Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/10/04

[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]

Subject: Re: [Leica] OT: Helios 85/1.5?history?
From: "Mârtiòð Zelmenis" <martin@lrpv.lv>
Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2001 14:34:35 +0200

Well -
actually I was wrong stating that I don't own Russian/Ukrainian cameras -
I've still got FT-2, a panoramic camera that produces 12 frames on a 36 exp.
roll. Theoretically it is a good camera - unobtrusive, for it doesn't
resemble a camera at all - but due to faulty materials the spring that
drives the cylinder with lens does not operate properly, resulting in uneven
exposures, if I use other shutter speeds than 1/100 (it's also got 1/200 and
1/400). All the people around who own the same type of cameras are
experiencing the same problem to an extent.

I am glad you are content with what you've got for your M6 - but happily
those lenses don't have too many moving parts, and it's no rocket science to
manufacture a (lens) barrel - cylinder moving inside a cylinder. It's a
different question when it comes to moving parts of an automatic diaphragm.

Yours
Martin

>
>Well, it was just my experience - you're right, it depends largely on
>choice - but then even meticulous choice may be a bad guide. If you take
>such risks, you may end up with lenses that are badly constructed, liable
to
>break easily because of it - and of bad materials as well. And it doesn't
>show on the first moment. It's just too easy to end up with a lemon.

Well, I've been buying and using SPS lenses and cameras for more than a
decade and have had a failure rate of around 10%.  The other 90% have
worked well and the optical quality of the lenses is astonishingly good.  I
regularly use Russian glass on my M6.

Cuique sua res, but it is dangerous to make a broad and general statement
based solely upon our own experience.

Marc

msmall@roanoke.infi.net  FAX:  +540/343-7315
Cha robh bàs fir gun ghràs fir!

- --
To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html

- --
To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html