Guest Posted March 21, 2021 Share #1 Posted March 21, 2021 Advertisement (gone after registration) Hi, This might seem like a bit of a silly question, but has anyone had any issues with the RF being knocked out due to the camera swinging on a strap and bumping into your waistline, etc because of step cadence? I use a neck strap, but hang on to the camera to steady it and prevent it from bumping up against me too much, mostly out of concern for the delicate inner workings (from what I’ve been told) RF and lens alignment. I like to think it’s not a problem, but I’m wondering what others have to say on the matter. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted March 21, 2021 Posted March 21, 2021 Hi Guest, Take a look here Robustness of the RF. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
jdlaing Posted March 21, 2021 Share #2 Posted March 21, 2021 That should not cause it to become out of alignment. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
UliWer Posted March 21, 2021 Share #3 Posted March 21, 2021 I have had a horizontal misalignment of the rangefinder - after it dropped on a concrete floor. A camera bumping on your body would injure you severely before the rangefinder took any harm. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Geschlecht Posted March 21, 2021 Share #4 Posted March 21, 2021 (edited) Hello Wallflower, Welcome to the Forum, My M3 with collapsed 90mm F4 Elmar once fell over a cliff wrapped in a shirt. The fall, bump & bounce was about 23 meters/75 feet. I went to pick up the shirt, since I assumed the camera & lens would be severely damaged. I pleasantly found that all that happened was that there was a bump in the top plate. Everything else was fine. When I later took the camera/Lens to Leitz to see if it needed adjustment they checked it with various machines & said there was nothing to do or adjust because everything was as it should be. Cameras & lenses are your friends. Treat them respectfully & take care of them & they will take care of you. By the way, I would never hang a camera around my neck by the shoulder strap. I have always thought that the purpose of a shoulder strap is to act as a tensioning strap between a person's shoulder & the camera held against a person's eye at the eyepiece. It gives a person about + 1 stop of added stability when making hand held photos. A shoulder strap wrapped a couple of times around a person's left wrist (Film "M" cameras are relentlessly right handed even though they are reasonably good at being left eye'd.) is also a good way to hold a camera while walking. Best Regards, Michael Edited March 22, 2021 by Michael Geschlecht 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 22, 2021 Share #5 Posted March 22, 2021 Thanks everyone. This reaffirms I need to stop babying the camera so much. Hopefully my camera won't take a leap off a 75 foot cliff (or me, for that matter.) but if it does, I'll cross my fingers and keep your experience in mind. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Geschlecht Posted March 22, 2021 Share #6 Posted March 22, 2021 (edited) Hello Again Wallflower, I wasn't saying that you can treat your camera/lens roughly. Keep in mind that I was reasonably lucky with the outcome of what happened. The idea that I was trying to convey was that you should treat your camera/lens respectfully & try your best to protect them & try to not have them in situations of possible adverse circumstance or circumstances. I would think that a camera repeatedly bouncing into a person is NOT an optimal situation. Please remember: It is not necessary to purposefully create adverse circumstance for your camera/lens & thereby add to the possibility for damage when Life itself will quite likely provide a number of opportunities for adverse outcomes for you. When you lessen the opportunities for adverse possibilities you simply keep the chances of having a nicely working camera/lens more on your side. Best Regards, Michael Edited March 22, 2021 by Michael Geschlecht Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herr Barnack Posted March 22, 2021 Share #7 Posted March 22, 2021 (edited) Advertisement (gone after registration) I did have my M240 rangefinder knocked out of alignment once by dropping it. I was carrying it in a Think Tank Turnstyle 10 version 1 sling bag. The bag slipped out of my hand and the camera fell about one foot, landing on the floor of a restaurant that I was in. I had to send the camera off to Leica NJ to have the rangefinder realigned. My intention in naming the Think Tank Turnstyle 10 version 1 sling bag involved in this mishap is not to slam Think Tank or the bag - but to say that in my view, the bag does not have adequate padding to prevent a rangefinder misalignment as a result of a very modest fall - a fall that was so minor that IMHO it should have been a non-issue. I retrofitted my Turnstyle 10 with extra padding after this mishap; if you are using one of the Think Tank Turnstyle sling bags, I would recommend beefing up the padding in it. Edited March 22, 2021 by Herr Barnack Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff S Posted March 22, 2021 Share #8 Posted March 22, 2021 Having used M bodies for over 30 years, including a fair amount of travel, I’ve had Leica Service check/adjust the RF twice, and one of those times the issue was more likely the lens. I’m careful, but don’t baby my gear. I typically carry an M over one shoulder, or just in hand (or in a bag cross body if freezing or snowy), but never around my neck. Bad for my neck, not the camera. Enjoy your walks. Jeff Jeff Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted March 22, 2021 Share #9 Posted March 22, 2021 The (redesigned) rangefinder mechanism of the M10 is the most robust ever built. This would be the least of my worries should the camera be knocked hard enough to misalign the rangefinder. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakontil Posted March 22, 2021 Share #10 Posted March 22, 2021 17 minutes ago, jaapv said: The (redesigned) rangefinder mechanism of the M10 is the most robust ever built. This would be the least of my worries should the camera be knocked hard enough to misalign the rangefinder. I kinda agree somehow, i once dropped m10-p safari from a sofa, bout 50cm height on a marble floor, RF was fine nothing visible damages after a couple of months i just realised the LCD touchscreen wasnt working properly, it still worked but not accurate, sent it back to leica, i even forgot at that time the camera took a heavy bump, and i even denied it when questioned coz it happened some time ago and i totally forgot but my newly MP, was out of vertical aligntment straight out the box and my safari cron was badly misaligned, sealed, out of the box Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob L Posted March 22, 2021 Share #11 Posted March 22, 2021 Cross chest carry prevents all that bouncing around, But requires a longer and more slippery strap without the shoulder pads in order to slide into position when you bring the camera up to your eye. This also prevents strap wear over the strap lugs. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hdmesa Posted March 22, 2021 Share #12 Posted March 22, 2021 7 hours ago, Rob L said: Cross chest carry prevents all that bouncing around, But requires a longer and more slippery strap without the shoulder pads in order to slide into position when you bring the camera up to your eye. This also prevents strap wear over the strap lugs. I've found with cross-body carry (speaking for carry on the right side): if I lift the strap off my left shoulder with my left hand/left thumb at the same time as I lift the camera to my eye with my right hand, I can move my hands in unison to swing the camera into position, then lay the strap back down on my shoulder where I will shoot. When done, I repeat to put the camera back down to my side. This helps with straps that don't slide well and/or with rough/bulky clothing. The 120cm straps are necessary for this – 100cm will choke me out cross-body and are only good over one shoulder or over the neck. The 100cm are better for wrist-wrapping with fewer wraps and less bulk. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hdmesa Posted March 22, 2021 Share #13 Posted March 22, 2021 20 hours ago, Herr Barnack said: I did have my M240 rangefinder knocked out of alignment once by dropping it. I was carrying it in a Think Tank Turnstyle 10 version 1 sling bag. The bag slipped out of my hand and the camera fell about one foot, landing on the floor of a restaurant that I was in. I had to send the camera off to Leica NJ to have the rangefinder realigned. My intention in naming the Think Tank Turnstyle 10 version 1 sling bag involved in this mishap is not to slam Think Tank or the bag - but to say that in my view, the bag does not have adequate padding to prevent a rangefinder misalignment as a result of a very modest fall - a fall that was so minor that IMHO it should have been a non-issue. I retrofitted my Turnstyle 10 with extra padding after this mishap; if you are using one of the Think Tank Turnstyle sling bags, I would recommend beefing up the padding in it. The Think Tank products I own have very thin padding between areas in the bag and barely-adequate padding on the exterior. Since I moved to Billingham, I'm much more confident about my gear being protected, even for simple things like setting the bag down on a hard surface, tossing it in the back floorboard of my vehicle, etc. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herr Barnack Posted March 23, 2021 Share #14 Posted March 23, 2021 (edited) 4 hours ago, hdmesa said: The Think Tank products I own have very thin padding between areas in the bag and barely-adequate padding on the exterior. Since I moved to Billingham, I'm much more confident about my gear being protected, even for simple things like setting the bag down on a hard surface, tossing it in the back floorboard of my vehicle, etc. Think Tank bags have enough padding to protect your equipment - as long as you don't drop your bag or trip & fall. I regularly use my T/T Retrospective 7 v.2, but I added extra padding inside the bottom of the bag to guard against accidental drops. I did the same thing with my Wotancraft Pilot 7 liter. My Billingham Hadley Pro has extra padding too, although it does not actually need it. Edited March 23, 2021 by Herr Barnack 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveBK Posted March 23, 2021 Share #15 Posted March 23, 2021 I had an M10 which had its RF arm go wonky on me either as the result of mounting a new lens, or being jostled too much on a 5 hours flight. Couldn't quite sort it out as I got the lens (35cron ASPH) right before the flight. The symptom was that sometimes.. say 5-10% of the time when mounting this particular lens, the RF arm would not engage (or engage and then pop off when focussing), and get stuck at one end of the focus range or the other. Using the camera in LV mode/walking around/changing lenses back it would eventually come unstuck after a few hours or worst case a day. Humidity and the 35cron seemed to be most likely to trigger this defect, but again I could go months without hitting it. This almost made it worse as it was a random reliability issues. Eventually a trip to service center in NJ for a paid CLA resolved.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
anickpick Posted March 23, 2021 Share #16 Posted March 23, 2021 It seems I have not been as lucky as most of you guys. I had one M240, one M10 and my current M10R that needed RF service. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomB_tx Posted March 23, 2021 Share #17 Posted March 23, 2021 I’ve owned and used Leica M models since 1968: M2,3,4,5,6,9, &10. Only the M9 drifted off and required calibration once. Once my M4 came back from a CLA mid-adjusted (horizontal & vertical), so I sent it to a different technician (DAG) who got it perfect. Otherwise the RFs have been solid. I’ve had more trouble with SLRs giving bad focus due to screen or mirror alignment. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuc001 Posted March 25, 2021 Share #18 Posted March 25, 2021 My M10-P rangefinder also drifted out of adjustment, both horizontal and vertical. Don't know what caused it as I only had 1 lens at the time, which was basically glued onto the camera, and have never dropped it or exposed it to shock of any kind. Got a CLA and now it's perfect again, but don't know for how long. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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