Re: [Leica] Curtain problem or what? Need your help!

[Godfrey DiGiorgi <ramarren@bayarea.net>]

>Don't you need special equipment to check a shutter accurately?

Yes, although you can do a somewhat rough test by running all the shutter 
speed/aperture combinations on a gray card and then examining the negs 
for density variations. Most of the time, I let the factory service reps 
who show up at local open-house affairs test shutters for me with their 
machines.

>Is there some reason why an M6 shutter would fall out of adjustment?  I don't
>recall ever having to test shutter speeds on F bodies (Nikon), and they were
>fully mechanical, as I recall.  (The F5 shutter is self-adjusting, if 
>adjustment is required.)

There's no particular reason other than what's been said already. Time, 
age and use all have their effects. Remember that the Leica M shutter is 
rubberized cloth, not metal, and will eventually need replacement of its 
curtains if they become dry and cracked. (The soft cloth shutter is, I 
suspect, one more reason for why Leica cameras have so little vibration, 
that and the low spring tension those curtains are operated with.) I've 
had my Nikon bodies tested now and then, they are much like the Leica in 
that they do not generally need much service but I did need minor repairs 
to one body which had lost its flash sync through wear on the sync 
contacts. 

While the F5's self-adjusting capability is a great boon, there are 
limits to how much adjustment it can effect eventually, at which point it 
will need service to restore it to proper working order. In casual use by 
an amateur photographer, thay may never occur. 

Godfrey