[Leica] I dropped my M!

[hopsternew at gmail.com (Geoff Hopkinson)]

John, every Leica owner on the list feels your pain (or should). At least
you now have an honorable scar but not a repair bill.
There is no sadder sound than the thunk of Leica meeting stone!

2009/9/1 John Beeching <johnbeeching at gmail.com>

> Dear All,
>
> I suppose it has to happen some time, but it is painful when it does.  I've
> had my M6 for ten years now, put thousands of films through it, taken it
> all
> over the world - up tributaries on the Amazon in dugout canoes, across
> India, up Kilmanjaro, etc. - but have never dropped it.  This summer I was
> walking around a French chateau when the split ring on the strap worked
> itself off and the camera dropped off my shoulder onto the stone floor.  Of
> course it had on a heavier lens than my usual 35mm Summicron, the 90mm
> Elmarit.  It was more painful than when I cut off half my big toe with a
> lawnmover.  I staggered to a cafe and ordered a double espresso and a large
> brandy to calm myself down before checking the camera out.   The damage: a
> dent on the camera body just below the winder and a bent lens hood.  It
> still seemed to be able to focus as before and the shutter fired OK.  I put
> plenty more film through it since the drop and have got used to its war
> wounds, though they do ache when the weather is damp.  I am now steadily
> developing all the film.  The negatives look as good as ever, though I have
> yet to scan them, but I envisage no problem.
>
> The cause of the disaster.  I do not like plastic and so I had replaced the
> strap that came with the camera with a leather (for Leica) one from Luigi (
> http://www.leicatime.com/).  The split ring had worked off the camera once
> before, though I noticed it in time.  I should have taken that for a
> warning
> and gone back to the plastic Leica strap.  However, I did try to
> cannibalise
> the rings of the genuine Leica strap on to the leather one but without
> success.  Needless to say I now have the genuine plastic strap on my M6.
>
> Yours,
>
> John
>
> --
> John Beeching
> http://johnbeeching.com/
>
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> Leica Users Group.
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>



-- 
Cheers
Geoff
Alles was eine gute Kamera braucht / Everything a good camera needs:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/gh/
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