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Does your MP's advance lever hit the edge of the accessory shoe ?


ka_ho_wong

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I don't understand why Leica engineered it this way. Whenever I let go the advance lever

after winding. The lever bangs right into the corner of the accessory shoe. It feels like I am

going to break something in the future. Do your MP or any M with the old level does the

same thing? Am I going to break something if I keep forgetting to take it easy after

winding?

 

Thanks

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Ka-ho

 

Yes they do! Just don't let the lever spring back by pulling your thumb away from it, but move your thumb leftwards back towards the hotshoe, which anyway, is were it needs to be if another frame is to be advanced.

Good luck

 

Regards

 

Bruno

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Don't let the lever snap back by itself. I think this might be a major reason why the first M bodies were double stroke ~ your thumb HAD to follow the lever back and forth to finish winding on to the next frame. If anybody wants to get their new black paint MP dinged up and the brassing started on the way then send it to me along with $500 plus return shipping and I'll beat the hell out it for 30 days;-)
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My MP advance lever hits the hot shoe whevenever my thumb slips off the tip at the end of the advance stroke. There is now a little shiny silver (yes, not brass yellow)spot on the face of the lever. It doesn't show up in any of my pictures so I don't care about it. Of more concern is losing the next shot when my thumb slips off before the camera is fully wound to the next frame and I have to give it a second flip. Perhaps that's why Leica reintroduced the Leicavit at the same time they returned to the M2-type advance lever. Slipping off the advance lever never happened to me with my previous M bodies that had the nice pivoting plastic tip. One of these days if it bothers me enough I'll order an M7 lever and switch over. Wish I could buy the parts for the rewind too, but the top plate is different.
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On an M2 or M3, the "final resting place" for the advance lever is against the shutter speed dial. When the lever is allowed to snap home, in time the edge of the dial got dinged up with lttle dimple spots. On the MP, the final resting place was changed to the shoe, thus sparing the shutter speed dial, and giving MP owners something new to gripe about.

 

Check your MP, and you will see clearaqnce between the lever and the dial. Check your M2 or M3, and you will see clearance between the lever and the shoe.

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On the M3 (on mine anyway) the lever hits both the shutterspeed dial as well as the corner of the acc.shoe. I discussed this with Gerry Smith and he adjusted a retarding mechanism and this made quite a difference. Now, if I follow the lever only a little on it's return and then let go, it will stop short of hitting anything, in stops in free air. Try it.
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On the double stroke M3, I seem to remember Leica being worried about static build up

from the film traveling too fast over the pressure plate, which in the early M3 was glass.

Don't laugh, this used to be a problem before antistatic backings became the norm and

just goes to show you how anal German engineers can be...

 

The lever on my M2 has been banging into it's hot shoe for decades, with no problems. I

wouldn't pamper it, or go out of my way to abuse it. Just use it and don't worry about it.

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The lever on my chrome MP strikes the corner of the flash shoe, like all others. So far there is no visible marking, but I'm careful to release the lever gently. Now, for those who are adventurous, it would appear that grinding approximately 1 mm off the corner of the shoe or the advance lever would eliminate the interference. :^)

Best regards, Bill

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