Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/07/31

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Subject: Re: [Leica] 90mm line-frame
From: Rick Dykstra <rdcb37@cyberone.com.au>
Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2003 21:28:51 +1000

Hi Eric, Jerry.

having looked through an M3 for the first time the other day, I was 
amazed at the brightness of the framelines, for what was a 50(?) year 
old camera body.  Wow!

Eric, my M6s have vague and unevenly lit framelines too.  Its normal.  
As for the broken up lines, that doesn't sound right, but the lines are 
not complete anyway.  I can imagine the annoyance, with the expensive 
bit of gear and the troublesome option of sending it in.  If it's not a 
hassle why not see how you go rather than send it to a questionable 
service tech.  And then if its a gripe in the future, once the warranty 
has expired for a year and a day, send it off and get a real pro to fix 
it.  Perhaps its not a good idea to send it to the guy your concerned 
about, for any kind of repair, big or small.

Keep pressing that shutter.  Maybe the lines will come good!

Regards, Rick Dykstra. Australia.

On Thursday, July 31, 2003, at 08:38  AM, Jerry Lehrer wrote:

> Daniel and original requester:
>
> I have never had a frame line anomaly in any of my M series
> Leicas, either before or after any type of servicing. Ever.
>
> I still prefer the un-ambiguous frame lines of the M2 and M3.
>
> Jerry
>
> Daniel Ridings wrote:
>
>>> Also, it seems that this particular line frame is vaguely less bright
>>> than the others, or at least more sensitive to the angle at which I 
>>> hold
>>> the camera in front of my eye. Sometimes it 'disappears' from view.
>>
>> That's normal for an M6 rangefinder/viewfinder ... at least normal 
>> for the
>> one put in my M3. I can never see the vertical frameline on the 
>> righthand
>> side (90mm).
>>
>>> This does not harm my photography too much, but kind of annoys me 
>>> having
>>> spend quite a bit of money on a (presumably) unused camera.
>>
>> Not mine either. I use the 90mm on an M2 or an M4 now-a-days.
>>
>>> I am in a
>>> bit of a dilemma, the camera is under guarantee so I can have it
>>> repaired.
>>
>> I'm sure it is performing up to specifications. That's what I was told
>> when I pointed out the problem with mine. :)
>>
>>> The thing is that I have heard rumours about the repair person
>>> that this particular shop uses, which were not too favourable.
>>
>> I suspect he would really have to try hard to mess up things like 
>> that,
>> ever they ever worked in the first place.
>>
>>> So the
>>> alternative would be to leave it until it is CLA' some time in the
>>> future. (which was to be expected after how many months for an M6ttl?
>>> ;-))
>>
>> If you don't drop it in puddles or concrete you should be able to get 
>> by
>> with 30 years or so (assuming you are using it regularly and keeping 
>> its
>> moving parts lean and mean) :)
>>
>>> For one I would like to know if this type of distortion is familiar 
>>> to
>>> anyone, and what might have caused it and whether repair would 
>>> require
>>> major surgery. Next any advice on how to go about it would be welcome
>>> too...
>>
>> It could very well be that the cause is the change from M4 to M6
>> rangefinder construction caused this. I don't know ... it may very 
>> well be
>> that if you are not lined up right so that you can see all four frame
>> lines, then you are not lined up right for getting an accurate 
>> distance
>> reading by using the focusing patch either. It is something of a 
>> moving
>> target, depending on how well centered, off-centered, your eye is.
>>
>> It can be fixed. You probably don't want to do that if you can get a 
>> feel
>> for how to line your sight up when looking through the viewfinder. 
>> It's a
>> lot cheaper that way and an awful lot of people of managed for many 
>> years.
>> Not all of them happily, but ...
>>
>> All the best,
>> Daniel
>>
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