Re: [Leica] Re: Ernst Hartmann

[tedgrant@islandnet.com (Ted Grant)]

Jim wrote:

<<<I can, without reservation, tell you that Ernst will say exactly the
same thing that Ted, me, and a few others have been saying all along.
Breathe on it, wipe it with a relatively soft clean cloth. Use ROR or some
other lens cleaner if there is muck on it. Ernst usually uses compressed
air, breath, then a chamois. The same chamois all day. I've seen him pull a
microcloth out of his pocket and use it. As a few of us have said, those of
you that place your equipment on a pedestal, had better not take your
equipment in to a "clean and check". It WILL BE CLEANED!!! and checked. If
you have a weak stomach, stay home. But remember, these are not toys. They
are professional tools and are made to endure the rigors of hard use and
the environment.>>>>>>>>>

Hi Jim,

Well said!!!! It's amazing how many LUGNUTS don't seem to understand that
the front element of their lens can handle the hardest rubbing with a soft
cloth or chamois that one can imagine.

Your point about a "weak stomach" should be well taken by the faint of
heart and keep their eyes closed while the Leica technician cleans their
lens, as they could very well pass out as he breathes on the lens and rubs
it sparkly clean with a wiper from the smock pocket. :)

There was a Leica NJ technician ( not Ernst) who delighted in breathing
hard on the lens and fogging it well, then rubbing the daylights out of it
right in front of the owner just to watch them blanche white thinking their
lens was being destroyed before their eyes. Once done, the tech would hand
the lens back and have them look at it with a loupe to see nothing had
happend. :) Sure made beleivers out of a folks.

><<<<<But remember, these are not toys. They are professional tools and are
>made to endure the rigors of hard use and the environment.>>>>>>>

And there in lies the problem with people who wont or don't want to listen
to the gospel on just how hard the surface is, they must have the idea
these are dinkie toys to be treated like toys and not hammerhead working
tools.

This doen't mean we beat the hell out of the gear or the front elements as
we have to buy them ourselves like others. There isn't some "Leica Fairy"
who replaces them under the pillow if we don't look after them.

But like you say,<<This is all simply common sense. It is not rocket science.>>

In all the years I've used Leica in many wild and wooly environments, I've
only had one lens marked and that was due to my own stupidity of shooting
too close to an electric welder. A spark of welding rod landed on the front
element of a 28mm and "burnt" a little zit right in the glass almost dead
centre. Peed me off no end, but the zit didn't show at any point of focus
even when stopped to the smallest aperture.

But that is the only time I ever saw a lens with a mark on the glass of the
front surface.

It's amazing how a simple thing like wiping a lens clean can become a topic
that drags on for several weeks, when it really is such a simple thing to
do:  "breathe on it--- wipe clean!"

ted