Re: Leica durability

[David Stedman <DSTEDM@halcyon.com>]

Donal Philby wrote:
> 
> LUGnuts:
> 
> Saw this on the usually dormant AOL leica forum.  And  he is or isn't
> related, I can't remember.
> 
> Subj:  Re:Leica durability
> Date:  97-06-20 13:48:27 EDT
> From:  OBarnack
> 
> With all this talk about Leica durablity, you may be interested in some
> actual data. As part of a consulting project we recently reviewed the
> audio-visual and photo lab. records of a major research center of the
> State University of New York. This facility operates a "lending library"
> of photo equipment and permits scientists to "check out" a system for
> the duration of a project. Film is also supplied and records are kept on
> the number of rolls run through each camera. At the end of the project
> the equipment is returned, checked out, and readied for the next user.
> The records cover the period from 1950 to 1996. The database excluded
> cameras which were damaged by non-photographic use i.e. falling on
> concrete, submergence, etc.
> 
> The two longest durability non-SLR 35mm cameras are, in order, ROBOT and
> LEICA. One Robot has had over 2,000,000 frames run through it since the
> 60's. A Leica M3 DS made almost 450,000 exposures since its purchase
> date in 1954. Both of these figures should be taken with a grain of
> salt. There are very few competitors in this class of cameras. The Robot
> was used in data recording with exposures taken automatically every few
> minutes, the Leica as an ID camera in a high security installation.
> Still, the mechanical longevity of both cameras is several times the
> norm for professional use. It is likely that an ordinary professional
> photographer would drop or lose the camera, or would replace it due to
> obsolescence before it would wear out. Either would last an amateur
> several photographic lifetimes.
> 
> In the SLR category, the durability champ was an Olympus OM-1 purchased
> in 1974 and still in use. It has made nearly 260,000 exposures during
> that period in the course of documenting ongoing urban renewal projects.
> All the Olympus SLRs in the inventory required little in the way of
> repairs or maintenance. Close behind were Canon and Nikon cameras. What
> is surprising is that the Olympus was criticized for its apparently
> delicate construction when it was introduced. Obviously the light weight
> and low inertia of the moving parts contribute as much to longevity as
> the more massive construction of its competitors. Autoexposure
> capability did not influence the durability much, although those cameras
> which controlled exposure by varying shutter speed were significantly
> more reliable than those that did so by varying lens opening. Apparently
> the smaller the number of moving parts, the less there was to break.
> Autofocus, on the other hand, greatly increased the liklihood of repair,
> halving the mean time to failure.
> 
> The longest durability roll film camera was a Kodak Medalist II, a WW2
> era design by Kodak and widely adopted as a Navy combat camera in the
> 40s and 50s. This camera, taking 6x9 cm pictures on 620 film, was
> acquired by SUNY as part of a Navy grant in 1950 was in continuous use
> in the PR department for 45 years until film became unobtainable. No one
> knows how many exposures were made before the camera was given to the
> University. There is no record of repair during that period.  - Oskar

Hi all;

I thought that I had seen evidence somewhere that an original Leicaflex
Standard MK1 had recorded over a million shots.  After a little
research, I found the article in the LHSA pub., "Viewfinder" Volume 28
Number 2 (Second Quarter, 1995) reference page 17. This particular
camera's serial # is 1123505 was used by a South African photographer
named Sonny Foster.  Indeed, this camera has seen over 50,000 rolls of
film through it.  This camera could possibly have made 2 million
exposures.  An interesting article on the Leicaflex cameras.

Dave Stedman