Re: [Leica] HELP PLEASE W/QUESTIONS ABOUT THE INFAMOUS R4

["michael a. marcus" <mamarcus@home.com>]

thanx for your reply...probably not seals because two rolls shot the day
before were fine, and they were shot on a different exposure mode! so
its a puzzler. btw i am in west hartford and got the camera the other
day at the trade show in waltham, ma.  basically for the cost of the
used summicron-r 2/35

Roy Zartarian wrote:
> 
> On 2 May 00, at 20:57, michael a. marcus wrote:
> > base?"  I ask because I read that R4's from about late #159xxxx were
> > more or less OK if the number was inscribed not "on the base but on the
> > rear edge of the base."
> The conventional wisdom here on the LUG about the R4 bdy placed
> the demarcation at 1,600,000
> 
> [snip]
> > reason I thought that I had to set the shutter speed to 1/30.  The whole
> > roll came out with an orange band of light leak on left side of prints,
> > which I suspect is because I had set the shutter speed so slow.  OR is
> > that PERHAPS A KNOWN PROBLEM because of the finicky electronics?   AND
> Every print? On the negatives as well? Same place? This could be
> a sign of bad seals on the camera back or inside the camera.
> Internal seals are a pricey job.
> 
> > FINALLY QUESTION #3:  If I ascertain that I have a dog of an R4, should
> > I exchange it (w/Leica) for an R6.2 or an R8?  I'm asking more with
> > respect to known problems with the cameras, rather than with regard to
> > my own preferences on picture taking.  THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR ANY
> > RESPONSES!
> I once had  a pre-1,600,000 R4. I was so convinced that it was
> possessed by demons that I named it Christine after the car in the
> Stephen King novel.  Fortunately, it fell off a table, landed on its
> rewind knob, and completely destroyed its top plate and damaged
> the film advance/rewind mechanisms. Repairs would have made
> this the most expensive R4 in history, so I replaced it with an R4sp
> which now serves as a backup body to an R8.  As to the choices
> you mentioned, you have to decide for yourself whether you prefer
> the feel of the smaller body over the larger and whether you want
> the all manual functioning of the R6.2 or the electronic brains of the
> R8.
> 
> Roy
>