Re: [Leica] M6 Battery Cover LONG

[Mark Rabiner <mrabiner@concentric.net>]

WILLIAM CALDWELL wrote:
> 
> SNIP --
> 
> Nathan Wajsman wrote:
> 
> I know this sounds stupid...but I have noticed that sometimes the
> battery cover on my M6s works its way loose after a long flight or car
> trip, presumably due to the vibration. When this happens, the metering
> indicators are flaky in the way you describe. I have gotten into the
> habit of checking that the battery cover is nice and tight every time I
> take the camera out of the bag.
> 
> SNIP --
> 
> Nathan & Simon;
> 
> After a flight of 800+ miles, the battery cover of my M6 has backed out
> or become loose.  I almost lost the cover and the battery in the Bay of
> Biscay in Florida. Checking the cover after a flight usually reveals a
> loose battery cover on the M6.  Like Nathan, I check the M6 battery
> cover tightness frequently as a result of my earlier experiences.
> 
> Best of Light,
> 
> Bill Caldwell
> Northern Virginia

MARK'S BIG BATTERY COVER STORY
A few weeks ago I was driving cross country and I was at the Katy trial
in Southern Missouri in a swamp like surrounding and I noticed 2 silver
objects ejecting out the front of the camera. I noticed this through the
viewfinder. My battery cover had worked loose. It was my batteries.
When I first got my M6 six years ago I went out shooting with it and the
battery went out for the first time. I walked to the drugstore and then
had to borrow several objects to get that cover off. My battery cover
ended up being cosmeticlly unpleaent from day one. I hate perfect
looking cameras anyway, throw them into the back of the pickup a few times!
One day at Citizens photo in Portland OR I checked out some Leica stuff
and they had a new replacement Battery cover for only $75. "For that
price I want titanium," I thought. So my camera stayed ugly.
Sometimes the cover would be loose making for jiggly readings and I
would tighten it.
About a month ago I very smartly dipped a q tip in some silicon spray
and lightly made it so the cover would not have the tendency to jam
again. This made for the incident along the Missouri river last Month.
So there I am on my hands and knees's in this swamp looking for my
battery cover. I did this for 20 minutes. Then I started wondering how
far Kansas City was, how big of a city it might be and would they be
likely to have a spare battery cap for a Leica M6?
So after 15 hours on the road with a Leica system in a ten ton truck I
got 2 hours sleep on the outskirts of Kansas City because my Motel was
oblivious about Prom night. I would have gotten more sleep in Times
Square on New Years Eve.
The Weather lady in the morning after I slept between 6 and 8 says:
Thunderstorms, lightning, hail, sleet, tornado's and showed a map of
roughly the Lewis and Clark trial which was roughly my route.
I was not sure If I would be able to bacl my truck out of it's parking spot.
But no time to be overwhelmed. My Leica needed me. I had no intention of
using the Nikons I brought as a back up. I called for places in Kansas
City, it was 8 AM Saturday morning and I finally got a guy with a more
interesting than usual personality who agreed to take off a cap off an
existing camera. IPAS. Independent PhotoArt Supply. My the time I found
the place it was early afternoon and I'd passed through the most
visually interesting part of my whole trip; Downtown Kansas City, the
not so great section. (Maybe the whole place was like that). Rivers are
great but give me pealing paint any day. I should remember the fellows
name he was the owner and had very long white hair. There was a large
photo of him with a large gun protecting the store which needed it (I
almost got mugged getting back to my truck). He had said "Those darn
Nikon deals cost 12 bucks I don't know what to charge go for a Leica
one. I said "Fifty bucks" He said "Deal." He brushed off an M6 box
opened it up took of the cap put it in my camera and it didn't work. Now
sweating blood we cleaned off the contacts with special stuff. Still no
Led's. Put the battery back in the other way "Oh look at the little
picture" It lit up like a slot machine! Double triangles. This was a
dark small camera store which was more vertical than horizontal. More
picture than landscape. Things were piled high everywhere. They looked
like they had been there since the forties. My kind of place. It was
explained to me that the large back room was in effect the whole block
and this was the largest something or other in the Midwest.
I didn't get to see one tornado but after 6 years I had a new looking Leica!
Mark Rabiner