[Leica] Under pressure, counting the beans on your plate

["Stewart, Alistair" <AStewart@gigaweb.com>]

Don,

when was the last time you actually took a picture? :=) 


Alistair

f8 and... oops, sorry, pressure plate...and be there

- -----Original Message-----
From: DonjR43198@aol.com [mailto:DonjR43198@aol.com]
Sent: Wednesday, April 28, 1999 11:17 AM
To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
Subject: Re: [Leica] Leica revisited & production tolerances


We are indebted to you for passing on the following comments.

Your comment: There is NOT a problem. Leica has told me, and Erwin, that it 
was a small batch of cameras. All of them non-TTL cameras is what I was told

as well. 
And all it takes to fix the problem is a bit of polishing of the pressure 
plate.

This post raises some very, very interesting questions as follows:

1.  Does this mean pressure plates that scratch the back of film in the M-6 
cameras are considered by Leica not to be a problem?  Maybe not for Leica, 
but it is not a desirable trait for a $2,000.00 camera body that the owner 
expects to meet very minimal standards that are met by $50.00 cameras world 
wide.
2.  Does "non-TTL" mean those cameras that do not have the through-the-lens 
flash exposure capability?  If so, that would mean the very great majority
of 
M-6 cameras were produced with faulty pressure plates since the TTL flash 
capability M-6 cameras are relatively new on the market.
3.  How many thousands of "non-TTL" M-6 cameras has Leica sold?
4.  If there are thousands of Leica M-6 cameras with faulty pressure plates,

does the above comment mean that Leica is serious when it says "There is not

a problem." 
5.  Does this comment mean the faulty pressure plates were culled from 
production and then intentionally installed in just the "non-TTL cameras" or

were the good pressure plates set aside to be installed in just the TTL 
cameras?  
6.  Does this mean that it is the conscious decision of Leica to install 
known inferior parts in the non-TTL cameras while only acceptable parts are 
installed in the TTL cameras?
7.  Does this mean the non-TTL M-6 cameras are assembled using faulty parts 
so Leica will have an outlet for inferior parts that it has bought from 
subcontractors?  (It is my recollection form an earlier post comment from
Mr. 
Puts in which he advised that Leica is now buying many parts from 
subcontractors.)
8.  The comment stated: "And all it takes to fix the problem is a bit of 
polishing of the pressure plate." What does Leica mean by "polishing" the 
pressure plate.  Enough to remove the black anodizing, so the aluminum
mirror 
finish of the pressure plate will reflect light off its mirror surface and 
bounce back through the film thus degrading the image?  Or does Leica mean 
removing the anodizing, re-polish or re-lap the pressure plate, then anodize

the pressure plate?
 
 The "bean counters" saga continues and with each revelation, Leica's 
reputation is brought into greater question.