Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/12/16
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Thanks, Ted, Hans, and Dave, for telling me that I'm not a total weirdo for buying that SL. In other news, the camera continues to surprise me. First, I was surprised when it turned out that there weren't a jillion Olympic SL's. Then, today I found out that the meter isn't dead at all -- it was just resting! Actually, what was dead was the battery. I cleaned the contacts, swapped batteries with one I had in an old Japanese rangefinder, and, bingo! working meter. It's reading a stop off, but I think that's because I have only a worn-out silver 625 battery. I need to get one of these CRIS adapter thingies. Second, not being a collector and not being superstitious, I didn't realize until I looked in Sartorius' book that Leica use numerology for patronage purposes. They give out round serial numbers to people with whom they wish to curry favor. Now that I understand this, I note that the serial numbers of both body and lens are not very round but they're kind of round, ending in 500 -- the body is #1335500 and the lens is #2003500. Also, the front says 72 728 -- the first 72 being the year of the Munich Olympics and the 728 being the number in the series. So I would think that this camera was given to a dealer or someone like that, but it shows signs of having been used a lot. It's not really beaten up, but it has a few minor dings and shows wear on the focusing ring and speed dial, around the tripod thread, etc. Perhaps it was given to a photographer. Anyway, I suppose I'll get a new battery and run some film through it before I send it off for a CLA. Happily, most of my lenses are 3-cam, so I can use them with an SL. - -Patrick