Re: M4-2 Reliability

[henningw@portal.ca (Henning J. Wulff)]

I bought an M4-2 new shortly after they came out. Two months later I was
hiking in the mountains, with the camera and an equally new 35mm Summicron
hanging from my shoulder by the official strap. Suddenly the camera fell
onto rocks, destroying both itself and the lens. The eyelet to which the
camera strap was attached had loosened from the body. Leitz replaced both
the camera and lens immediately (the passport was not yet invented). I was
never able to have the rangefinder adjusted properly, and what adjustment
there was, never stayed put. From my first IIIg and Ig to my present M6's,
I've never had such a dog.

With respect to durability; my Nikons need regular servicing (both before
and after nasty failures), and the lenses have shown all the variability
from sample to sample that anybody has ever complained of; my Leicas have
failed in various ways over the years, and the lenses in a whole range of
new ways (just ask me!), Canons have had a strange variety of electrical
problems, 3 of my Rodenstock LF lenses have had element separation (70's
vintage lenses), Linhof tripod heads and tripods have warped under normal
use, Sinars have come apart, Hasselblads have become unreliable and
useless, but the only camera system I have used extensively which never
gave me problems was Konica Autoreflex (don't laugh). I had about 10
different bodies in the late sixties and early seventies, and never a
breakdown, even in -50 temperatures. The lenses were good; definitely up to
Nikon standards, and for the missing focal lengths, eg 28PC, Konica made
and adapter. Too bad they gave up on SLR's. I'm thinking of getting a
Hexar.


   *
  /|\     Henning J. Wulff
 /###\      Architecture
 |[ ]|   henningw@portal.ca