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feli

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Posts posted by feli

    Is This the Face of the M9?

    in Leica and Rangefinders

    Posted

    <p>

     

    <p>No, it's a fake. I made that sketch almost a year ago, when a lot of people were tossing ideas around for what the M9 should be.<br>

    I came up with two designs. That was the more modern one. The more traditional sketch was very much based on the current M8 with the addition of an AE-lock button and +/- lever for adjusting exposure compensation or asa.<br>

    Personally I like the more traditional version.</p>

    <p>PS: The shutter speed is displayed by the OLED on the top of the camera like the S2 does. </p>

     

    </p>

    Is This the Face of the M9?

    in Leica and Rangefinders

    Posted

    <p>No, it's a fake. I made that sketch almost a year ago, when a lot of people were tossing ideas around for what the M9 should be.<br>

    I came up with two designs. That was the more modern one. The more traditional sketch was very much based on the current M8 with the addition of an AE-lock button and +/- lever for adjusting exposure compensation or asa.<br>

    Personally I like the more traditional version.</p>

    <p>PS: The shutter speed is displayed by the OLED on the top of the camera like the S2 does. </p>

    Is This the Face of the M9?

    in Leica and Rangefinders

    Posted

    <p>No, it's a fake. I made that sketch almost a year ago, when a lot of people were tossing ideas around for what the M9 should be.<br>

    I came up with two designs. That was the more modern one. The more traditional sketch was very much based on the current M8 with the addition of an AE-lock button and +/- lever for adjusting exposure compensation or asa.<br>

    Personally I like the more traditional version.</p>

    <p>PS: The shutter speed is displayed by the OLED on the top of the camera like the S2 does. </p>

    Nikon Service Center in London, UK?

    in Nikon

    Posted

    <p>I've had very mixed experiences with Fixation and will not use them again after the last two encounters. I will not do business with a company that varies their level of service depending on how 'professional', they perceive the gear in question to be. I demand an equal level of service for all my gear, be it a pro digital or something more dated like an F3.</p>

    <p><br /></p>

    <p><br /></p>

    Nikon Service Center in London, UK?

    in Nikon

    Posted

    <p>Does anyone know of a Nikon Service Center in the UK aside from www.fixationuk.com?<br>

    I don't want to get in to details, but need to find an alternate shop that can properly<br>

    service analog bodies, like a Nikon F3 etc on a professional level.</p>

    <p>Thanks</p>

    <p> </p>

    Leica M6 framelines for 50mm lens ?

    in Leica and Rangefinders

    Posted

    Starting with the M6 (and some very late M4-P) Leica shrank the area of coverage

    that the frame lines show.

     

    This is a little complicated, so let me step through this.

     

    - The M rangefinder only compensates for parallax in X and Y (shifts frame lines to

    the left right / up and down). It does not compensate for the change in magnification

    that occurs when you shift focus from close up to infinity (i.e. increase/ decrease

    area of coverage). In simple terms what happens is that the field of view shrinks and

    expands a little (wider at infinity) due to a change in magnification. You can observe

    this with an SLR. Rack a 50 from close up to infinity and you'll see what I mean.

     

    The M frame lines remain the same size, regardless of how close or far you are

    focused, and indicate a fixed area of coverage.

     

    In pre-M6 bodies the frame lines indicate what will end up on your negative at 1

    meter (100 cm). So, at infinity you get maybe 10% more on your negative, due to

    the change in magnification that occurs.

     

    In M6 or never bodies the frame lines indicate the minimum area of coverage at .7

    meters (70cm). Now the error in the jump from close up to infinity is much bigger.

    You may see as much as 15%-20% more on your negative at infinity, than you

    expected. On another forum someone figured out that the 50mm frame lines in the

    newer bodies are close to indicating the coverage of a 60mm lens.

     

    What Leica is doing makes perfect sense from an engineering standpoint. They are

    showing you the minimum area of coverage, that you are guaranteed to get on your

    negative.

     

    The only problem is that with the newer cameras the margin of error is quite big at

    working distances (5m to infinity).

     

    Therefore I only shoot anything longer than a 35 on the older bodies, which frame a

    lot more accurate.

    M4 rangefinder cement -Balsam or something else?

    in Leica and Rangefinders

    Posted

    >What's wrong with Canadian balsam?

     

    Canadian balsam becomes brittle and discolors a shade of golden brown as it ages. It is

    also susceptible to attack by moisture, mold etc. As a result the bond weakens and a

    strong enough bump to the camera may cause the prism blocks in the RF unit to separate,

    resulting in a blanked out RF patch. You see this occasionally in M2/ M3 bodies and it is

    very common in VIOOH finders.

     

    The repair of a RF unit with this type of damage is expensive and difficult to repair. Last

    time I checked DAG and CCR (UK) were among the few service centers that will do this type

    of work.

     

    So, yes. There were some very good reason why starting with the M4 Leica switched to

    synthetic UV cured glues for their optical elements. After WWII this became standard

    practice across the optical industry.

    Leica R6.2 vs. R6

    in Leica and Rangefinders

    Posted

    I think Rob Appleby shot an R6 and he was standing on top of an active kiln in India, when his R6 died on him. I'm still trying to figure out how HE didn't catch fire. ;-)

     

    If I remember correctly the only Minolta part in the R6.2 is the body shell, which they cast for Leica. At some point Minolta was no longer able to supply these and that was the end of the R6.2

     

    What people should keep in mind is that at one point Minolta actually made pro level cameras and was in direct competition with Canon, Nikon and Olympus. Like everyone else Minolta produced consumer level gear, but were quite capable of turning out some high quality bodies.

    Leitz Elmar 50mm 3.5

    in Leica and Rangefinders

    Posted

    It could have originally shipped in M mount. Many of the original M-mount lenses actually

    were for screwmount, with an LTM->M adapter that was fixed with a screw. That could

    explain the high serial number.

     

    The 3.5/50 Elmar is a bit of a nightmare and delight for collectors. It was made for

    decades and there are a huge amount of variations and factory modifications/upgrades.

    Toss in the chaos of WWII, where material shortages led to all sorts of strange

    combinations of new and old parts and you have a recipe for chaos.

     

    Personally I don't think that is a fake. The build quality looks far to high for a Russian

    knock off and the front of a Jupiter also looks different.

    Zeiss ZF 100mm makro planar

    in Nikon

    Posted

    The ZF 100mm is apparently based on a prime lens that Zeiss makes for the movie business.

     

    It is an astonishingly sharp and good piece of glass. You really don't want to know how much the movie version of this lens costs.

     

    Feli

    How to disassemble a R8?

    in Leica and Rangefinders

    Posted

    I thought the same thing when I was about to remove the top plate on my M4 (going for a repaint). I got my hands on a repair manual and it's trickier than I suspected. Again as an example, I had no idea that some of the screws had to be removed by turning them in the opposite direction than you expect. One of these is around the advance lever. If you try to unscrew it by turning it like a regular screw, you will damage the gear train.

     

    If Leica, Japan is too expensive, have you considered sending it to a shop in the USA or Canada? Sherry, DAG and Kinderman have all worked on my gear and they are a lot chea per than the Leica service department. Besides, the dollar is in the dumps, so your currency should work in your favor (unless the yen is even lower)

     

    http://www.lhsa.org/repair.html

     

    Even with shipping it should be a lot cheaper. Just tell the shop to lower the value of the gear/repair, when they mark it on the customs form.

     

    Feli

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