec EOS or Nikon: clad in > >plastic, big, heavy... > > I beg to disagree with you Adrian. If Leica only had a mechanical SLR, > I'd simply quit the brand. Buyers must have a choice between manual or > automatic cameras. > > >The FM2 is a nice camera but not built to the standards of the M or > >even the pre-R8 R series which are not IMHO in the same league as the top > >end Canons and Nikons. > > ??? What does this latter part mean? > > The FM series are indestructable cameras. I've owned one for 15 years and > it never let down on me once. > > Pascal > NO ARCHIVE > > --------- > Visit my photo pages at http://members.xoom.com/cyberplace > --------- > <<< PGP public key available upon request >>> >