Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/11/01
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Feli, You hit on a very important point about vintage equipment: for best results, the stuff should to be brought back to original specs. While a 50 year old M3 or Summicron can function, you're probably only getting a sample of the potential quality before restoration. Over time lens coatings can get foggy, lubricants dry out, adjustments go out of spec. Several years ago I tried a nice, original iiif. It was a fine camera--but the difference after a CLA was just amazing. I've also recently had some 1950s hi-fi equipment restored. While it worked--sort of--before restoration, the pieces now sound just amazingly good. Any judgments about vintage gear really should be made when the stuff's operating as originally intended: freshly tuned and in spec. Jim Shulman Bryn Mawr, PA -----Original Message----- From: lug-bounces+jshul=comcast.net@leica-users.org [mailto:lug-bounces+jshul=comcast.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of Feli di Giorgio Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 1:48 PM To: Leica Users Group Subject: [Leica] DR CLA -nice Last week my Summicron-DR returned from Leica in NJ. The aperture blades were starting to stick, so she went in for a CLA. They did a nice job, blackened the blades, cleaned and lubed everything etc., all for $150 bucks. I've shot about 6 rolls with it since it got back, and can actually see a significant difference in performance. The most obvious difference is the greatly increased flare suppression. It used to be that if I shot straight in to the sun, I would get a glare across the frame. That's gone. Images also look sharper, but I'm also attributing that to the higher contrast, resulting from the haze being cleaned out and the blades being blackened (less scatter). It's interesting to see the DR as Leica intended it. In comparison to contemporary designs it really must have been an eye opener, when it was introduced. Even today it's one heck of a piece of glass. Feli _______________________________________________ Leica Users Group. See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information