Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/12/16

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Subject: Re: [Leica] bitten by the SL bug
From: "Patrick G. Sobalvarro" <pgs@sobalvarro.org>
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 1997 23:11:48 -0800

Thanks, Ted, Hans, and Dave, for telling me that I'm not a total weirdo for
buying that SL.  In other news, the camera continues to surprise me.

First, I was surprised when it turned out that there weren't a jillion
Olympic SL's.  Then, today I found out that the meter isn't dead at all --
it was just resting!  Actually, what was dead was the battery.  I cleaned
the contacts, swapped batteries with one I had in an old Japanese
rangefinder, and, bingo!  working meter.  It's reading a stop off, but I
think that's because I have only a worn-out silver 625 battery.  I need to
get one of these CRIS adapter thingies.

Second, not being a collector and not being superstitious, I didn't realize
until I looked in Sartorius' book that Leica use numerology for patronage
purposes.  They give out round serial numbers to people with whom they wish
to curry favor.  Now that I understand this, I note that the serial numbers
of both body and lens are not very round but they're kind of round, ending
in 500 -- the body is #1335500 and the lens is #2003500.  Also, the front
says 72   728 -- the first 72 being the year of the Munich Olympics and the
728 being the number in the series.  So I would think that this camera was
given to a dealer or someone like that, but it shows signs of having been
used a lot.  It's not really beaten up, but it has a few minor dings and
shows wear on the focusing ring and speed dial, around the tripod thread,
etc.  Perhaps it was given to a photographer.

Anyway, I suppose I'll get a new battery and run some film through it
before I send it off for a CLA.  Happily, most of my lenses are 3-cam, so I
can use them with an SL.

- -Patrick