Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/10/25
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Tina wrote: >>> > But, Mark, my cameras ride in airplanes all the time and on the floor of > > jeeps crossing dry and wet rivers and mountains and on my shoulders > > bouncing along on donkeys and I've never had them re-aligned that I know of > > - I wouldn't recognize it if they needed it.<<<<<< Hi Tina, I'm with you on this, as I don't know what others do with their M cameras and I only have one M6 of several, with a slight out of alignment and it's been that way for a long time. Not to mention the dozen other M types over the years where I've never had rangefinder drift in any of them. Mine have been riding with me on horse back during cattle round-up, bouncing in and on the out side of military vehicles, banging along on the large komitic sleds (no cushion ride here!) with the Eskimo hunters of the Eastern Arctic, bumped, banged and knocked to-gether so often hanging off my shoulders and around my neck one would think the camera's should be a wreck, but they're not. I suppose it's my "camera karma" ;-) that they're still in great shape. :-) As far as putting them on the floor in the car, that's where one of them rides everyday I'm in the car or the strap is around my knee camera dangling if I'm the passenger. On planes the bag always goes under the seat in front of me with the top flap facing toward me unzipped for quick access if I need something else. While flying, an M with wide angle is always hanging on my knee ready for any untoward situation to be photographed.Trust me that has been done for many many years, not just since the 11th. I've put camera bags on the car trunk floor, for all of the years I've been a photographer and never had any problems. Heck three years ago I was shooting in northern British Columbia in the winter when the driver flipped a Ford explorer on an icy road and my R8's in the camera bag bounced around inside the vehicle as we were rocking and rolling over and over a couple times, with all the gear escaping in good shape, probably because the bag was zipped closed at the time. The M6 hanging on my knee was whacked around and came off the knee as the vehicle rolled over and once we were out I used it to shoot the vehicle lying on it's side in the middle of the road. Rangefinder out of alignment? Nada! What was out of alignment was my ability to breath in a relaxed manner! ;-) I'm always surprised by the number of do not's applied to where one keeps or places their cameras while traveling as I've never given it much thought other than whatever gear is with me..... never ever goes on the seat! Why? Because if you stop suddenly the camera keeps right on going and you'll cause more damage when it stops flying through the air. A loose camera should never be on the seat in a vehicle, back or front! Nor a full equipment bag for the same reason. Lads and lasses this all comes from experience of many thousands of miles traveling about the world and in my home town. FWIW. ted Ted Grant Photography Limited www.islandnet.com/~tedgrant - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html