Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/01/10

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Subject: [Leica] Thanks... /Checking Camera
From: grdalton at hotmail.com (Gary Dalton)
Date: Sat Jan 10 09:30:19 2009
References: <1506981438.14710321231561065436.JavaMail.root@mail02.pantherlink.uwm.edu> <1346919157.14710791231561463059.JavaMail.root@mail02.pantherlink.uwm.edu>

Thanks for the diagnostics... I'll give them a try...


> Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2009 22:24:23 -0600
> From: amr3@uwm.edu
> To: lug@leica-users.org
> Subject: RE: [Leica] Thanks... /Checking Camera
> 
> On Fri, 9 Jan 2009 Gary Dalton <grdalton@hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
> >Before all of that. I need to know if the M2 still works. This particular 
> >"hammer" hasn't been used in 20 years, and the "hammerer" (me) >has never 
> >used this particular hammer before... (or shall we call it a "hammera" at 
> >this point?) 
> 
> >So, to start with, I'm going to shoot with each of my five lenses at 
> >different f-stops and speeds. I'll record that data and compare it with 
> >>the prints to see what I've got... 
> 
> >How's that sound for a starting point?
> =================================================================================================
> I think you might worry about the camera speeds more than the lenses not 
> working.  I would say, use one lens to conduct a shutter
> test.  Find a non-varying subject and lighting level that allows you to 
> use speeds from, say, 1/1000 at f/2 to 1/15 at f/16.  Use each combination 
> and see if the resulting densities appear pretty much the same.  (At f/2 
> there might be some vignetting, but the center
> should be close to the other pairings if all speeds are good). If you have 
> a CRT monitor,put on a blank screen, take off the back door and lens, hold 
> the camera vertically close in front of the TV, and, starting at 1/60, 
> fire the shutter.  At 1/60, you should see almost a full frame image of 
> the screen.  As you change to each faster speed, the slit should halve the 
> image, so at 1/125 there should be only a half frame, etc.  Do this 
> multiple times for each speed, to catch the bright patch in the center and 
> average the results.  The 1/1000
> speed frequently goes off spec when the first curtain slows up, so you 
> might not see much, or anything, which means it is getting 
> sticky.  For slower settings, (no TV for this) under room lighting, look 
> at the camera from the front as you fire the shutter.  If the first 
> curtain is getting lethargic, you can actually see it failing to clear the 
> film aperture before the second curtain comes across.  If the gear train 
> hesitates, or doesn't reset until you start to wind the lever, you've got 
> trouble. 
> You should check for pinholes in the shutter curtains too, just in case.
> 
>  
> Alan
> 
> Alan Magayne-Roshak, Senior Photographer
> UPAA POY 1978
> University Information Technology Services
> University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Alan+Magayne-Roshak/
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information

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In reply to: Message from amr3 at uwm.edu (Alan Magayne-Roshak) ([Leica] Thanks... /Checking Camera)