Rangefinder separation

[tony_salce]

Can anyone tell me what the symptoms of separation in the rangefinder

typically look like.

 

I was examinig an M5 the other day and I noticed like a semi circular

line in the viewfinder when looking at it from the front. Is this

typical of separation?

 

Regards,

 

Tony

[kristian dowling]

Sounds like it could be. Separation in a lens looks like a whitish fog, quite defined from fungus, usually circular. I guess it wouldn't be too much more different from a lens in a rangefinder. But of course, without seeing, I can't be sure, but you know where to find me mate :-)

[jay_.]

I've never heard of separation in an M5, and until recently never heard of it in an M4 either, but evidently the early ones were cemented with the same junk they used in the M3 and M2 which are now mostly threatening to separate. In those models you see little golden droplets appear along a diagonal line seemingly receeding away from the front window (it's actually where the 2 prisms are cemented, an optical illusion). It stays that way until or if it ever separates, in which case all you see through the eyepiece is the rangefinder patch with a single image, surrounded by blackness. I don't know what you saw in that M5, whether it's separation or not, but I'd certainly pass on that model unless you can negotiate about a $600 price reduction to cover the cost of replacing the rangefinder and doing a CLA...or just use the camera knowing you paid little enough that you could do it if you had to. BTW, did you try looking into the viewfinder the right way, through the eyepiece, and was there anything there of suspicious nature?

[tito sobrinho]

Tony: My M5 a gift from my wife in the late '70s shows the same semi circular line in the viewfinder. When new, and comparing with my M4 (1972) I noticed the line. The Leica dealer told me that it was normal. The viewfinder is still bright after all these years. My M2 and M4 do not show any "golden droplets"!!! My previous M2R either. Do not worry it is fine. BTW, did you receive the M5 Pop. Photography report that I sent you? Regards, Tito.