Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/01/31

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Subject: RE: [Leica] FW: Sam Abell's Leica cameras?
From: Marc James Small <msmall@roanoke.infi.net>
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2001 12:40:50 -0500

At 08:32 AM 1/31/2001 -0000, Jem Kime wrote:
>I'm not wishing to pick a fight with an international authority on the 
>subject (!), but I'd always grown up with the tales that the Contax's 
>shutter was its Achilles heel, its weakest link. I'm sure you'll defend it 
>but why might those stories have arisen?

Beats me.  These tales were certainly NOT common during the lifetime of the
Contax RF.  In fact, almost all WWII War Correspondents using 35mm used the
Contax system.  I suspect that these stories arose in the 1970's, by which
time cameras unused for a couple of decades began to suffer from failing
shutter tapes.  And, at least in the US, this was an era when most repair
guys didn't want to fool with older gear, so they'd come up with every
conceivable tale to avoid having to work on cameras they neither understood
nor cared about.

Marc

msmall@roanoke.infi.net  FAX:  +540/343-7315
Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!