Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/09/18
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hi Stephen, The tech in question is Gerry Smith of Kindermann Canada. One of the best in the world; he knows his Ms and goes way way back. So now I will give you the long story. I bought a used M4-2 which was a late production one from the second to last batch produced. It had the usual sluggish slow speeds and the vertical alignment was out. Imagine my chagrin at discovering that late M4-2 cameras have the new style of finder mechanism which needs a special tool to adjust the vertical alignment! So off it goes to Gerry for a CLA. I am on the L-U by this time and I am getting pretty annoyed with all the whining about viewfinder flare. The camera comes back and everything is great. A year later I decide to take the plunge and get a new TTL. Right out of the box the viewfinder flares. I carefully check all of my cameras and the M2 and the late M4-2 are fine, no flare. Oh well, I guess the whiners were right! I sold the M4-2 to finance the TTL and learned to live with the flare. Two years later, I am getting cocky and thinking I need a third body. So I get another M4-2, right from the very first batch of production cameras. Out it comes from the box and it flares like my TTL! I check and the early style vertical alignment is there. What the h***! Anyhow the camera is soon out for a CLA and I ask Gerry about putting in a six frame mask set. He tells me maybe. It seems that to fit in the six frame mask set you have to remove a viewfinder element (the missing element!). Often when he removes the element to fit the mask, it affects the superimposed image. As you move your eye from side to side the image drifts back and forth making it difficult to focus large aperture long focus lenses. My camera was one of the unfortunate ones so no six frame mask set for me. While we were talking about the six frame mask set, I ask about flare, the missing element and if my camera has its original finder. I do have the original finder and he says that the missing element does not cause the flare problem. The later finders have a problem with stray light bouncing around. We did not talk much about it but it makes sense as you can get the flare to go by shielding the viewfinder illumination window. So ends a long story, John Collier On Wednesday, September 18, 2002, at 03:07 PM, Stephen Gandy wrote: > John, > > having confirmed the M4-2 flare problem and cause with the then head of > Leica > repair at Solms, I am reasonably sure the info is accurate. > > did you have your cameras examined by a tech familiar with the M4-2 > finder > variations to identify which type it was? how do you know the camera > with > an earlier top plate number has the M4-2 earlier type finder, or the > later > camera has the later M4-2 finder ? If a finder or top plate is > interchanged > by a good tech, it looks original. > > Stephen > > > John Collier wrote: > >> Actually I first read about the missing element on Stephen Gandy's site >> (http://www.cameraquest.com/classics.htm). Since then I have had two >> M4-2 cameras, one early and one late. Both cameras were CLAed by one of >> the best and I ask about the provenance of the finders to make sure >> they >> were original (they were). The early camera (one of the first 900 made) >> flared the same as my M6TTL while the later one, with the fabled >> missing >> element was just as good as my M2. >> >> I do not know what is causing the flare problem BUT it is not the >> missing element. >> >> John Collier >> >> On Wednesday, September 18, 2002, at 08:00 AM, B. D. Colen wrote: >> >>> You're not wrong, Daniel. According to Erwin Puts the problem has >>> something >>> to do with the fact that Leica removed a particular condenser lens >>> from >>> the >>> rangefinder assembly. Some would suggest it was done to reduce costs, >>> but I >>> would never be so cynical as to suggest that. ;-) >> >> -- >> To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html > > > -- > To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html > - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html