Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/12/24
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 03:39 PM 12/24/97 -0500, Bill Caldwell wrote: >>From Minnesota winter experiences, I have used both a M3 and a CL >outdoors to -30 F. I have not had an internal lubrication sticking >problem in either camera. However, if the camera body and lens were to >be used outside for significant periods, it is generally suggested that >they both be winterized. I'm having a lonely Christmas eve, so I DO appreciate the opportunity to pontificate a bit on matters historical. (Or, if you will, matters hysterical!) When the Germans occupied Norway in the first winter of the Second War, they found that their Leicas were freezing up. (I understand that the Rolleis and Zeiss Ikon cameras MF were not so afflicted, though I believe the Contax RF's had woes similar to the Leicas.) The Gnomes of Wetzlar pondered this a while and changed the bearing on which the shutter curtains ran from a friction bearing -- that is, a bear-metal hole with a bare-metal spindle sticking through it -- to roller bearings, yclept 'kugellager' aug Deutsch, and this cured the problem. (Zeiss Ikon modified Contax RF's by relubing them with a lighter-weight grease, but this meant treated cameras were not as durable when exposed to warmer temperatures, so the Leitz solution, for once, was preferable.) By the end of the War, and some extensive cold-weather service in the Arctic, Norway, and Soviet Union, Leicas were found to function without a qualm with only one roller-bearing, and so the Postwar IIIc's, and all cameras hence, have been so constructed. The point? You don't really need to 'winterize' a Leica: the design was made to accomodate the worst that a Russian winter could toss at it, and, pace Garrison Keilor, even Minnesota looks mild by comparison. I DO have it on good authority that Robert Byrd, Amundsen, Admiral Byrd, and Santa Claus never 'winterized' THEIR Leicas, so why should you? Marc msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315 Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!