Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/11/29
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Dante, several thoughts on your mechanical/electronic debate. Mechanical systems tend to fail slowly and with lots of warning. If you listen to your machine it will tell you whether it is getting sick. Electronic systems fail catastrophically giving you no time to adjust. Most of your examples of mechanical cameras failing will give you some image to work with. I have had pinholes, slow second curtain, slow high speeds, dead slow speeds: all of these failures still provided me with an image I could work with. Now can we talk about my electronic shutter that decided to not open but sound OK: Two rolls of entirely blank film. Earlier this year, one of my SL's decided to lock up it's mirror. Everything else still worked so I could zone focus and eyeball coverage to come home with useable images. In an electronic system, if the mirror isn't where it is supposed to be, the system shuts down with no images possible. Your example of a leaf shutter failing every ten or twenty shots is still better than eight blanks from an electronic leaf that quits. Water damage will shut down an electronic camera now with no waiting. Salt water in your electronic camera will kill it now, usually beyond repair. Shower your mechanical camera, get it really wet. Stop a few minutes, dry off what you can see, and keep shooting. Yes, the camera might die in time but today you can get your shots. Now lets talk about fixing a broken camera. A mechanical camera can usually be repaired if it is worth the price to you. With an electronic camera, once the part is no longer available SOL. At first, parts can be cannibalized from other camera's, but over time some component will fail on all the camera's of that design. A prime example would be the Contarex Electronic, now only about 30 years old. The real issue however, is to not get involved in the argument of which is better. The real issue is to be aware of your equipments potential faults and deal appropriately with them. Very rarely do we get to choose whether we want electronic or mechanical in similar camera's. The Leica system is one of the rare places you can use either, as suits your needs or the requirements needed for the image you wanted. Thanks for asking, Don dorysrus@mindspring.com - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html