Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/11/01

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Subject: [Leica] DR CLA -nice
From: jshul at comcast.net (Jim Shulman)
Date: Mon Nov 1 10:49:53 2004

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


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In reply to: Message from feli at creocollective.com (Feli di Giorgio) ([Leica] DR CLA -nice)