Leica M7 troubles

[kivis]

A we all know, when you turn on the M7 the first thing you see is the ISO of you film setting. I always set my ISO manually so I can push or pull according to light conditions. Then when I turned on the meter I would see 200 or 800 ISO. Now it only shows the ISO of the film canister (400) no matter where I place the wheel on the back of the body. How did that happen? How do I "turn off" the DX reader? It is not set to DX.

[Robert_Lai]

There are a set of gold plated contacts that transfer the ISO dial settings to the camera. It is possible that a speck of dust or debris is preventing good contact. Once the film roll is done, it may be worthwhile to use a Q-tip with some rubbing alcohol (91%), and just give them a good cleaning. Then try again with your previous roll of film (wound into the cassette). See if the ISO dial works again.

 

At least it is reading the film can correctly. When my M7 went crazy (after upgrading to the optical ISO reader), it kept saying ISO 5000 regardless of whatever the setting was. A repeat trip to Leica USA was needed (they had just made the change to the optical reader), and they said that the circuit board was faulty. They replaced that circuit board, and it's been fine since.

 

If your camera still behaves badly after cleaning the contacts, then it may require a visit to Leica USA in New Jersey.

Don Goldberg says that he can't handle the film speed reader issues as he doesn't have the circuit boards. Only Leica has them.

[Sanford]

"Leica" and "Circuit Board" just don't belong in the same sentence.

[rossb]

"Leica" and "Circuit Board" just don't belong in the same sentence.

 

 

At one time that was true enough but now Leica is competing in the "less is more" computer camera business. Still they have some film models bless their hearts.

[Uhooru]

On the back ISO dial, you can also push or pull the EV in 1/3 steps, which gives you somewhat the same effect. 1 full stop of EV + equals a full stop of ISO, i.e. 200-400, or 400-800, etc.