ApocalypseDude Posted July 4, 2015 Share #1 Posted July 4, 2015 Advertisement (gone after registration) Hey guys! I have a serious problem. I got an used M2 in very good condition from my grandfather as a present. I'm in Australia right now. I wanted to take photos of a waterfall and I accidentally slipped off a rock. I had the camera on a strap for sure but it hit the rock. I'm happy the lens is ok and everything still works except for the Viewfinder. It's black but I still can see the framelines and change them with the lever. I know it's a common problem. The prism is seperated because of the old Canada Balm. Now I have two options...1. I can try to find someone who's able to put it together again and resilver the prism. I'm originally from Germany and there is no one who can do that so I must send it to youxin ye or someone else. The second option is to send it to Leica and get a new fiewfinder. I think they use an M6 Viewfinder for this. I love it there are only 3 different framelines in the old finder. The M6 finder has 6 framelines I think. 28/90, 35/135 and 50/75mm paired together. Now my question : do anyone know if I can use these framelines and all the lenses if I get this finder? Or cant the measurer in the bayonett automatically recognize all the lenses? I think they change nothing on the measurer...I hope you know what I mean. Did someone have the same problem and can give me some Infos on that? Thanks in advance! Greetings Thore Saggau 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted July 4, 2015 Posted July 4, 2015 Hi ApocalypseDude, Take a look here Leica M2 Viewfinder broken. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
Niko Posted July 4, 2015 Share #2 Posted July 4, 2015 (edited) My M3 finder went black last year. CRR Luton (UK) rebuilt it. It is great now. The service was also a lot cheaper than to buy a new rangefinder assembly for it. And, imo, the old framelines are better. Your M2 seems also to have emotional value for you, better to keep it with the old finder then. With an M6 finder you would use the lenses you have just like you are used to. If you later want more framelines, better to buy an M6 then, you might even get the whole camera for the same price that a new rangefinder assembly costs... Niko Edited July 4, 2015 by Niko Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
normclarke Posted July 5, 2015 Share #3 Posted July 5, 2015 Both Malcolm Taylor and Peter at CRR offer this service, check the addresses on earlier posts. I have done this before and is not as complex as many would claim. If you extract the prism and soak in propanol you will remove the excess balsam and with luck the silvered side will be ok. Using a acrylic u/v curing adhesive to re-assemble could be the solution. If resilvering is needed many local optical firms would perform this at a reasonable cost, the transfer ratio is critical though and should be between 35/65 and 30/70. I found a firm in London that did this for me for £25. Best, normclarke. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrid Posted July 22, 2015 Share #4 Posted July 22, 2015 CRR Luton in the UK is probably your only and best bet. Maybe DAG (Don Goldberg) is the US. The prism block is glued with Canadian Balsam. It yellows and becomes brittle with age. An unfortunate knock can cause the prism block to separate, causing the blackout you are seeing. Sending it to Luton is your best choice. Cheaper than replacing the RF unit. Also the RF unit in the M2/M4 was probably the best one Leica ever made, so you really don't want to replace it with a new one... Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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