Re: Minolta CLE Reliability and Repairability

["Hans Pahlen" <hans.pahlen@mark.komvux.se>]

David,
These are just my thoughts, for what they are worth:

There are some people in my camera club who are CLE-users. All of them ha=
ve
had to repair their cameras, so I would not say that the CLE is as reliab=
le
as the M or CL. Early CL:s had shutter problems (solved years ago) and
today the CL:s has problems with low contrast in the finder focusing area
(this part can be serviced and changed, but watch out for this when
examining used CL:s.)
If focusing is possible indoors, without problems, then the CL is OK.
=20
I had a CLE 1995-96 (it came directly from the repairman to the shop...)
and I had no problems with it at all. I had 28-40-90 Minolta lenses, and
they were very good performers, especially the 28 and 40 mm. In fact, I w=
as
surprised to see how close they were to M-lenses, as I saw the practical
results.
But I did not like three things: a) The on/off button is of plastic, and =
I
was almost afraid to break it, every time I turned on the camera. It was
too cheap, and a shame to the camera! b) The Minolta lenses don=B4t focus=
 as
smooth as the M-lenses. The M-lenses are of better mechanical quality. A =
30
year old M-lens shows less wear mechanically than a 10 year old Minolta
lens! c) It was not possible to use my 35 mm M-lens (last generation) on
the CLE. I could put it on the camera, but it wasn=B4t possible to focus,=
 as
the lens went to far into the body (sorry, English is not my native
language...)
So, it was a pleasant experience to try out the CLE. But as I already had
my M-gear, I didn=B4t really need the CLE. I traded it for a new M6, and =
a
few days later it was gone from the shop!

Regards, Hans

- ----------
> From: seungmin@luxmail.luxcom.com
> To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> Subject: Minolta CLE Reliability and Repairability
> Date:  den 19 december 1996 19:00
>=20
>      In the past several days a lot of discussions have been made about
CL=20
>      and CLE.  Repairability of CLE has been quesitoned a lot and
concerned=20
>      me.  How reliable has CLE been compared with Leica?  If they are n=
ot

>      so reliable and repair work is not readily available, I will take =
it

>      off of my list.  Thank you for any info.
>     =20
>      Regards,
>      David
>      seungmin@luxcom.com
>=20