[Leica] Warning, this shutter burns!

[Robert Furness <r.fur@videotron.ca>]

Warning, this shutter burns!
A couple weeks ago I also joined the leica clan. I sold all my Nikon
equipment which were extremely used. They were F2 with a series of 20
to 180mm lenses. I now bought two M6 TTL (0.72, 0.85) with 21, 28, 50,
90 and 135 lenses. I always work with two cameras at the same time.
The 28mm on the 0.72 body and the 90mm on the 0.85, are my two
favorite focals, I do almost everything with them (wow! as a
coincidence the frames line work as pairs 28 and 90, fabulous). So far
all was great, I really wanted a system of this kind, I imagine that
my reasons for buying Leica are the same as yoursÉ 
I first received the 0.72 and the 90mm, very, very nice lenses, I
played with them to learn how to manipulate them, to get a good feel.
That night I left my camera on my desk at home, when I went to get
them the next morning there was a huge hole in the shutter. The only
light in my office is a window oriented north, therefore never any
sun, I also have two computer screens and a small quartz lamp which
was on low, a lamp which I could look sraight at without flicking an
eye. Had the camera which had a 90mm lense on, been directly facing
the light of my lamp? It must have since the  shutter burned...
After discussions and uncertainty, Leica (Kinderman Canada) decided to
change one of the curtain of the shutter, free of charge. I just
received it, the new curtain does not have the same appearance as the 
other, the one which has the white circle for the lightmetre. It is
much more black and very textured, There is also less space between
each frame on the negatif, the images are closer together. What is the
value of that M6 now???
If the shutter of this camera is so sensitive, Leica should write it
in large print everywhere, for now all they have is two small lines in
the userŐs quide and they refer to bright sunlight.
That is not all.
My second body the 0.85 is practically not useable, the range finder
is out! all the lines that are horizontal are doubled, very difficult
to focus. It must be reajusted.
Besides all of the above, all is wellÉ

And now, my 2 cents on different subjects circulating in this news
group.

Yes, it looks like the M6 is already made to receive a digital back,
with the base plate and the back panel removable, it seem quite easy.
I hope Leica makes one very simple, no LCD screen with only the
essential, small buttons to set the ASA and the size of the file
captured, lowrez in JPEG and highrez in TIFF, thats all. Of course a
Firewire or USB connector to download the file through a plugIn
directly in Photoshop to adjust the level, color balance etc. Or even
better, to be able to plug the camera in a Palm or the very
anticipated Apple/Palm device to control every aspect of the picture.
Something light and very effective, just like the M line.

For the moment I use a Nikon LS2000 to scan my neg, and yes it is a
very good scanner, hard to beat for the price. You af to go with a
drum scanner to get a bigger file, at 10 time the price.

I use an Epson 1200 to print my image, it is not so bad. I anticipate
a lot with the 6 grey ink cartrige made by Lysonic to print in black
in white with a better tonal range and stability.

ThatŐs all for my first post, sorry for jumping from one subject to
another. But, there is so much to say, and I must confess my wife was
willing to translate from french to english for meÉ.And I admit I do
not find the subject as passionate as Robert does. :-) 
Happy passover and/or easter.
.........................................
Robert Furness
Photographe industriel
Internet: r.fur@videotron.ca
Web: http://pages.infinit.net/furr/rfur.html
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