Re: [Leica] Rebuild my R8

[Eric Welch <ewelch@ponyexpress.net>]

At 11:09 AM 9/5/99 -0500, you wrote:
>What happened to your 70-180?

Well, let's see. This is the tale of my equipment crashes.

A while back, my R4sP body let go of its strap in a parking lot and hit the 
ground. The 90 Summicron wasn't fazed. The Winder had a scratch, but the 
mirror came loose. Sherry Krauter fixed it for $75. (She had overhauled it 
last Winter).

My 180 Elmarit got hit three days before my job ended. It was during a 
fast-pitch softball practice, and the lens hood looked like a mushroom, but 
the front element was unscathed. The girl said, "It was on the rise and at 
full speed!" <Whew> The cost is $484. Well, about $200 of that is to fix a 
ding in the focusing ring (getting a new one) since it did sort of look bad 
and my former employer was paying for it. :-) Sherry Kruater again.

My 70-180 Vario Apo was knocked off the desk at work by my boss - by 
accident, or carelessness more like it - attached to my R8. Both hit with a 
pretty hard thud. The tripod mount was a bit loose, but seemed to be okay. 
One night it just started spinning around with no click. So I sent it to 
Leica USA and they shipped it to Germany. It's been gone for about six 
weeks, so it should be back any day now. That cost $175 to fix. Also 
complements of my ex employer.

My M6 is the next to go in the shop. It fell out of my lap and a car onto a 
rain-soaked street. (Just after taking the picture of the kids with no 
shirts flexing their muscles in the rain late at night which is on my web 
page in the "pictures of the week" section).

Fortunately, the car wasn't moving. The 35 Summilux is fine, but the top is 
banged a bit, and the wind lever's  a tad bent, and it's plastic tip a bit 
scratched. But it seems to work fine, except the 75 Summilux is back 
focusing so I guess the focus was knocked off a bit. Passport will cover 
that. Good thing I never plan to sell this camera. It's still a wonderful 
camera, but it looks used now.

I almost hate to take them out any more! Or maybe a rubber camera is more 
to my style?

:-)

Eric Welch
St. Joseph, MO

http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch

    My best work is often almost unconscious and occurs ahead of my ability 
to understand it. -Sam Abell; "Stay This Moment"