rangefinder adjustments

[jchang]

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Hi all, first post. I read somewhere (here, I think) that all rangefinders eventually get out of alignment and need to be adjusted. is this true? I've been using the M9 (my first rangefinder, wonderful camera, love it) for over to 3 months now and still it focuses perfectly - but is the focus mechanism like a ticking time bomb?

I realize that everything in the universe breaks down eventually, but being an EOS migrant, a self-destruct focus mechanism is a new concept to me. (OK autofocus can have issues too, but my ancient 1Dm2's focus mechanism is working fine with no adjustments after 6 years and over 200,000 actuations - if it does need adjusting now, I think it's understandable - but it doesn't yet)

So bottom line, long time M users, assuming reasonable care and use, what frequency of adjustments can I expect? or is the opening statement itself false?

regards

[doubice]

An M3 that I owned for over 10 years during the 1960's and 70's, an M4 and M5 thereafter never needed any adjustments. My curent M6 (bought new in 1986), that has been through hell and back, as well as a 6 years old M7 never needed their rangefinders adjusted.

 

Now - my M8 is a different story: RF was off right out of the box, needed an adjustment immediately, as well as a couple of subsequent ones. The M8's RF appears not to be as rugged as the one of previous M bodies - at least that has been my experience. And my Leica 'experience' started during the mid-1960's......

 

Best,

 

Jan

[jchang]

that's concerning if true - that the newer M's have a more delicate focus mechanism than the older M's. Anyone else have similar experience?

[michali]

Both of my M3's have required RF adjustment several times over the past 25 years.

 

On the other hand, I've had 3 M8's with fairly rugged use and never had an issue with the focusing mechanism. The M9 fell off a tripod onto a hard floor no body damage, however the RF ended up being out of alignment. I had to send it to Germany for re-adjustment. Nothing to do with the camera, but rather my own stupidity.

 

My local camera technician who has been repairing Leica and Zeiss cameras for over 50 years, says RF readjustment is the most common repair he's done over the years. It's an issue inherent in the design of a rangefinder, which is a rather finely tuned mechanism.

[pascal_meheut]

that's concerning if true - that the newer M's have a more delicate focus mechanism than the older M's. Anyone else have similar experience?

 

No but digital requires much more precision. And we can check the result immediately, thus discovering problems when with film, we would habe thought it was our mistake if a few images were slightly out of focus.

 

So someone using only focals <= 90mm could not notice the problem until he tried a 135mm for instance.

But the adjustement of an M9 rangefinder is 4 times the one of the M7...

 

Anyway, old M needed their rangefinder aligned too, that's why this service was provided by all good repair shops...

 

As usual, 1 person telling its story is not a general truth.

[likalar]

Jchang,

39 years of Ms, and I don't recall ever needing an adjustment. If only my eyes held up so well. ;-) .... I'm thinking that both the popularity of the newer super-fast lenses and the look of shallower depth of field is making near-perfect rangefinder adjustment that much more critical now, IMO. The bar has been raised. Enjoy that M; great camera.

 

Larry

[scott kirkpatrick]

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It depends on both your own level of precision (which can be higher with digital) and how the cameras are handled. I've needed RF repair twice, and both were after falls suffered by an M8 and an M9. My M2, bought used, is now 50 years old, and had 10 years of hard use by me, has been CLA'd once, and needed it.

 

Routine professional service for film Ms, according to Bill Pierce, was an annual trip to Marty Forscher, accompanied by all lenses. Each would then be returned to zero tolerance in their focusing systems. It's probably still good advice, but more work than I plan to subscribe to. But a 135 that I bought used recently may change that.

 

scott

[Stevez4]

Did Bill tell you about how we would bring newly purchased Leicas to Marty and how he would dissemble them and replace the gears with brass ones? Our Leicas were absolutely silent and perfectly calibrated. I still have his handwritten shutter speed cards packed away with my old cameras.

[Ed_K]

My M6 has served me close to 25 years and so far, no need for adjustment yet .... touch wood; hopefully my future M9 will be as reliable.