[Leica] Intro

[deveney.marty at saugov.sa.gov.au (Deveney, Marty (PIRSA))]

This thread is a few days old but I feel I need to say something here,
having had recent experience:

>I thought that the Leica range finders where a very hardy breed. 

Leica rangefinders are almost stupidly overengineered.  The shutter is large
and understressed.  The body is very, very solid (this is where most of the
excess strength lies).  All RF systems rely on complex mechanical linkages
that move - these can and often are disrupted by heavy falls or impacts.  A
fall that may put the RF slightly out of alignment may well totally wreck
many other cameras.

Having said that, many 35mm SLRs are also amazingly strong, including
various Nikons, Canon MF (the EOS 1 series are alone among the EOS cameras
in being sturdy, the others, well, in my experience they just aren't)
Minoltas etc etc.

>How then is their weather seals?

This is where Leica fails in my opinion.  My M7 which I love, is like a
seive.  Over Christmas, in very humid weather (35C and 90%+ rh) the
rangefinder fogged when returned inside to a cool air-conditioned climate.
In the desert it let sand in almost without resistance (and needed a serious
CLA to get it out).  Leicas are tanks, but they seem to me to be like tanks
with windows.

My M7 may be an outlier in this regard - I have had almost as much trouble
from it as I love using it.

Marty