Jump to content

Remote cable release for M240 - has Leica modified their standard one?


wlaidlaw

Recommended Posts

Yes this is a matter of serious concern. Leica have now removed the possibility of an electronic shutter release which seems to be prevalent among all other digital cameras so it seems ill advised to change a standard screw in shutter release which has been a standard for the last 60+ years. If it was not a deliberate decision it is an alarming deterioration of engineering standards.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

As well as not fitting properly ... my cable release connection doesn't work at all. No matter what cable release I use, I can't trigger the shutter. Its just jammed as far as I can see.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Going slightly off-topic, I've had similar problems with my R8/9 shutter buttons. I bought a cable release (usual thing with the conical thread, just a bog standard Hama I think) and it really didn't screw in very far at all, only just sufficient to hold itself in, and with a tendency to fall out if it got inadvertantly slightly rotated. I once saw a cable release offered by a dealer for "Leica R except R8/R9" and wondered then what he knew that I didn't. Surely the international or US standard should apply here?

Link to post
Share on other sites

Algrove,

 

May I ask you to post the results of your discussions with Leica? I suspect the usual bland assurances and platitudes, when you ask them about something that they have got wrong.

 

When I went there in 2007, when their service department was at its worst. Their reaction was "what us make mistakes, send things back totally unrepaired or made worse? You must have the wrong people." It was like talking to a wall made out of marshmallow. You wanted to scream at them "for god's sake wake up and smell the coffee - you will go out of business if you keep this up."

 

Wilson

 

Will do. Confirmed my Monday appointment today and will also visit Customer Service down the road that day.

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

So no Cable Release in stock at Leica Store to try on my M.

 

Customer Service (CS) confirmed Hama makes the cable release. I mentioned on a recent 3 week trip I broke 3 cable releases and had to use a Leatherman tool to remove the tiny broken tips. Told CS the very last thread is were they all broke.

 

They said they were not aware of the problem and that for sure (I asked 3 times) that the release hole has NOT been changed on the M. I even told them that the Leica Store Wash, DC acknowledged that cable releases laid at a list when screwed into new M's.

 

So CS gets the cable release they use. You will not believe this (!) it was a 30cm all black cable release from Focomat IIC. So I said how could they ever replicate a problem using a cable release most of us could never get our hands on. They finally found a #14076. It fit it perfectly alibi perhaps going in a half turn less than the Focomat one. I tried it on mine and it fit OK too. I said that perhaps Hama is having these chrome ends made where they are getting less hardened product and this could be the source of the problem many of us are having.

 

FC admitted they have no idea where Hama has the cable releases are made.

 

So it was a dead end and I am sorry I could make no further progress on this point with them. If only the factory Leica Store had had one in stock to buy I would have tried it just for all of us.

  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

Users are having to add a rubber bumper on the EC button to be able to use it consistently. Is the M button going to be reprogrammable?

 

Not my baustelle.

 

The remote cable release has changed on the M such that users are not able to use it and some are experiencing failures.

 

Not my baustelle.

 

Dunno about you guys but I'm feeling the warm embrace of this legendary company.

Pathetic response.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

I frankly wonder if the current production at Hama, who makes the Leica cable release, are getting inferior product compared with older product.

 

I just bought some old cable releases here in Frankfurt which all fit very well into the M socket and worked as they should. These are some very old cable releases with very sold looking end screws compared to the current new product. I had left Rahn camera where I examined a 14076 with a principal and we both saw the jagged edge of the new product which is what is causing problems for me on my M.

 

Suggestion-buy old cable releases. OR buy a new Japanese cable release which fits very well on my M from Dot-Line. It is the 20" cable release with soft touch lock PN Dl-1494 for about $25.

 

Just checked and Samy's Camera has this cable release for $26. Very well made. I do not work for Samy's or any manufacturer of photographic equipment.

Edited by algrove
  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

For whatever it is worth, I just finished cleaning out an old collection of camera bags and now have five! assorted cable releases to try. All of them are different designs and they may date from the fifties to eighties.

Three of them are inscribed "germany" one has no markings and the best made one is marked AR-3 From Nikon. The other four will all screw in only half to a little more rotation although each one remains engaged when pulled upwards, sits square in the thread and operates the shutter reliably. The Nikon AR-3 screws in one and a half rotations and also sits square and operates reliably. So they all work but engage to different levels

 

Placing each threaded end side by side, I can see variations in thread length of more than a millimetre. I think it is optimistic to assume that a range of brands/designs over decades will all match the 1950's ?? nominal specifications. My M type 240 is certainly different from my M9 though. For comparisons, all five will screw in to some degree in a range of old cameras (including a Kiev ! Voigtlander Nettar and Nikkormat FT2) but they all engage to different depths.

 

I would say that the Nikon AR-3 one is easily the best of all I have. But all five do work.

 

I also have several different soft release buttons, including one provided by LFI, several from Tom Abrahamsson and some generic cheapies.

The new design from Tom is the only one (I have) that fits correctly, screwing fully home. Worth noting that the threaded length on Tom's new buttons is extremely short and fully engaged is only a fraction more than a single rotation anyway. I don't doubt that Tom altered the pitch/taper as needed to work perfectly though.

 

Personally, I consider this variation in the M typ 240 a very minor irritation. Twenty dollars for a new soft release button didn't break my heart and I guess if you can't find a cable release that is functional in your bits and pieces box at home you can try examples at any decent camera shop? I might consider using self timer if needed too.

Edited by hoppyman
  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it"

 

My Leica cable releass bought 3 years ago only, fits my two M9's perfectly. It does not fit my M240. Others experience the same. We can blame Hama, try different cables, use a Nikon one etc but why should we have to?

 

Why is the button integral thread not EXACTLY like the M9 one? Why change it?

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it"

 

My Leica cable releass bought 3 years ago only, fits my two M9's perfectly. It does not fit my M240. Others experience the same. We can blame Hama, try different cables, use a Nikon one etc but why should we have to?

 

Why is the button integral thread not EXACTLY like the M9 one? Why change it?

 

What is even more worrying is that Leica did not appear to realise that they had changed it. This is very sloppy engineering. When third party suppliers like Tom Abrahamsson and Tim Isaacs can bring out new correctly threaded accessories within a few weeks of the change becoming apparent, it is disappointing that Leica still have not liaised with Hama to get a new release made. It is not just the M240 this affects but also the MM and ME as well, I understand. None of my 4 different releases fit in square or more than half a turn.

 

Wilson

  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

My Leica cable release, 14076, was purchased some 30 years ago. It has worked perfectly in an M5, R3 Mot, R4, R6.2, M6 ttl & M8. It has also been used in a friend's M3 & M6.

 

It does not fit my M240 properly. It screws in by only about 1/3 of a turn, is not vertical and subject to any force it is going to break.

 

Something has changed and, whatever Leica CS say to the contrary, it is not the cable release.

 

None of my other 5 cable releases has ever given me any problems with a range of cameras, but none of them fits the M240.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

All the advances in EVF, focus peaking, the ability to SEE what my Circ Pol and ND grads are doing, the increase in resolution ....

 

.... then when it comes to take the landscape when the cow is looking in the right direction and I'm down to a 2 second self timer?

 

Let me just quote this prescribed wording once more, verbatim, for everyone;

 

"...the Leica M is manufactured and assembled in an elaborate manual process that must satisfy the most stringent demands on precision engineering, painstaking care and quality. Each Leica M is a handcrafted product in every detail and may only leave the factory after being tested, checked and adjusted for so long until its flawless finish and performance are guaranteed and fulfil the exhaustive quality demands on which the worldwide reputation of Leica is founded. This commitment to precision and quality has been the the core principle of Leica manufacturing for almost a century. The endurance, reliability and perceived value of Leica products have been instrumental in the creation of the Leica legend."

 

Emphasis most certainly not theirs. :mad::mad:

Link to post
Share on other sites

I've been using the same old Nikon cable release for many, many years. I haven't noticed any difference with the M: it takes about 1.5 full turns to screw in snuggly and works just as it should. On the M9 it maybe takes an extra 1/4 turn, certainly no more than that.

 

I don't want to tempt fate, but it does seem that I've been lucky with my camera as I haven't come across any of the problems others have raised. I'll probably drop it in the sea this afternoon.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

You REALLY don't want to get me started on how long I had to wait Peter..... ;)

 

Had it two weeks. (after ordering before announcement)

 

It's brilliant, it really is. It's what the M9 should have been. But man am I annoyed at the apparent ineptitude of the company these days.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...