Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/04/19
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 10:17 AM 4/19/97 -0400, Steve Kobrin wrote: >M3 rangefinders are not always expensive and difficult to fix. My DS >non-frame selection lever M3's rangefinder lacked contrast to the point >where it was very difficult to focus in any but the brightest light. DAG >repaired it for well under $200. I may have been lucky, but it is worth >getting an estimate before writing rangefinder repairs off. Two separate problems afflict M series RF's. First, they have a number of surfaces which can accumulate dirt and dust, and the cleaning of these, while a bit on the tedious side, is not terribly expensive. The second problem, though, involves the INTERNAL mirror: the prism has a silvered surface between two glued pieces of glass. Separation occurs on occasiona at this joint, and this is a horror to have fixed, as the RF assemblies are only repaired at Solms and they charge in the neighborhood of $500 for a DX'd assembly. The TM Leicas are less subject to the 'faintness due to dust and dirt' thing and don't have the glued surface, but they do have a mirror face which is silver and degrades with age. The M cameras, where this mirror has glass on both sides (it's at the glued juncture mentioned supra), is much less subject to this. The problems are exacerbated by cameras which are owned by smokers or which live in hostile environments such as areas of high industrial pollution (which eats the silver surface away with great rapidity, or areas of extreme humidity high or low. My IIIf BD used to live in Pittsburgh (my old home town) and is going to John Van Stelten when the current roll is used up. Marc msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315 Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!