davidwau
Newbie
After a few months of bliss with my CL, the "needle" in the meter has decided to dissapear. Have tried new battery, new film, changing lens... any ideas? Thank you for your help.
David
David
Dead meter on CL?
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clintock
Galleryless Gearhead
My cl meter sometimes needs to be jostled back to life by repeatedly pushing the battery test button to clean the contacts, and turning the meter on and off with the advance lever..
Also once a bit of iron or some such flake was lodged in the meter movement, requiring surgery. It worked fine after the iron flake was removed from the meter's magnet.
The meter has a circuit board with calibration trimmers on it, which by now can get intermittent.
When I got my CL, i understood why leica was so unwilling to put meters into the M bodies.
Still I like real meter needles better than the blaring leds in my bessa r.
Also once a bit of iron or some such flake was lodged in the meter movement, requiring surgery. It worked fine after the iron flake was removed from the meter's magnet.
The meter has a circuit board with calibration trimmers on it, which by now can get intermittent.
When I got my CL, i understood why leica was so unwilling to put meters into the M bodies.
Still I like real meter needles better than the blaring leds in my bessa r.
clarence
ダメ
Does anyone know a good place to get the meter serviced in the UK?
Thank you.
Clarence
Thank you.
Clarence
FrankS
Registered User
Consider using a handheld or shoe-mounted external meter. The CV Meter II fits in the hotshoe and is a great meter that you can use with other cameras. I prefer it to the built-in CL meter which still works on my camera. With it, I can take a meter reading and set the camera at arm's length without raising it to my eye.
Mark Wood
Well-known
Hi Clarence,
Peter at CRR in Luton advertises a repair service for CLs and their meters:
http://www.angelfire.com/biz/Leica/
He's repaired several LTM cameras/lenses for me in the past and done an excellent (and reasonably priced) job. He's always busy which must say something about his work in general.
Peter at CRR in Luton advertises a repair service for CLs and their meters:
http://www.angelfire.com/biz/Leica/
He's repaired several LTM cameras/lenses for me in the past and done an excellent (and reasonably priced) job. He's always busy which must say something about his work in general.
clarence
ダメ
Thanks for the suggestions. Frank, I also normally prefer using a handheld meter so I don't alert my subject to the camera. I intend, however, to bring the CL out when I don't want to have to carry anything else, and I need a compact a package as possible to put into a pocket.
Mark, do you know if Peter at CRR will be able to re-calibrate the meter for modern batteries?
Thank you.
Clarence
Mark, do you know if Peter at CRR will be able to re-calibrate the meter for modern batteries?
Thank you.
Clarence
Mark Wood
Well-known
Hi Clarence
I don't know what Peter's solution is to the battery problem in the CL but it would definitely be worth talking to him. He's always been more than helpful when I've contacted him.
There seem to be many suggestions as to how to solve the PX625 problem floating around on the web, most of which seem to be founded on opinion and myth rather than actual scientific fact. I've found that a homemade adapter (from a hollowed out alkaline PX625A and a zener diode to drop the voltage of a silver oxide battery) works well with my Leicameter MR but whether or not it would work with the CL, I don't know. This approach (if it's done properly) needs careful choice of zener diode and I suspect I was just lucky when I used the only one I could find. (The "Olympus approved" modification/recalibration of my OM-1n, which wasn't cheap, is rather less successful...!)
I don't know what Peter's solution is to the battery problem in the CL but it would definitely be worth talking to him. He's always been more than helpful when I've contacted him.
There seem to be many suggestions as to how to solve the PX625 problem floating around on the web, most of which seem to be founded on opinion and myth rather than actual scientific fact. I've found that a homemade adapter (from a hollowed out alkaline PX625A and a zener diode to drop the voltage of a silver oxide battery) works well with my Leicameter MR but whether or not it would work with the CL, I don't know. This approach (if it's done properly) needs careful choice of zener diode and I suspect I was just lucky when I used the only one I could find. (The "Olympus approved" modification/recalibration of my OM-1n, which wasn't cheap, is rather less successful...!)
rxmd
May contain traces of nut
I would be surprised if it actually contains a zener diode. Firstly, voltage stabilisation with zener diodes works well, but it burns away all the excess voltage through the zener diode, meaning that your battery constantly gets discharged through the diode until its voltage has dropped below the zener voltage of the diode. Not very efficient. Secondly, are zener diodes even available with zener voltages of 1.35V?
Usually this kind of low-tech adapters uses a plain (Schottky) diode instead. The problem with those is that the voltage drop depends on the current through the diode, so at zero current the light meter sees the full 1.55V or whatever from the battery. Depending on how the meter circuit actually works this can deliver more or less satisfactory results, as the input voltage is dependent on the current. This is why reports about these adapters are quite varying with different cameras.
A universally good adapter would use a low drop voltage regulator instead, such as ICL7663. You get constant 1.3V, and the chip uses something like 5 to 10 mA for itself (i.e. next to nothing compared to zener diodes). The slight disadvantage is that the chip is bigger than a diode.
Philipp
Mark Wood
Well-known
Apologies Philipp, I did of course use a Schottky diode (BAT83) and not a zener. The instructions for how to make an adapter can be found at:
http://www.kyphoto.com/classics/mercurybattery.html
The article goes some way to explaining why different meters will need a different diode - as you say, it's a very low-tech approach to solving the problem.
http://www.kyphoto.com/classics/mercurybattery.html
The article goes some way to explaining why different meters will need a different diode - as you say, it's a very low-tech approach to solving the problem.
Flyfisher Tom
Well-known
David,
Have you considered taking an entirely different route, just getting a VC Voigtlander Meter I or II? The II is smaller than the I and fits in the hotshoe of your CL. Takes easy to find batteries. And you don't have to open the back when you need to change batteries. Plus, you can move it to any other meterless camera you wish when you are not using the CL. Costs about $175 new, which might be more cost effective in the long run than having the CL meter replaced or fixed.
It is a great camera 🙂 good luck
Have you considered taking an entirely different route, just getting a VC Voigtlander Meter I or II? The II is smaller than the I and fits in the hotshoe of your CL. Takes easy to find batteries. And you don't have to open the back when you need to change batteries. Plus, you can move it to any other meterless camera you wish when you are not using the CL. Costs about $175 new, which might be more cost effective in the long run than having the CL meter replaced or fixed.
It is a great camera 🙂 good luck
