No more Mechanism Perfection…

[ChicagoMatthew]

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On 2/15/2020 at 8:07 AM, darkinners said:

lol I bought mine on 14th Jan in Meteor.Probably the same timeframe as you did.

I brought the MP to master Yu first (the retired Leica technician). He fixed the shutter issue at the spot. After I am back from Japan and discovered the MP scratched all my films. I contacted Master Yu again. however due to the coronavirus outbreak, Yu is taking a rest. I then bought it to master Yu's friend master Lo on last Monday.  I will go to collect the MP back tomorrow or on Monday. let's hope Lo can fix it.

 

Panada now usually  take at least 1.5 month to complete the service. As Master Lee is  semi retired now. So I haven't bring my gears to him to service in recent year.

 

I also use Plustek 8200i ai to scan my films.

 

 

 

 

Master Yu is the absolute best! I had a lens cla’ed and it was such a joy to just sit in his tiny office and watch him work. 

[Herr Barnack]

On 2/9/2020 at 3:17 AM, shirubadanieru said:

I’ve owned all Leica film bodies (minus M5), and gotta say that the only problems that i ever had were all with the new cameras...the MP I owned had a lot of dust entering the viewfinder even after only a week of using it after Leica cleaned it for me... another one had a sticky shutter...so in the end what I did was sell those two cameras and get back to the golden age of Leica cameras; I decided to get an M4, but both the M2 / M3 that I had never gave me any issues. 

Hope your camera gets better, but if it doesn’t you might consider doing the same  

I took an MP (2003 birth date) and my M-4P to Mongolia in 2013.  MP froze up, M4-P ran like a Patek Philippe and saved the day.

Got the MP fixed and sold it, kept the M4-P which has run just fine from 2013 till now.  Gonna get me a chrome M4-P to go with the black one. 

Edited February 17, 2020 by Herr Barnack

[darkinners]

3 hours ago, ChicagoMatthew said:

Master Yu is the absolute best! I had a lens cla’ed and it was such a joy to just sit in his tiny office and watch him work. 

Absolutely agreed with you! he is the nicest guy ever and vast knowledge of Leica. I always learn something from him every visit. 

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[darkinners]

3 hours ago, mediumformula said:

Hi.  I bought a new MP a couple weeks ago.  I have a question about it.  When I set the shutter speed to B/Off it still activates the light meter when I press the shutter button.  Is this normal?  Doesn't the B/Off selection mean that the light meter should not start blinking when I press the shutter button when it is set to this?   Actually, when the shutter is cocked, it seems that the light meter does not actuate when it's in the B/off setting. But when the shutter is not cocked it does.  That seems counter intuitive to me.  I'm new to Leica.  Thanks. 

 

It's not normal, when you set to B/Off, light meter will not activate. 

[tjxism]

1 hour ago, darkinners said:

Absolutely agreed with you! he is the nicest guy ever and vast knowledge of Leica. I always learn something from him every visit. 

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

 

1 hour ago, darkinners said:

Absolutely agreed with you! he is the nicest guy ever and vast knowledge of Leica. I always learn something from him every visit. 

Did you get your MP back? 

[tjxism]

5 hours ago, mediumformula said:

Hi.  I bought a new MP a couple weeks ago.  I have a question about it.  When I set the shutter speed to B/Off it still activates the light meter when I press the shutter button.  Is this normal?  Doesn't the B/Off selection mean that the light meter should not start blinking when I press the shutter button when it is set to this?   Actually, when the shutter is cocked, it seems that the light meter does not actuate when it's in the B/off setting. But when the shutter is not cocked it does.  That seems counter intuitive to me.  I'm new to Leica.  Thanks. 

 

Sounds very bothering. Is the metering even accurate when it should work? I mean, how is it working when no shutter is set? 

[darkinners]

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20 minutes ago, tjxism said:

 

Did you get your MP back? 

Not yet, I called Master Lo, he said he probably need more time to examine. 

[tjxism]

2 hours ago, darkinners said:

Not yet, I called Master Lo, he said he probably need more time to examine. 

……sounds like a hidden issue.😟

can’t believe this happens considering the camera mechanism is so simple and hasn’t changed for decades.  

[a.noctilux]

I've never had any trouble with M4-P ( some M4-P Lovers here ... ), neither with my ex-MPs or M-A .

Bought the M4-P Edition 1913-1983, I use since 1984 and still use it now, real trusty worker M.

[shirubadanieru]

8 hours ago, Herr Barnack said:

I took an MP (2003 birth date) and my M-4P to Mongolia in 2013.  MP froze up, M4-P ran like a Patek Philippe and saved the day.

Got the MP fixed and sold it, kept the M4-P which has run just fine from 2013 till now.  Gonna get me a chrome M4-P to go with the black one. 

Damn glad you had an M4P with you! Yeah I’m now having my M4 CLAed and already got rid of my modern film Leicas. 

[wattsy]

Maybe some of these problems arise from inexperience on the part of those involved in the manufacture? Leica must make so few film bodies nowadays that there just isn't the continuity of manufacture (and knowledgeable personnel) that there was in years gone by.

Edited February 17, 2020 by wattsy

[a.noctilux]

In my view, there is no Mechanism Perfection in past M or new M.

As mechanical devices, they need some care when used a while (some years in my practice).

My most frequently-needing-repair ( over time decades long ... ) are my plain M4 which in my use are the less reliable in my M stuffs.

I still have one M4 (and one blind M3 ) to be "economically" repaired ( repairing cost would be high, so not sellable as such , idle for some years now ) .

[Herr Barnack]

3 hours ago, wattsy said:

Maybe some of these problems arise from inexperience on the part of those involved in the manufacture? Leica must make so few film bodies nowadays that there just isn't the continuity of manufacture (and knowledgeable personnel) that there was in years gone by.

@wattsy I think you may be onto something.

Quote

 

In my view, there is no Mechanism Perfection in past M or new M.

As mechanical devices, they need some care when used a while (some years in my practice)...

Also true - any mechanical object needs maintenance at some point.

My MP was 10 years old when it failed on me, but it was 10 years of light use, not hard use.  It still may have been time for a CLA.

 

Edited February 17, 2020 by Herr Barnack

[tjxism]

3 hours ago, a.noctilux said:

In my view, there is no Mechanism Perfection in past M or new M.

As mechanical devices, they need some care when used a while (some years in my practice).

My most frequently-needing-repair ( over time decades long ... ) are my plain M4 which in my use are the less reliable in my M stuffs.

I still have one M4 (and one blind M3 ) to be "economically" repaired ( repairing cost would be high, so not sellable as such , idle for some years now ) .

But Darkinner and my MP have issues right out of the box😔. Same model, same shop, same birthday, same issues. Must be a QA problem. 

[mediumformula]

9 hours ago, tjxism said:

Sounds very bothering. Is the metering even accurate when it should work? I mean, how is it working when no shutter is set? 

I haven't tested the light meter, but it seems accurate when it is working.  I should get my first roll back soon from development.  When the shutter is not set the meter works but it is not accurate because the white dot has not been advanced into position on the shutter curtain.  When you cock the shutter then the metering changes presumably due to the white dot.  It's just really odd that the B/off selector turns the meter off when the shutter is cocked but the meter still turns on when it's not cocked.  I wrote an email to Leica customer service last night and might stop by the Leica store I bought it at this week. 

[gabrielaszalos]

I also bought a new MP in Austria. Besides a speck on the Summilux I bought with it, the images in the metering square used for focusing would never align vertically. This was a brand new camera! Signed by someone in the box as a guarantee with a pretty text advertising how well this camera was checked at every step of the way!

I’ve sent the camera back and bought one from the store in Wetzlar. They knew about my experience and opened up the camera, sending it to customer care to check it before sending it to me, making sure all is well. They did, and confirmed everything is “within tolerance”. This copy was fine when it came to the aligning focus images (perfect overlap), but the shutter dial rotates a little bit past B/OFF. No functional problem perceptible and I have not yet developed any film shot with it (two rolls so far), so otherwise it seems well. I am expecting the film and resulting photographs to be ok, but will report back if not  

Nevertheless, none of the two brand new cameras are perfect. And I expect perfect when paying 4500 EUR for a camera. Damn disappointing. 

Edited February 17, 2020 by gabrielaszalos

[wizard]

vor 7 Minuten schrieb gabrielaszalos:

... but the shutter dial rotates a little bit past B/OFF.

Jesus, this is a mechanical camera. The shutter dial will most likely rotate a little past the 1/1000 marking as well. As long as the detent position for evey indicated time stop, including B/OFF, lines up with the index point, everything is perfectly fine. Lenses usually don't stop rotating at their indicated minimal focus position either, and why on earth should they? F-stop rings may rotate a little past their minimum and maximum settings, too, and again, as long as the detent positions are well defined and acurate, that is not a problem at all and has nothing to do with mechanical perfection. Non-aligning images in the rangefinder patch are, of course, another matter, and I agree Leica should diligently check those issues before delivering a new camera.

Cheers,

Andy

[gabrielaszalos]

17 minutes ago, wizard said:

Jesus, this is a mechanical camera. The shutter dial will most likely rotate a little past the 1/1000 marking as well. As long as the detent position for evey indicated time stop, including B/OFF, lines up with the index point, everything is perfectly fine. Lenses usually don't stop rotating at their indicated minimal focus position either, and why on earth should they? F-stop rings may rotate a little past their minimum and maximum settings, too, and again, as long as the detent positions are well defined and acurate, that is not a problem at all and has nothing to do with mechanical perfection. Non-aligning images in the rangefinder patch are, of course, another matter, and I agree Leica should diligently check those issues before delivering a new camera.

Cheers,

Andy

Thanks Andy. That makes me feel, a little bit better and more hopeful about everything. I am just obsessively cautious and attentive with the camera because of the huge expense. Your response brings me back to sanity a little bit. Nevertheless, the 1/1000 does stop at the exact spot. 

[Stealth3kpl]

40 minutes ago, mediumformula said:

When the shutter is not set the meter works

That should not be the case. There's a fault.

Pete

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Hallo,

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[wizard]

vor 1 Minute schrieb gabrielaszalos:

Nevertheless, the 1/1000 does stop at the exact spot. 

And that is what it should do. However, you may still be able to rotate the dial a tiny bit past the 1/1000 position, leaving the detent position. And if so, that's no problem at all. Enjoy you new camera!