Reliability of M10 rangefinder mechanism?

[Per P.]

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Asking out of curiosity, what is your experience with the M10 rangefinder mechanism? I have just sent mine off for adjustment for the third time in 18 months. It probably should have gone sooner every time, I am just not used to thinking about it because it never seemed necessary for my M9. Hopefully there is a simple explanation but I would be interested in hearing if others have similar experience? 

[TomB_tx]

Mine has been fine - owned about the same time period. I've used Leica M models since 1968, and only my M9 ever needed re-adjustment (once).

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[lucerne]

Per.

 no problems with my M9 or 10 over the past 7 years. However, I would be interested to discover if you have been using LTM or nonLeica lenses and adaptors on the M10.

i hope this forum debate can throw some clues.

 

 

Edited October 16, 2019 by lucerne

[jdlaing]

Or how the lenses were being mounted.

[Per P.]

All lenses used are contemporary or near contemporary Leica M-lenses, the same as was used on my M9. Nothing exotic, and no heavy use or throwing around with the camera either. Note my question is about the M10 only, I don't need info about M9 reliability because I observed it myself over 7+ years but don't own that camera any longer 🙂

My own guess is that either the new design could have some teething problems, or something somewhere needs to be tightened somehow, so it doesn't slide. That's why I am curious if the issue is isolated or have been observed by others.

[Peter Kilmister]

My M10-P rangefinder mechanism works fine. It is spot on. if it isn't get it fixed by a Leica shop or dealer.

[J.Nordvik]

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I have owned a new M10 since august 2017. Never needed any adjustment. Only M needing any adjustment was my first digital M8 bought used in july 2011. M9 no problem (used). My first M, M3, probably needed adjustment, but it is sold now.

[J.Nordvik]

PS: I think I had to do an adjustment on the M8 on my own after the factory adjustment. It is pretty easy too do. Just search for it.

[JDFlood]

2 years M10 still spot on.

[lawman]

12 hours ago, Per P. said:

Asking out of curiosity, what is your experience with the M10 rangefinder mechanism? I have just sent mine off for adjustment for the third time in 18 months. It probably should have gone sooner every time, I am just not used to thinking about it because it never seemed necessary for my M9. Hopefully there is a simple explanation but I would be interested in hearing if others have similar experience? 

Could someone post instructions for DIY adjusting the viewfinder alignment on the M10P. Thanks 

[cbarber]

You might find the link below informative.

 

[Gregm61]

The M240 series rangefinder was supposedly improved over the M9 in terms of maintaining accuracy. I had to have my M262’s rangefinder adjusted within a few months of new and it’s been spot-on ever since, which is over 3 years now.

Any mechanical device, especially one built to such small tolerances as this device, is subject to going out of adjustment from time to time. There’s no graph capable of plotting the luck (and that’s mostly what it is) from user to user.

[mujk]

No need for rangefinder adjustment on my M10 since purchased in early 2018. At least to me it seems more reliable than the rangefinder of my M9, which needs calibration every now and then. Is your M10 perfectly calibrated every time you get it back from service? Is this the case with all of your lenses (assuming you have several)?

[Per P.]

Thank you to everyone who responded. This update is just to close out the topic. If lack of reliability was a wide spread issue I would expect the usually quite critical forum community to have picked up on it so this is clearly not the case. The feed back from Service pretty much rules out a fundamental defect in the mechanism, or a scenario where the mechanism could slide over time. Essentially the suggestion is that, if my M10 goes out of alignment, it will be caused by an external impact of some magnitude. 

[jankap]

We should hope for an M-EVF. No more CLAs!

[magixaxeman]

3 hours ago, jankap said:

We should hope for an M-EVF. No more CLAs!

The M stands for the german word for rangefinder, hence no rangefinder, it cant be an M camera.

[jankap]

The M stands for "Meßsucher". That means a finder to measure the distance and the outline of the intended picture. 

The M-cameras up till now have an OPTICAL viewfinder combined with a rangefinder, that indicates the distance to the subject independent of the decisive optical path.

Any marketing expert should be capable to interpret a camera with an electronic finder, that can measure a distance, as an Mxxxx.

[jaapv]

5 hours ago, jankap said:

We should hope for an M-EVF. No more CLAs!

Hah! My CL is going in for a CLA right now!

[evikne]

Leica has also patented many interesting inventions, including an optoelectronic rangefinder. 

https://patents.google.com/patent/DE102012009975B4/en

Maybe a camera like this would be less prone to miscalibration?

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[IkarusJohn]

Having read stories of M cameras being out of alignment out of the box, when my M10-D arrived before Christmas last year, I got my 8 M lenses (ranging from an adapted LTM Summitar from 1948 to a new black chrome APO Summicron- M 50) and tested them on the M10-D and my Monochrom.  None calibrated since new (apart form one, coded and calibrated about 5 years ago).

All good.  Despite the concerns here about calibration, I’ve become totally confident that focusing errors are mine.