RE: [Leica] M reliability

[TTAbrahams@aol.com]

 I have been using M-cameras for a looong, looong time! M2's have broken 
down, M3's have broken down, M4's have broken down, M5's have broken down 
(slightly higher frequency than any other M I have owned), M4-2's, M4P's and 
M6's. At one time or another I have had technical problems with them, but 
they did not break down often and very rarely did it require major 'surgery" 
to fix. I did teach myself to reset rangefinders on M2/M3/M4-2 and M4-P. It 
does not require any major tools or a degree in engineering to do. Cameras 
are rather complex pieces of equipment and they are often treated in a less 
than "coddled" fashion when you make your living with them. Looking back I 
think that most of my problems happened with M3's and M4-2's. On the M3 the 
rangefinder would go out of alignment if it was dropped or bashed into a car 
door. The early DS M3 had problems with the shutter-brake once it got a bit 
worn and occasional problems with the rewind knob. The later M3 was better. 
The M2's were prone to slipping film-take-up spools (easily fixed by bending 
the "flanges" on the shaft with a penknife. The M4's had a lot of adjustments 
that could go out of whack in the rangefinder and was highly sensitive to 
airline travel. A lot of small screws would loosen and things would come 
adrift. The M5 had problem with the rewind and on one of them, the metercell 
decided not fold out of the way during exposure, leaving me with the problem 
of explaining to the client "The strange looking thing in the sky is not part 
of your product". The first batch of M4-2 had a tendency to develop a shutter 
bounce at 1/250 (nice crescent shaped 1 stop over exposed area). The later 
M4-2 had none of these problems, except that the lens lock screw would 
unscrew after 3-4 hours in a single engine bush-plane (I carried several 
bodies and at one time, all the lens lock screws had fallen out, limiting the 
shoot to whatever lenses were on the various body at that time!). The M4-P is 
the version I had the least problems with; the odd shutter curtain bounce or 
rangefinder adjustment and a couple of rewind cranks bent out of shape (bent 
them back with a screwdriver). The first M6's that I had required new 
meterchips (warranty repair) and the last "classic" M6's have held up very 
well. The M6 TTL 0,85 is doing fine, munching away at the batteries but much 
less so after my surgery in the battery compartment.
 If you disassemble an M2/M3/M4 there are more screws and nuts holding it 
together than the later M6. This is not necessarily better as they can 
vibrate loose or even worse become stuck and break off if you have to work on 
them. Leica, just as any other manufacturer, is making full use of advances 
in the metallurgy, machining, computer design etc that has happened in the 
last 30-40 years. Sometimes less is better, at lest when it comes to long 
lived design. What is remarkable with the M-camera is not how much it has 
changed, but how little it needed to change to be a modern, usable camera in 
year 2000.
 I have used Nikons, Canons, Hasselblads, Pentax, Linhof, Sinar, Alpa etc 
too. All in all, I had more technical problems with these cameras than with 
any of my Leica's and none of them feel so good in the hand as an M! Some of 
my M's go back to the late 50's or early 60's and none of them are "babied" 
in my hands. They are serviced reasonably regularly (every 7-10 years, unless 
something goes wrong) and I can do minor service on them myself 
(rangefinders, rewinds etc, not shutters or replacing parts in the 
rangefinders). At least 50% of repairs have been through my careless handling 
of the camera, dropping them on concrete floors, closing car-doors on them 
(will also dent the door!), subjecting a M2 to dripping chocolate ice-cream 
(don't ask!), having "The Big Strobe In The Sky" burning a hole in the 
shutter curtain (happened last year again, seems to be a 10 year cycle with 
this problem). Any M is a rugged piece of camera equipment and with 
reasonable care it will last longer than most photographers.
Tom A