Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/09/01
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Dear All, I suppose it has to happen some time, but it is painful when it does. I've had my M6 for ten years now, put thousands of films through it, taken it all over the world - up tributaries on the Amazon in dugout canoes, across India, up Kilmanjaro, etc. - but have never dropped it. This summer I was walking around a French chateau when the split ring on the strap worked itself off and the camera dropped off my shoulder onto the stone floor. Of course it had on a heavier lens than my usual 35mm Summicron, the 90mm Elmarit. It was more painful than when I cut off half my big toe with a lawnmover. I staggered to a cafe and ordered a double espresso and a large brandy to calm myself down before checking the camera out. The damage: a dent on the camera body just below the winder and a bent lens hood. It still seemed to be able to focus as before and the shutter fired OK. I put plenty more film through it since the drop and have got used to its war wounds, though they do ache when the weather is damp. I am now steadily developing all the film. The negatives look as good as ever, though I have yet to scan them, but I envisage no problem. The cause of the disaster. I do not like plastic and so I had replaced the strap that came with the camera with a leather (for Leica) one from Luigi ( http://www.leicatime.com/). The split ring had worked off the camera once before, though I noticed it in time. I should have taken that for a warning and gone back to the plastic Leica strap. However, I did try to cannibalise the rings of the genuine Leica strap on to the leather one but without success. Needless to say I now have the genuine plastic strap on my M6. Yours, John -- John Beeching http://johnbeeching.com/