Re: [Leica] Leica can't find the fault!

["Dan Post" <dwpost@email.msn.com>]

Gawd! I hate ME TOOS, but here I go again- Sherry should be declared a
National Treasure! She's incredible!
It would be worth the freight to send it over to let her do the checking! I
like her service on my SL better than the service I got from Leica, USA (and
they ain't bad!)
Dan

- -----Original Message-----
From: Bryan Caldwell <bcaldwell@softcom.net>
To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Date: Saturday, May 15, 1999 9:01 PM
Subject: Re: [Leica] Leica can't find the fault!


>Doug,
>
>If I might make one more suggestion . . .
>
>I too have a 40 year old M2. About a month ago I sent it off to Sherry
>Krauter at Golden Touch Camera Repair (Sherry often posts here). For a very
>reasonable price, she gave it a complete tune-up and cleaning and replaced
>the old, worn, brass strap lugs with newer and stronger steel ones.
>
>The camera I received back is every bit as solid and dependable as my 2 M6
>bodies and I wouldn't hesitate to use it under any conditions. I'm sure
that
>others will second my recommendation - Sherry does terrific work.
>
>Bryan
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Doug Richardson <doug@meditor.demon.co.uk>
>To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
>Sent: Saturday, May 15, 1999 10:08 AM
>Subject: [Leica] Leica can't find the fault!
>
>
>> I recently shipped my M6 back to Leica UK because of an intermittent
>> problem with the meter - the LEDs were staying lit for about 10
>> seconds after the photo was taken, and would re-light if I pressed on
>> the release. This sounds like the switch which is intended to turn off
>> the meter when the shutter is fired is not working correctly.
>>
>> Leica UK tells me that the camera has been on test for more than a
>> week, and has been re-tested by the head of the service department,
>> and has behaved perfectly. They now propose to return the camera to
>> me.
>>
>> I'm not sure what to do now - I'm the editor of a magazine, and often
>> have to take my own photos (in my field the days when the travel
>> budget could stretch to sending a writer and a photographer are over).
>> Until recently I've always used my own cameras on assignment, but the
>> youngest of these is some 25 years old, one I use quite often is 40
>> years old, and two others are pre-war.  However over the last decade,
>> several employers have criticised me for doing this - one even
>> described my M2 as a "Russian clunker"!.
>>
>> Worried that one day I'd be left explaining to my publishing director
>> that no I didn't get the pictures, and yes, I went on an assignment
>> with a camera which he regards as an antique, I opted to get a
>> Wetzlar-era M6 which could still form part of my collection, but which
>> would be a "modern" camera for work use. (I can't afford to support
>> two camera "families" - one for show and one for use - so the
>> equipment I buy is chosen to fulfil both roles.)
>>
>> At the moment the meter problem is simply a minor inconvenience which
>> I could live with, but what what worries me is that the meter may one
>> day fail by refusing to turn on, and I'll be left explaining to my
>> publishing director that no I didn't get the pictures, and yes, I went
>> on an assignment with a camera which I knew to have an intermittent
>> fault...
>>
>> Has anyone else been the position of having a camera with a fault the
>> manufacturer couldn't find? If so, how did you resolve the problem?
>>
>> In the short term I could use the M6 rather than my classics for
>> leisure photography, and either a classic or the M6+external meter for
>> work (in the hope that the fault will finally re-appear so that it can
>> be diagnosed). In practice however, I suspect I'd tend to use one of
>> the classics (since I know they are reliable), and the M6 would become
>> an expensive paperweight on my desk and used only for "happy snaps".
>>
>> Of course I could always live dangerously and use my 1936 Contax II
>> for work ...
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Doug Richardson
>>
>>
>>
>