Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/08/13

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Subject: [Leica] Re: Leica Users digest V10 #88
From: "Jason Hall" <JASON@jbhall.freeserve.co.uk>
Date: Sat, 14 Aug 1999 01:28:52 +0100

> Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 10:34:09 -0600
> From: 4season <4season@boulder.net>
> Subject: Re: [Leica] My M6 is rusting
>
> Dan, Dan, Dan,
>
> It's pretty unreasonable to expect that you can place a used camera into
> a closet and expect it to be good as new years later, especially if
>snip<
>
> Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 13:23:43 -0400
> From: Dan Cardish <dcardish@microtec.net>
> Subject: Re: [Leica] My M6 is rusting
>
> Jeff, Jeff, Jeff,
>
> I said 'lightly used', not stored in a closet and never touched for 11
> years.  I use the camera a lot for an amateur, it is just not used
>
> Please point out the mistake I made (other than buying the camera in the
> first place).
>snip<
>
> Dan C.

Dan,

Absolutely!

My R has been stored in a cupboard with a dozen packs of silica gel, rarely
handled since new.  Didn't know about the toothbrush thing tho, what kind of
paste do you recommend Jeff?  My (mild steel bodied) German car has managed
to withstand the salty British roads for 14 years without succumbing to
bubbling paint, (unlike most of the native Rovers, which apart from rotting
horribly and being poorly assembled usually leak a lot of oil from their
lazy uneconomical V8's) I've never cleaned that with a toothbrush either.
My Japanese SLR has spent a good deal of its life in a wet rucksack without
any signs of corrosion although most of the paint has worn off the brass top
plate.  Even my poor Rolleicord has weathered better than the bloody Leica.

Maybe I should have had the Leica tropicalised for the UK, or should I
invest in a positive pressure, humidity controlled laminar flow cabinet to
store it in rather than the ER case.

Why do Leica use zinc alloy?
Isn't brass stronger easier to machine and less liable to oxidise?
Maybe its cheaper to manufacture in zinc, they are trying to keep the costs
down so that we users don't have to pay silly prices for their equipment.

Incidentally, I only got the message once but your names are all in
triplicate.

Jason, Jason, Jason