Leica Abuse

I wanna hear from all people who have had 'terrible things' happen to their Leica - and

whether the camer a survived.

 

How robust are they, really? Looking forward to hearing your stories... Stuart

Stuart. 28 years ago while in Hawaii, I was hiking and opted to go down to a river and shoot some waterfall pictures. Once down there, I slipped on a rock, sandwiching an M3 between the rock and myself. No broken bones. It took a pair of pliers to straighten out the film compartment to remove the film. The shots before the incident turned out, and the camera needed some work on the rangefinder. The viewfinder window was black when viewing and had to be repaired before it was useable again. I am still using the camera.

 

Cheers.

mine got run over by a dump truck, its flat, but it still works

Stuart,

 

The curtain of my IIIf got torn out of its frame while advancing the film. Most of the film survived. The repair was a $100 one in Guadalajara, Mexico. I guess 50-plus years was too much for the threads holding the curtains. That's my only horror story.

I threw my m2 across the room once. Fortunately, I aimed it

toward the futon and it bouced once and hit the rug though the

rug was only about a feet lower than my futon.

I was hiking with my M2 in an (open) bag and stumbled on the gravel; my Leica and me we sled face down on the gravel about five meters downwards. I got some scars on my knees and the right hand, but the Leica surprisingly survived; the filter on the 40/2 Rokkor showed minor marks on the thread and there is a tiny amount of aluminium now shown on the aperture ring, but otherwise no marks at all in contrast to me.

If you take an M7 out into the cold, it might get pneumonia.

M4-p's can get slammed into cobblestone and keep ticking if you hit them in the right place.

There is only one form of Leica abuse - leaving it in the cupboard.

I cleaned my M6 a couple of times with a wet cloth. It still works fine. Thank god.

Don McCullin is alive today because his Nikon F ( he still owns it but it don't work to good!) that was hanging around his neck stopped a Kalshnikov round from entering his chest while he was working as a PJ in NAM. Eat your heart out you wimpy Leica tossers

I spilt champagne on mine when my chauffeur accelerated too hard in the Bentley.

I also note that Leslie Cheung is the only Leica forum member to be brave enough to admit being a Leica tosser in the above post.

My dog was smiling, so without thinking, I grabbed my MP and snapped three quick shots, (I felt like a pro) before realizing I didn't have my padded Luigi Ostritch half case on for protection.

Hanik,

<p>

you did even dare to take a picture with your MP?

<p>

Wow ...

One of my M3s has made two trips to the concrete from about two feet up (and one such trip onto a carpeted floor from waist height). Both have bumped into doors, bars, chairs, and people many times. They still work fine. I actually do try to protect them from the worst of the hits (you should see how battered my incident meter is [it doesn't get sheltered since I use that hand to hold on to the camera]).

"Leica abuse" is what Al Kaplan does to his cameras while

shooting film, and what J*y did to film while shooting with his

Leicas. ;-)

let's see now...I tripped over some boulders (dont ask) hiking in the Adirondak High Peaks region and me and the cam hit the ground face first, I bled like a stuck pig, cam kept on ticking.....was street shooting in New Hope Pa., stepped off a step I didnt know was their, wrist (me) and cam (lens)hit the pavement at the same time.....I wore a wrist ace bandage for a month, the cam kept on ticking.......dropped the cam while rock climbing, about 12 feet up, kept on working...........

 

........whoops, wait a minute, that was my Minolta SRT-101 all those times.....

 

;o)......sorry, I couldn't resist......but it is true....

I was leaving a building via a staircase that went straight from the third floor to the first, and was wearing a slippery nylon jacket I didn't normally wear. When I reached out for the rail at the top of the stairs, my camera slid down my arm and off the end, and managed to make its way all the way to the bottom, pretty much one step at a time. The entire external camera was fine (not a dent, which really did surprise me) and the only functional problem was the finder was blacked out--separated prism. I think I was extremely lucky, though.

..well, what shall I say. I hate to admit, but everytime the M6 of

mine hits anything, the rangefinder is out of whack. Sometimes after

the next bump it is OK again, but I don't bother anymore to send it

in to repair. I talk about a moderately bumping a table, or door, or

stuff that sometimes get in the way when you move. It even got out

of alignment after putting it on a table, go figure.

<br><br>

Once it fell about 30cm from a couch on a wood floor. The wood was

fine, there hardly was any noise when it hit the floor, but the M6

was in for a repair, the rewind knob was bent and blocked, the rf

totally useless. So count me out when the usual "rugged" talk comes

up, this thing is a super delicate primadonna, as far as I am

concerned. When I don't treat it like a raw egg, leica will live

forever on my repair bills.

 

My zorki once fell from a table on wood floor, besides a slight

vertical rf misalignment everything was still fine.

I have no horrors to match above. (Anthony's "keeping it in the cupboard" IS

the worst horror for a Leica.) I dropped my 28mm Elmarit at a rugby match.

The rear bayonet mount was bent to the point where the lens would not

mount to the camera. "Heck I can fix that" I thought. I went to the car and got a

pair of Vice-Grip (brand) pliers out. I used the Vice-Grips to bend the flange

back. It left nifty teeth marks in the flange. Worked fine.

Couple of weeks ago an idiot / karate hero smashed my m2 on the pavement. Viewfinder

is now dark, except for the rangefinder patch. Film advance very stiff (something inside

bent or got stuck). It's a pity because it was one of the prettiest and smoothest M's

around, and the viewfinder was beautiful. Looking for someone who's interested in

cannibalizing it. The good parts - shutter, framelines, rangefinder - are still perfect.

Back in 1963 or '64 I burned a hole in the shutter curtain of my III-f black dial, and about 1971 I dropped my D.S. M3 and delaminated the prism. I've dented a fair number of lens hoods and dropped my Weston Master V meter a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday Quality Light-Metric called to tell me it was being shipped out "like new".

 

Fpr all the dings, dents, and brassing, Leicas are pretty sturdy creatures.

The worst abuse I've ever subjected my Leicas to was simply using them... granted, in some bad situations such as protests and downpours. They didn't do too well. Shutter jams and rangefinder misalignment were all too common problems for me.

i dropped my m6 onto a tile floor from about 3-4 feet, denting in the bottom plate to the point where i had to use the plier trick on the body to remove the film. of course, since i had done such a good job of fixing it i decided to make it *perfect*. i wound up snapping a piece of the body shell off (fogot that the zinc alloy was brittle). the camera, however, functions perfectly and not enough shell was chipped to cause a light leak. as a good friend of mine said about the incident...."well, you've made it yours".

on the other hand, i merely bumped my m7 against another camera (al kaplan style) and the rangefinder developed a vertical misalignment.

 

if i felt i needed a rugged camera, i would take my nikon f100. the magnesium body really is tough.