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Possible safari planning with M240-- issues, concerns?


hockey44

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I agree with Jaap, if I'm paying for a Safari it would be with the intention of photographing wildlife. There are other kinds of tours available that emphasize culture or landscape. For Safari photography I would want something as dust-sealed as possible and as lightweight as possible. Also unless I planned to repeat the Safari in the near future I would want something economical enough to have backups for bodies and lenses. All that points me toward Canon as I already have a bunch of it and am very fsmiliar with its use

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Especially in South Africa. There are so many things outside Safari - The Cape, the Karoo, the Wine route, Drakensberg, and so much more. I wouldn't know where to start, but all of it classic Leica M territory, and highly recommended.

Safari - one can get excellent experiences in South Africa, I thoroughly enjoyed the Elephant Coast private reserves last April, but it does not compare to Zambia, Botswana, Tanzania, Kenia, Zimbabwe etc. The country is too developed to give the archetypal bush experience. The Kruger, parts of it are overrun by tourism, one really has to search for untouched areas, including the private reserves on its borders.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi, I did not read all the posts so I may repeat...

We are doing a lot of overlanding and real offroading (on a Land Rover Defender) - this is often really really  bumpy and the things need to be fixed properly.
I don't know when it started, but one day I wanted to focus on a very far thing and recognized that I could not focus to infinite. So I did proper Focus test and could see, yes, the focus was misaligned.
Went to Leica Shop here in Vienna and told them that I went very bumpy roads... this comment came back: "Bumpy roads and M is not a good combination ;-)"

Anyway, they send her back to birthplace with the two lenses I use most (35 & 50) - After a month all came back adjusted.
When I wanted to pay they said: No costs, was fixed by kindness/goodwill (don't know the correct English word)

The following tests I did do show a very very perfect focusing now, maybe better then ever.

Anyway: I do have a M as I can best work with this camera - She is a workhorse and should be one! I continue to use her as she is needed, in rain or where ever.. And in case she needs a maintenance then ok, she'll get it.
I don't own such a good thing to let it at home setting dust...

Cheers Axel

Edited by acordes
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With all respect due to this reputed shop, this is twaddle. I have lost count of the number of miles I did off-road with my Leica M cameras, both in Defenders and Landcruisers, which are even more bumpy in the field, but I have never managed to knock the rangefinder out of alignment. Yes, older types may lose vertical alignment if they get a nasty smack on the bottom plate, it happened to me twice, when a camera fell onto concrete from over two feet high, but this has been changed on the M240, which has a redesigned rangefinder to make it more robust.

The only time my M8 went off was when it had ridden in an old Cessna which produced heavy vibrations, and the passengers suffered more than the camera.

My R cameras gave more problems, the lens mount was too light for heavy lenses and tended to bend under heavy load.

As a matter of fact, I have seen Canon zooms break in two, lost the stabilizing element in a 300 4.0 L lens as the screws worked loose, etc. The Leica M is amongst the most robust of cameras in my experience.

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Keep a 2mm Allen key (Hex Key)in your camera bag. With that you can fix the vertical aliment (screw behind the red dot) and the overall camera calibration in the field. I speak from experience... The distance, mid and near settings, well for that you really would need to send the camera back to Leica.

 

 

Err Jaap, why do I get the feeling that I am "teaching my granny to suck eggs"?

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