Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/01/12
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]The last test that PopPhoto did on a M camera all the shutter speeds were within 10%. That is very good for a mechanical shutter. The M shutter, while very simple, balances different adjustments to get the desired effect. It is all too easy for a repair person to just tweak one adjustment to effect a repair. You can increase the curtain spring tension to make a shutter work that actually needs cleaning and lubricating and this will effect other things down the speed range. Or you could just play with slit widths as well, same problems. The correct thing to do is to start from the basics and work up. So clean shutter mechanism first, curtain tension to spec, adjust curtain brakes, and so on. Having said all that, it is common for the 1/1000 setting to drift slower over time. Some repair persons set the shutter curtain tension slightly lower and the speed to 1/800 which seems to help. As you can see, M cameras benefit from being serviced by technicians with a great deal of experience on them. I am not a camera repair person as my speciality is British cars and SU carburettors. The SU carburettor is the simplest mechanism in the world but it only takes an inexperienced person 30 seconds with a screw driver to make the engine very poorly indeed. John Collier > From: Rick Dahms <shout@nwlink.com> > > I was told by my camera repair shop owner that all the M shutters are > inaccurate at one end of the spectrum or the other. He said that you need to > select the "speed area" that you're going to usually shoot around and > calibrate the speeds for that "zone." And that the shutter speeds will be > less accurate as you move away from that zone. > > It came up when he was checking my R8s. He said that he wished Leica would > put the R shutters in the Ms. This guy runs the best shop in Seattle. Is > this a well known problem? Is it an accurate depiction of the M shutter? He > says it's the same with the M6. Comments? > - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html