Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/12/05

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Subject: [Leica] Repairs
From: "Kotsinadelis, Peter (Peter)" <peterk@lucent.com>
Date: Sat, 5 Dec 1998 20:44:57 -0800

Well, as I listen to numerous people complain about repairs, let me pass on
the name of someone who is one of the foremost experts on Leica repairs,
particularly the M-series.

Bill Maxwell
Maxwell Precision Optics
P.O. Box 33146
Decatur, GA  30033-0146
Tel: 404-244-0095

Bill is one of the finest camera repair people around and truly has a love
the M series cameras in particular.  He was the service technician that
repaired the "thought to be unrepairable" Ms and Rs (and Rollei TLRs) for
some of the larger camera stores in the Southeast (such as KEH).  He still
does it and if you really want your M or R  to work like it was new, call
him, you won't go wrong.

> ----------
> From: 	Walter S Delesandri[SMTP:walt@jove.acs.unt.edu]
> Reply To: 	leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> Sent: 	Saturday, December 05, 1998 7:14 PM
> To: 	leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> Subject: 	Re: [Leica] M6TTL - Image Behind Focus Point
> 
> Hi, Mike/others,
> It's this very lack of quality control that I've been bitching 
> about since the late seventies.  Probably HALF of the g**D*mn
> cameras come out of the factory (canada/wetzlar/solms - don't 
> make a shit) OUT OF FINAL ADJUSTMENT>.....To add insult to 
> (expensive) injury, on the M4P/M6 they removed the F***ING 
> external adjustment and GLUED the RFDR telescope - you guessed 
> it-  OUT OF ADJUSTMENT --a real pain in the ass for the (preferably
> non-Leica) repairman.  When I worked in repair 18 or so years 
> back, my employer/teacher used to joke that they were "kit cameras" 
> that were O.K> once we "finished" them.  I've owned M3-M6, inclusive, 
> and the problem became evident about the end of the M4-2 era.
> I know this group of buy-any-shit-with-Leica-on-it apologists will 
> continue to sing praises like a snake handling fundamentalist at a 
> revival, but NO, you shouldn't have to go through this on a 
> $1900 purchase, time after time after time.  PLEASE, somebody come 
> out with a manual, RFDR, competitor and tear up Leica the way 
> Nikon did 40 years ago.......
> 
> Like trying to get a doctor to turn on a fellow quack.....oops, 
> forgot, we already went down that road...........sorry........
> 
> Good luck with your "new" camera, but PLEASE try to learn how to 
> check the RFDR vertical and infinity IN THE STORE before accepting 
> it.  Try to find a repairman to show you how to check focus 
> with a tiny ground-glass and loupe.....Put the camera on a tripod, 
> preferably with a 75 summilux or 90 Summicron, wide open, and 
> check the focus at inf, min focus distance, and about 10 feet.
> This will verify that all three RFDR adjustments are correct 
> (including the one that half the damn repairmen don't know about!)
> If the store won't let you do this, demand a refund on your 
> original purchase, and write Leica describing your plight....
> OH, and PLEASE post your results in graphic detail here for 
> the rest of us.
> 
> Thanks for the space, 
> Walt
> 
> On
> Sat,
> 5
> Dec 1998, Mike Austin wrote:
> 
> > Hello,
> > 
> > I'm new to the LUG, and I have a question about the M6s ability to
> accurately
> > indicate the focus point/plane.
> > 
> > I have taken several pictures with a new M6TTL.  In my prints, the focus
> point
> > appears to be in front of the subject the rangefinder determined was the
> focus
> > point.  I have had this M6TTL sent to Leica in NJ because the vertical
> and
> > infinite focus were not correct.  It took me a while to figure out that
> the
> > vertical was offset.  
> > 
> > What made me start looking at the rangefinders accuracy was that my
> subject
> > in my prints appeared soft.  The subject just did not appear sharp.  I
> used f/2
> > on most of the photos taken.  At that aperture, the subject appears to
> be at
> > the tail end of the depth of field.  
> > 
> > After I received the M6TTL from Leica, the focus point still appeared to
> be in
> > front of the subject.  I have tried the 35mm and 50mm lens with the same
> > results.
> > 
> > The question:  Anyone seen this before with the rangefinder on an M6TTL
> or M6?
> > 
> > I left the M6TTL with the dealer, and I was given a demo M6 (not an
> M6TTL) to
> > use over the weekend with a 50mm lens.  The plan is to swap my M6TTL
> with a new
> > M6TTL and see what happens.  I hope that this loaner M6 will come out
> right.
> > 
> > Since I cant sample a 1,001 M6TTLs to see how my prints come out, Im
> asking
> > fellow Luggers if they have ever seen something like this....or heard of
> > anything like this.  It could just be that I have a bumm M6TTL...who
> knows.
> > 
> > Thanks!!
> > 
> 
>