Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/02/28

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Subject: [Leica] Re: M2 Rangefinder Woes
From: William Gower <w.gower@home.com>
Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2001 17:37:52 -0400

Regarding:
 
> I'm a little worried about my M2.  There was something I noticed about the
> viewfinder I hope you guys can help me with. There seems to be yellowish
> flakes that run along the bottom and top edges of the prism inside the
> viewfinder. Is this something serious that I should be worried about?

The bad news is, probably.

I happen to have a very early button rewind M2 (serial 930 557) with the
exact "woe" you describe. The problem on the top edge of the rangefinder is
the most significant, with very minor "yellowing" along the bottom edge.

I had my camera serviced six months ago by Reinhold Muller here in Toronto
and asked him about it. He said it was the glue used to hold the rangefinder
elements together starting to degrade. At at time, he stated that the
rangefinder was a "bit" cloudy, but not unusable.

The good news is that it hasn't gotten worse, and I use the camera almost
daily. This includes outside winter shooting in -15C weather, getting caught
in a few downpours last time I was in Asia last November, plus other
follies.

So far so good. The worst case scenario I'm facing is a rangefinder
replacement, where I'll "upgrade" to a M4-2/P or M6 assembly. Still cheaper
than a new Leica.

Best of Luck

William