Re: [Leica] M6TTL - Image Behind Focus Point

[Walter S Delesandri <walt@jove.acs.unt.edu>]

Hi, Mike/others,
It's this very lack of quality control that I've been bitching 
about since the late seventies.  Probably HALF of the g**D*mn
cameras come out of the factory (canada/wetzlar/solms - don't 
make a shit) OUT OF FINAL ADJUSTMENT>.....To add insult to 
(expensive) injury, on the M4P/M6 they removed the F***ING 
external adjustment and GLUED the RFDR telescope - you guessed 
it-  OUT OF ADJUSTMENT --a real pain in the ass for the (preferably
non-Leica) repairman.  When I worked in repair 18 or so years 
back, my employer/teacher used to joke that they were "kit cameras" 
that were O.K> once we "finished" them.  I've owned M3-M6, inclusive, 
and the problem became evident about the end of the M4-2 era.
I know this group of buy-any-shit-with-Leica-on-it apologists will 
continue to sing praises like a snake handling fundamentalist at a 
revival, but NO, you shouldn't have to go through this on a 
$1900 purchase, time after time after time.  PLEASE, somebody come 
out with a manual, RFDR, competitor and tear up Leica the way 
Nikon did 40 years ago.......

Like trying to get a doctor to turn on a fellow quack.....oops, 
forgot, we already went down that road...........sorry........

Good luck with your "new" camera, but PLEASE try to learn how to 
check the RFDR vertical and infinity IN THE STORE before accepting 
it.  Try to find a repairman to show you how to check focus 
with a tiny ground-glass and loupe.....Put the camera on a tripod, 
preferably with a 75 summilux or 90 Summicron, wide open, and 
check the focus at inf, min focus distance, and about 10 feet.
This will verify that all three RFDR adjustments are correct 
(including the one that half the damn repairmen don't know about!)
If the store won't let you do this, demand a refund on your 
original purchase, and write Leica describing your plight....
OH, and PLEASE post your results in graphic detail here for 
the rest of us.

Thanks for the space, 
Walt

On
Sat,
5
Dec 1998, Mike Austin wrote:

> Hello,
> 
> I'm new to the LUG, and I have a question about the M6s ability to accurately
> indicate the focus point/plane.
> 
> I have taken several pictures with a new M6TTL.  In my prints, the focus point
> appears to be in front of the subject the rangefinder determined was the focus
> point.  I have had this M6TTL sent to Leica in NJ because the vertical and
> infinite focus were not correct.  It took me a while to figure out that the
> vertical was offset.  
> 
> What made me start looking at the rangefinders accuracy was that my subject
> in my prints appeared soft.  The subject just did not appear sharp.  I used f/2
> on most of the photos taken.  At that aperture, the subject appears to be at
> the tail end of the depth of field.  
> 
> After I received the M6TTL from Leica, the focus point still appeared to be in
> front of the subject.  I have tried the 35mm and 50mm lens with the same
> results.
> 
> The question:  Anyone seen this before with the rangefinder on an M6TTL or M6?
> 
> I left the M6TTL with the dealer, and I was given a demo M6 (not an M6TTL) to
> use over the weekend with a 50mm lens.  The plan is to swap my M6TTL with a new
> M6TTL and see what happens.  I hope that this loaner M6 will come out right.
> 
> Since I cant sample a 1,001 M6TTLs to see how my prints come out, Im asking
> fellow Luggers if they have ever seen something like this....or heard of
> anything like this.  It could just be that I have a bumm M6TTL...who knows.
> 
> Thanks!!
>