henry_ting2

Don't we all love to live in the 40s.

Quite different cases between Rolex and Leica. Rolex is a status symbol for those that want the old-world miniature mechanical timepiece and the reqonition of owning it as someone who both appreciate style and status. The owner of one is likely to join the ranks in telling those "I've arrived". Indeed perhaps also a lot of wannabe fake Rolex owners are both fooling themselves as well as others. For someone who wants to outdo in the area of status and pride of ownership, there is always the class of Patek Philipe. There are a lot of "Rich and Famous" in our world branded with such a watch on their wrist. Imagine carrying a Leica around their neck while attending an Oscar or having dinner with the "Dutchess of OZ", except for those Leica nuts of course.

Rene, that's normal for a M3. In practice, the lens does focus down to .7m, however, the M3 RF will not.

I got into Leica 20 years ago, not because of its M heritage, but because of its lens. The M body is nice and time-tested, which I also like, but its the lens that lured me into Leica. That classic Leica glow regardless of whether in color or B&W is uniquely Leica. As someone else noted, a body is just a body, but if one is to use Leica and stay away from the hype and the special editions, a classic M6 is the most camera for the money.

If that white-out streak extend all the way from the film's sprocket holes beyond your 35mm size, then its a light leak. If it only extends within the frame, then its a shutter problem.

The 90mm is not your "point & shoot" lens. Not like the 35 or 50, where you can set the hyper-distance and just concentrate on capturing the essence of the moment, the 90mm requires quite a bit of manipulation in framing, focussing and setting the aperture to throw the background out of focus in order to make the subject stand out. Having said all that, if and when you are able to capture a picture, the tighter framing and the perspective of drawing the subject into view, it has a "pop" factor that no 50 or 35mm lens have. It is not a lens for using it casually. I like it more for candid photography and the effect that it can produce. While the 50 and the 35mm is my stable lens, the 90mm also have a character all its own.

Apple is in the high-end computer arena where they have a very well managed R&D and keep coming out with new products to stay current. Admittedly, against the grain of mass Window PCs.

 

Not so with Leica. There hasn't been any changes to its product line that will, 1st, attract new owners, and secondly, once owning a Leica there just isn't any demand to replace it with a newer model because there isn't any. In our 21st century consumer driven market, either you stay current, or create a demand that the market wants. If you cannot achieve any of the 2, the result is inevitable.

Gil, we are not talking crab....there no more confusion :)

Gil, it is not nonsense, it is a design flaw, period.

Look at the picture with the top removed. Tell me if Epson couldn't have put a wider VF into the space. I see plenty of room there. A quality issue is using the wrong material that couldn't stand up to the durability of usage in time, or a non-compliant part went into the camera and the QA guys missed it. In this case, it's a design flaw especially in rangefinders cameras. This is clearly the case, or am I still talking nonsense.

I don't normally manipulate others' creations, but since the thread ask for comment, I just want to show a different perspective, not necessarily better or worse than the original.<div></div>

Thanks Ed for the illustrations. The very narrow RF baseline seems to be a design flaw. From the pictures there seems to be a lot of room on top and yet the RF width impose a serious limitation on focussing accuracy. At times I wonder why when starting from scratch, the miss such an important function.

Isn't Leica now owned by Hermes ?

By the way, this L-handle bracket will work.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=15240&item=3874902808&rd=1

Get an L-handle bracket with a shoe on top of the handle. Then you can mount the external VF on the shoe of the handle, leaving your M hotshoe for the the TTL flash. It works for me. The external VF might not be a 100% aligned, but neither is the Leica hotshoe so it really doesn't matter.

Hi Jim. That is a great schmetric. Any chance of posting more of these exploded illustration with legends ? Thanks

All great pictures. Love it.

I would have thought showing one's good picture is a sign of a good photographer. Showing the camera's brassing shows nothing other than the camera has aged. I'm not too sure how the brassing of the camera tells about the person owing it.

Colin. I agree that definitely its not a loading problem, but rather your MP's sprocket wheel is misaligned with the film rail. Its an easy adjustment with the set screw on the sprocket wheel. However, if its under warranty, just have Leica fix it. There might be a combination of more than one problems that is causing the film to shift out of the film rail.

Francisco, Leica ownership has nothing to do with economics. The desire to try and own the next lens on the list incrementally grows until that desire is fulfilled. The good thing about Leica is that once you tried it and doesn't quite make it to the list of your permanent lens you want to keep, then turning it around selling it, leaves you the money to purchase the next lens on the list. Why do you think Leica flood its market with such a broad range of lens, overlapping all the redundancy in such a niche market.

Yes the framelines are different between the later M4s and the M6s, but not really significant in the real world usage.

I know this is kind of illogical, but I always seem to shot a larger percentage of keepers with just one camera and lens.

Based on your input :

"...issue is that in SLR i normally use the extremes ie either 20 mm or 200"........I would suggest forfeiting the M and go for the Leica R.

At this rate of progression, it wouldn't take Leica long to revert back to a pin-hole camera.

Its the shutter escapement mechanism. For shutter speeds 1/15 and 1/30, there is a distinct sound after the shutter trips. It sounds like a dropping ball-bearing. Its perfectly normal.

I'm considering buying Chinese from now on to stay away from problems :).