I'd Leica Refund: A Week Long Tale of my Leica MP

[Mister E]

I'll get one, a refund that is, but it doesn't really make the situation any better.

I received my Leica MP on 7/26, just over a week ago. I bought it essentially new out of box, but maybe a roll or two had been run through it. So I initially wasn't very happy with how it felt compared to M2 and was going to return it, but when I tried I couldn't. I decided I'd just shoot it and resell it if the MP didn't grow on me. Well it did. Today I put maybe my 10th roll through the camera and then it broke. Not a major issue, but the film counter stopped resetting. What a crock! Mechanical Perfection, not exactly.

Now I know someone will point out that this didn't ruin a picture or stop me from shooting and they'd be correct. This isn't a game ending issue, but with all the problems I've had with Leicas it makes me to weary to hang onto the camera. I'm just venting a bit of frustration at all the love and money I've put into my Leicas and the continued problems they've given me. Both of my M2s are on their way to Sherry right now so I'm soon to be Leicaless for a few weeks. Sherry ones told me owning a Leica should be like loving a woman and she was right. Women are just as much trouble as Leicas 😀! This is not a rant! I'm a happy guy 😀!

 

[leicashot]

Like anything in life, things break, at any cost level. My D3 shutter died last week, but never had issues with Leica, yet.

Sorry to hear about your frustration. Leica do try but you're paying for branding and workmanship which doesn't always equate to the same level of 'reliability'.

Japanese cars like Toyota are the most reliable cars money can buy, and the same goes for cameras. My old 5-series BMW was better put together than my previous Honda but it wasn't as reliable, and this will always be the case with German VS Japanese.

Good luck with it.

 

[Steve_F]

Hmmm not sure about this. My Leica issues have been resolved by taking it's top off and having a fiddle with what's underneath. Problem solved.
Unfortunately that hasn't always been the case with g/f's...

Steve

 

[Mister E]

Hmmm not sure about this. My Leica issues have been resolved by taking it's top off and twiddling with a screwdriver. Unfortunately that hasn't always been the case with g/f's...

Steve

You did it wrong. You take their top off and they twiddle with your screwdriver. :bang:🙄

 

[Debusti Paolo]

very sorry for your experience🙁.Try a contax g2 while your're waiting for your leicas...😉

 

[Mister E]

Like anything in life, things break, at any cost level. My D3 shutter died last week, but never had issues with Leica, yet.

Sorry to hear about your frustration. Leica do try but you're paying for branding and workmanship which doesn't always equate to the same level of 'reliability'.

Japanese cars like Toyota are the most reliable cars money can buy, and the same goes for cameras. My old 5-series BMW was better put together than my previous Honda but it wasn't as reliable, and this will always be the case with German VS Japanese.

Good luck with it.

Yeah, here are my list of problems with the close to 30 Japanese made cameras I've had:


... then Leicas:
M6 - Capping shutter, flair-prone finder, light leaks galore, $1000+ later fixed
M2 - Capping shutter
M2 - Went in for CLA, two weeks after it came back torn shutter, now out of alignment
MP - Stuck frame coutner

And I've not been using a rangefinder that long!

 

[FrozenInTime]

You did try poking the lever next to the take up spool ?
One of my M6's did not reset one day and I thought a repair was in order.
But pushing the lever just once cleared it up and it's given many years reliable service since then.

 

[Mister E]

very sorry for your experience🙁.Try a contax g2 while your're waiting for your leicas...😉

Ha, I have my Ikon to tide me over while my M2s are gone. I don't have the time or money to put into yet another system!!

 

[Mister E]

You did try poking the lever next to the take up spool ?
One of my M6's did not reset one day and I thought a repair was in order.
But pushing the lever just once cleared it up and it's given many years reliable service since then.

Yep I poked the hell out of it.

 

[P. Lynn Miller]

I know the feeling... just when I get the funds saved up to splurge on a Nikon RF, my meter on my M5 decides to give up the ghost. I knew it was coming, the M5 is way over due a CLA, so I guess it is off to DAG for an overhaul.

Are Nikon RF's this much trouble? Knowing as much as I know about the Nikon F, I probably could give a S2, S3 or SP an overhaul on the kitchen table.

If only the Nokton 35/1.1 and 50/1.1 were available in S-mount...:bang:

 

[Keith]

I know the feeling... just when I get the funds saved up to splurge on a Nikon RF, my meter on my M5 decides to give up the ghost. I knew it was coming, the M5 is way over due a CLA, so I guess it is off to DAG for an overhaul.

Are Nikon RF's this much trouble? Knowing as much as I know about the Nikon F, I probably could give a S2, S3 or SP an overhaul on the kitchen table.

If only the Nokton 35/1.1 and 50/1.1 were available in S-mount...:bang:

Or F mount! 😀

 

[Mister E]

Are Nikon RF's this much trouble? Knowing as much as I know about the Nikon F, I probably could give a S2, S3 or SP an overhaul on the kitchen table.

If only the Nokton 35/1.1 and 50/1.1 were available in S-mount...:bang:

Nope they are great. I've had NO trouble out of my 7 or 8 S-mount cameras, many of them have had tons of use and no CLAs or work done. I'd love a 50/1.1 in S-mount, but the Nikkor version is pretty darn good. As for a 35/1.2, I don't like 35mm on any of the Nikon RF cameras because of the lack of parallax corrected frame lines.

 

[maddoc]

As much as I like the design and handling of M Leica cameras as much am I afraid that they break sooner or later, especially the recent models ... The build quality is history (for cost saving reasons) and the older and better build cameras are coming close to the end of their life cycle (worn mechanics, deteriorating optical coatings, brittle shutter curtains and coverings).

For me the best compromise is still the M4-P...

 

[elude]

You seem to be quite unlucky. I've never had ANY problems with my successively M6, M3, M3, MP, M3, M2. i have had with my Hasselblad, Olympus, Zeiss Ikon... Little and big problems. **** Happens, you know it !

 

[awilder]

Sorry to hear of your problem so soon but the frame counter issue doesn't surprise me as it happened with my MP about 6 or 7 years into owning one. If you bought it used without warranty and you must pay for repair, ask Sherry if she could exchange the MP's frame counter mechanism for an M4 type of counter. Compared to the frame counters from the earlier Wetzlar M Leicas, the counter mechanism in the MP was simplified for cost cutting measures and it's far from "mechanical perfection" as I'm sure she will explain to you. I've been told by Don at DAG that the M3/M4/M5 designs were as perfect a mechanism as one could hope for. Fortunately, the MP has the internal dimensions that can allow for exchange unlike the M7 or M6TTL. If she can do it, then your MP will be as close to mechanical perfection as you can get.

 

[leicashot]

The recent issues you've been having have probably been due to all the user error by new RF users since digital trying to go old school, not knowing what they're doing, screwing up the cameras then on selling to people like yourself....or maybe it's just my wild imagination.

 

[P. Lynn Miller]

...As much as I like the design and handling of M Leica cameras as much am I afraid that they break sooner or later...

Gabor,

I have the same feeling. Even though my M5 is built like a tank, it feels fragile and vulnerable, for some reason. This does not prevent me from using and abusing it in all manner of ways though. The Bessa R-series feel disposable to me. This does not make either of these models any less good photographic tools. It is they just do not inspire the confidence of my Nikon's.

It may be experience, because I have had plenty of malfunctions with my Nikon's but this is usually the result of an extreme accident, such as being buried at the beach or hitting the pavement at 50klm/h or similar. Even then I have been able to resurrect them within a few hours with a couple of small screwdrivers and a Leatherman.

I am certainly not implying that Leica's are not a sturdy camera, there are plenty of photographers who have put their Leica's on the firing line with spectacular results.

Back to the tool analogy, I consider my Nikon's a hammer while my Leica feels more like a hand-plane. Drop the hammer on the floor, it gets scruffed and scratched, drop a hand-plane and you could be spending the rest of the day relapping the sole.

 

[bennyng]

Wow Nate, there's having a run of bad luck, and then there's your experience with Leica cameras. It must be a sign. I think the rangefinder gods are trying to tell you something 😱

Stick with Nikon? 😀

But sorry to hear about the MP Nate. Most consider this to be the ultimate Leica to buy, given it's sexy marketing. And this film counter problem has been reported across the web so it's not really a new issue. After Leica resolves the issue, I'm sure you'll be happy with it. If not, I do remember seeing a black paint M3 sold here a few years ago that was modified with the modern take up spool as well as 6 framelines. I believe DAG did it modifications. Something to consider?

Cheers,

 

[Keith]

Gabor,

I have the same feeling. Even though my M5 is built like a tank, it feels fragile and vulnerable, for some reason. This does not prevent me from using and abusing it in all manner of ways though. The Bessa R-series feel disposable to me. This does not make either of these models any less good photographic tools. It is they just do not inspire the confidence of my Nikon's.

It may be experience, because I have had plenty of malfunctions with my Nikon's but this is usually the result of an extreme accident, such as being buried at the beach or hitting the pavement at 50klm/h or similar. Even then I have been able to resurrect them within a few hours with a couple of small screwdrivers and a Leatherman.

I am certainly not implying that Leica's are not a sturdy camera, there are plenty of photographers who have put their Leica's on the firing line with spectacular results.

Back to the tool analogy, I consider my Nikon's a hammer while my Leica feels more like a hand-plane. Drop the hammer on the floor, it gets scruffed and scratched, drop a hand-plane and you could be spending the rest of the day relapping the sole.

Back when I worked on motorcycles Ducatis were regarded as beautiful bikes, exquisitly made and generally very reliable if you knew what you were doing. Start hammering them over some of the less well made Australian roads though and things started to break! The Japanese bikes by comparison were indestructable ... things got a bit tatty and they generally lacked any class as a rule ... but they kept going! 😛

 

[Mister E]

The recent issues you've been having have probably been due to all the user error by new RF users since digital trying to go old school, not knowing what they're doing, screwing up the cameras then on selling to people like yourself....or maybe it's just my wild imagination.

That's very unlikely I think. This was never meant to be a thread bashing Leica. I love, but am frustrated by my Leica cameras.