Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/03/19

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Subject: [Leica] Re: Questions regarding a IIIf
From: Doug Cooper <visigoth@echonyc.com>
Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2000 17:04:25 -0500 (EST)

Well, I went to the show and traded that Canon 7 for a user IIIf, with a
Summitar and a Russian turret finder.  The variable finder is lovely; the
Summitar is optically *mint*, and mechanically pretty nice, except that
some moron didn't know how to collapse it properly, so scarred the thin
barrel in interesting ways.

As for the IIIf.  It worked beautifully at the show (that is, after Sherry
extracted a film chip from it):  shutter speeds accurate, etc.

As soon as I got it home, the slow speeds stopped working altogether.  You
put it on one second, and you get 1/30th.  You put it on 1/10, and you get
1/30th.  It's as if the slow dial has ceased to exist.  So what does this
mean?  Complete CLA?  Or is there some way of bringing them back?  (With a
Rollei, dry firing a few hundred times often restores an erratic
shutter; but I've never had a shutter do precisely this on me.)

I suppose this is karmic retribution for my taking Lazarus's name in
vain...

Also, is there any way to adjust the viewfinder myself?  It seems accurate
at infinity, but off a bit at four feet, five feet etc.  (Although this
might simply be the inaccuracy of the markings on the lens barrel, as
pointed out by someone else.  I'll put a film through it and see what
happens.)  Does accuracy at infinity generally mean that it will be
correct throughout the range?

My Canon IVsb is definitely a bit off; it would be great if
there were some simple adjustment I could make on my own.


cheers,


Douglas Cooper


(who owes Marc Small a great deal for his archival recommendation of this
Russian finder.  Btw:  mine has a circular semi-transparent image
surrounding the bright rectangle, whereas some are merely
rectangular; why this difference?)