[Leica] In which the author sheepishly repents...

[John Collier <jbcollier@powersurfr.com>]

Well my new to me early M4-2 did a hick up or two and I decided to send it
in for a check up to a REAL Leica tech. This is the last time I buy a camera
that has been CLAed by someone I do not have full confidence in. So Gerry
Smith phoned me yesterday and gave the good and bad news; all of which will
be interesting to those of us who fight over the worth of the early M4-2
cameras.

Gerry started by saying that the camera was in good condition but needed a
some cleaning and readjusting (sigh). He said it looked like someone who did
not know what they were doing had set it up the last time. One of my
concerns was that a RapidWinder would lock up when mounted on the camera. I
thought it was the RW's coupling tangs catching in the screw holes in the
copper plate under the camera's drive coupling. Gerry informed me the
problem was that one of the drive gears had been put together one tooth out
(!).

I also enquired about putting in the six frame mask set. Gerry said that my
camera was an early one with the finder element (that was later deleted)
right next to the mask assembly. He informed me that to put a six frame mask
set in you have to remove this element and that owners sometimes complained
afterwards the superimposed image would move (indicated focus point would
change) as the eye moved. So he recommended that I let him try it out and
only leave the six frame mask set in if it would work properly.

One interesting point is that my M4-2 finder flares just like my M6TTL
finder does and this is with the extra element in. I had an newer M4-2
(second to last batch) and it did not flare at all. I think we can safely
say that the flare is not caused by the presence or absence of the
viewfinder element.

One other interesting point was Gerry's concern over my second shutter
curtain which was starting to curl. Apparently this can cause a light leak
that leaves a streak in the area of the film's perforations. Some thing to
keep in mind if that ever happens to you.

Finally I must admit that all the complaints about SOME early M4-2s are
accurate. Gerry said that the early cameras were subject to a very large
sample variation; or, as he put it, some cameras were assembled on Mondays
and Fridays. While my camera was a good one, except for previous bodging, he
had recently spent THREE WHOLE DAYS adjusting one M4-2 to get it into spec.

So I guess the old advice to avoid early M4-2s is not poppycock after all. I
am presently having Ralph Lauren tailor me a sack cloth suit. Ashes will
follow shortly there after.

John Collier

PS: The really bad news for us Canadians is that the camera had been CLAed
by Lisle-Kelco, our new distributor. Wait, it gets worse. Gerry is sixty
years old and will be retiring soon....oh poop!

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