M7 rangefinder mirror upgrade?

[karl_yik1]

Hi all

Ive heard that the current batch of M7 have been upgraded with this

new type of mirror that helps prevent flair, but how would I know if

the camera had it or not??

[jay_.]

If it doesn't flare.

[patrick_jelliffe]

I think M7's produced after January 1, 2003, have the upgrade. You might want to email Kit McChesney, acmefoto.com. She's a regular LUG contributor and new Leica dealer, and she would probably know the exact date of manufacture/serial numbers of the improved finder M7's. Cheers,

[jay_.]

I think it's like a double-blind trial. Neither the dealers nor the buyers know whether they're getting the real deal or the placebo.

[steve_barnett2]

If people are expecting the MP rangefinder to fully solve the percieved flare problem on the M7, think again. Get the sun at the right angle, and your eye out of position, and the MP finder does exhibit some flare.

[bas1]

I think some flare is inherent to the rangefinder principle so even the MP can be made to flare. I've heard the same comment from people with an M3 and that is supposed to be the best VF until the MP. They said that the MP behaves as good or better as the MP.

 

Anyway I have a .58VF with serial starting 284 and it's fine. No significant problem with flare whatsoever.

[Rob F.]

I just did some research using Leica's serial#/camera type lookup search feature. The highest R7 # I could find, was #2854750. (I did this by trial and error.) Beginning at 2854751, are listed a run of R8's. Beginning around 2,880,000 are C3's. These continue only a short way, up to around 2,880,100. Somewhere just above that, the search displays that the number is not found in the data base, evidently meaning that range of numbers has not been assigned.

 

We have been reading reports here of improved M7 finders above 2855000, or thereabouts; and then again, reports that the improvement happened in the 288xxxx range. But based on my search, I see no M7's in that upper range.

 

It could be that the data base is behind the actual production. Who has actually seen an M7 in the 288 range?

[Rob F.]

OK, Bruce McDonald reported on July 22 that he actually has one:

 

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=005Yi3

 

Come to think of it, I didn't see any MP's belonging to any numbers I tried. And I tried quite a few. Maybe their list is just not updated.

 

All this is by way of trying to pin down the serial# range where the fix was initiated.

 

Any further thoughts, anyone?

[Rob F.]

I just picked up a copy of the LHSA Viewfinder, went back to the Leica number search, and typed in the serial# of an MP shown on the cover, #2889802. The message was returned that this number is not in the date base! I guess this method of researching won't work, since they don't keep up their data base.

[ray_moth]

I think my M7 0.72, which I bought two weeks ago from a supplier in Hong Kong, via a dealer in Jakarta, probably has the new "non-flare" rangefinder a la MP. Its serial no. is 2884***. The reason I think so is because, although I am able to make the RF patch flare quite easily, using the usual trick of aiming the camera at a dimly lit subject indoors, with a bright light source (a window) to the upper left of the camera but not visible in the viewfinder, I can also make the flare disappear, every time, by careful placement of my viewing eye. The eye position is very critical but it actually works.

 

Both my previous M6TTL (0.58 and 0.72) used to flare in these cirumstances and eye placement could not completely overcome the problem. I don't see flare as a problem with the M7.