CL help

[rolly]

A friend has had a nice windfall-- his father left him a pristine CL, hardly

used in thirty years. I'm an MP user and I have scant knowledge of the CL, so am

hoping some CL buffs can help with a few questions:

 

1. The battery-- this battery is shot, so what's the protocol on finding

replacements? The thread I looked at from '05 suggests a few work-arounds...are

there any more recent suggestions?

 

2. Should this be CLA'd after that many years unused?

 

3. Can the CL take the 35mm cron? I tried my 4th gen. cron but it would not go

into the mount all the way.

 

4. The strap-- what do any of you sugest for a replacement there?

 

 

Many thanks!

 

Rolly

[ronald_moravec1]

Sherry Krauter at Golden Touch Camera Repair has all the real Leica spare parts.

 

It probsably needs a cleaning and the meter cell probably needs replacing. Do not be suprised at $250/350 depending.

 

It is a nice little camera.

 

I do not know why the 35 will not mount except I can guess there are no frame lines so it is restricted. Ask her when you call.

 

Her name will come up on Google. She and Don Goldberg are the two best Leica reaipr persons in the US.

[john_gleason1]

4. You may be able to find an original strap. I just bought one (nearly new) only a couple of months ago.

 

2. Yes.

 

1. I prefer the BAT-83 battery adapter (email to: battery.adapter@orange.nl), but others will argue for a different approach. Then again, my CL doesn't need a battery because it is meterless, which is fine with me.

 

In case you're unaware, here's S. Gandy's ode to the Leica CL:

 

http://www.cameraquest.com/leicacl.htm

 

It suggests that a 35 'Cron should not be a problem --- unless it has goggles.

[len_smith]

The 4th version 35mm Summicron has a shield around the rear element that clashes with a component just inside the lens mount throat of the CLE. The lens cannot therefore be used on a CLE.

 

Perhaps the same is true of the CL?

 

The best standard lens for the CL is the 40mm Summicron-C. The results are almost indistinguishable from those of the 35mm Summicron in terms of its excellent sharpness and smooth bokeh.

 

I sold my 4th version 35mm Summicron to help finance the purchase of a 35mm Summilux ASPH. The 'Lux ASPH has harsh background bokeh, so thank goodness I still have my 40mm 'Cron for the creamy variety!

[rolly]

Thanks to all so far who replied-- very helpful. Meanwhile for those with the battery issue I reported above, I found a newer solution at www.paulbg.com, a press-on brass ring and mercury px625 battery set up that looks like it should work for CL battery replacement. Anyone use this yet?

[mpo]

You mean (brass ring + AZ675)= PX625.

 

That's exactly the approach of Wein Cells, you can buy one of those (~US$12) and when it runs out, just remove the ring and replace the battery with a Zinc_Air 675 cell (RadioShack sells them very cheap). The problem is that these batteries live only 3-6 months, even if you don't use them.

 

Another very elegant solution is the C.R.I.S. adapter that uses a silver 386 battery. Silver batteries have a very long life, the problem here is the cost of the adapter, ~US$40, but you need to buy it just once (per camera).

 

The third solution is to have your camera modified with a Shottky diode to allow it to use the alkaline 625 battery. This is a very simple modification that doesn't mess with the camera calibration, but it must be opened to do it.

[jimsimmons]

Contact Sherry Krauter about the CLA and also discuss the battery with her. When she's doing the CLA, she can do the Shottky diode work and have you set up nicely. Sherry did my CLA on both CL and 40mm Summi, and the results were excellent. But I've still got a stock of the old mercury batteries, so I've not done a battery conversion yet.