Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/07/13
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Frank Dernie wrote: >Actually electronics have been shown to be very much more reliable and >accurate than mechanical devices. The problem repairing electronic >devices in 60 years time will be availability of spares. In the case >of mechanical cameras the same problem will exist. As a mechanical engineer I agree. In the Leicaflexes there are a few selected mechanical parts that can be replicated by a good machinist but most mechanical parts are grossly uneconomical to fabricate on a one-off basis. Even in the old Leicaflexes several components were mass-produced sub-assemblies that cannot be repaired if damaged, only replaced, like the low-speed and high-speed shutter timing modules and the self-timer. Only the very first models of the Leicaflex Standard have discrete components for high-speed shutter timing. As far as reliability is concerned, I have an R4s body that came to me as spare parts from a very humid environment. The electronic stuff is working well, the aperture stop-down mechanism is bad. YMMV. Doug Herr Birdman of Sacramento http://www.wildlightphoto.com