Leica M6 TTL Horizontal Alignment (infinity) off

Godfrey said:
When I obtained the M4-2, its rangefinder was off, both in vertical alignment and in accuracy. It was also not moving smoothly. A full viewfinder service (clean, lube, collimate and calibrate) cost me $100 and took a week at my local shop. That's cheap enough and fast enough to be worth letting a shop do it.

Godfrey
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$100 for a CLA sounds nice. Though I dont really trust the local guy that everyone recommends in NYC, I havent had the best of luck with him and I doubt he would only charge $100. Though he is a really nice fellow. If anyone else in NYC can recommend some folks they use, that would be awesome!

If need be, my plan was to send my camera to Youxin Ye, from what I've and from my communications with him, he seems to have a quick turn around, and is very pleasant to deal with.
 
Most Leica CLAs in the USA run $150 -500

Haven't been to NYC in some time, but Lens & repro has a in house repair dept. and there are plenty of repair shops in the photo district that can adjust your rangefinder. If all fails contact:
Sherry Krauter
Campbell Hall, NY
http://www.sherrykrauter.com/
 
rlouzan said:
Most Leica CLAs in the USA run $150 -500

Haven't been to NYC in some time, but Lens & repro has a in house repair dept. and there are plenty of repair shops in the photo district that can adjust your rangefinder. If all fails contact:
Sherry Krauter
Campbell Hall, NY
http://www.sherrykrauter.com/
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Lens & Repro are long gone. With most of the founding staff now working Calumet Cameras. Like with many of the old time camera shops in NYC, the owners moved on to work for whichever giant camera shop bought their inventory. Shame.
 
rlouzan said:
That is really sad:eek:

but have a look at N12:
http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?95980-Lens-and-Repro-has-closed!/page2
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That's good to know. I guess the Penumbra Foundation (Center for Alternative Photography) has a permanent space or something now if thats the case. Back when I use to take wet plate classes there, "there" was just a (tiny) photo studio that they borrowed on the weekends. Guess I should have actually paid more attention to their newsletters :D

But wait, The Center for Alternative Photography only deals in large format alternative process photography. Have you used this repair person for leica equipment?
 
I share a slightly different perspective on the matter. I've adjusted my M2 rangefinder a number of times (when I owned it) and my M6TTL a couple. I may be a little braver or just stupider than the "get a CLA" folks, but it's not rocket science -make a slight turn on #1 in your diagram with the proper tool, slap the lens back on and see if it aligns. If it does, you won. If it's further out, you turned it the wrong way. You just need to understand that these are precision parts and not a lug nut on the wheel of your car, so be gentle.

On a second perspective, if you're talking about "slight" misalignment and that "The problems doesnt seem to interfere with focus at all", than what's the issue? I mean, precision focusing at 1m might warrant the repair, but if you're shooting f5.6-22 and mostly shooting things 5 feet away more more, than is it so hard to live with it? This is also coming from a guy who has had the vertical alignment off in his M6TTL for about 2 years, so I tend to be biased on the matter.
I have had rangefinders knocked our of alignment from falls, rewind knobs break internally, meters go faulty, holes in my curtains, and probably a bunch of other things. I bought the tools and was able to fix them all myself and all my friends and family can attest that I am no genius. There's many things I won't even attempt to fix in a Leica, but I guarantee you that if you send it to Youxin Ye and ask him to videotape him doing the alignment, it would be the exact same thing you would do anyway -hence why it's a $20-40 job.
 
jordanstarr said:
I share a slightly different perspective on the matter. I've adjusted my M2 rangefinder a number of times (when I owned it) and my M6TTL a couple. I may be a little braver or just stupider than the "get a CLA" folks, but it's not rocket science -make a slight turn on #1 in your diagram with the proper tool, slap the lens back on and see if it aligns. If it does, you won. If it's further out, you turned it the wrong way. You just need to understand that these are precision parts and not a lug nut on the wheel of your car, so be gentle.

On a second perspective, if you're talking about "slight" misalignment and that "The problems doesnt seem to interfere with focus at all", than what's the issue? I mean, precision focusing at 1m might warrant the repair, but if you're shooting f5.6-22 and mostly shooting things 5 feet away more more, than is it so hard to live with it? This is also coming from a guy who has had the vertical alignment off in his M6TTL for about 2 years, so I tend to be biased on the matter.
I have had rangefinders knocked our of alignment from falls, rewind knobs break internally, meters go faulty, holes in my curtains, and probably a bunch of other things. I bought the tools and was able to fix them all myself and all my friends and family can attest that I am no genius. There's many things I won't even attempt to fix in a Leica, but I guarantee you that if you send it to Youxin Ye and ask him to videotape him doing the alignment, it would be the exact same thing you would do anyway -hence why it's a $20-40 job.
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I dont think youre wrong, and I have every intension of doing this myself. I dont see how your prospective is differing from what most people are saying in this thread. I think most people looking at this will agree, youre 100% right in your way of thinking, on both counts.
 
enero said:
$100 for a CLA sounds nice. ...
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Remember that in my case, it was just the viewfinder being serviced. He checked the shutter accuracy for me too, and that does/will soon need a CLA as well, but it's in the ballpark and is quite useable as is. I decided not to do the larger overhaul until it was a little further out of spec.

The guy I've worked with on this stuff for the past decade and some is very good, although he's an older gent and a one man shop so sometimes things get delayed. I've got enough equipment that I never worry about how long it's going to take for a job to be finished, as long as he keeps in touch and lets me know it's not just sitting on a shelf while he plays pinochle. ;-)

When I really need something done quickly, he defers other work to address it, so I understand when the same happens to one of mine.

G
 
Godfrey said:
Remember that in my case, it was just the viewfinder being serviced. He checked the shutter accuracy for me too, and that does/will soon need a CLA as well, but it's in the ballpark and is quite useable as is. I decided not to do the larger overhaul until it was a little further out of spec.

The guy I've worked with on this stuff for the past decade and some is very good, although he's an older gent and a one man shop so sometimes things get delayed. I've got enough equipment that I never worry about how long it's going to take for a job to be finished, as long as he keeps in touch and lets me know it's not just sitting on a shelf while he plays pinochle. ;-)

When I really need something done quickly, he defers other work to address it, so I understand when the same happens to one of mine.

G
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Yes, thanks for the clarification, I am very aware that CLAs generally cost considerably more :)

But if I had a person that I sent to regularly, it would be because I trusted them, time wouldnt be a factor unless it was something that was a rush, and if said repair person was to meet my standards, I would hope that, like your person, they too would defer to someone else that they trusted and could do the job in the time I needed them to.
 
Just a quick update for future interest, I found a flathead (drill, muti-head screw driver, etc) bit that fit the screw perfectly and it took me about a minute to fix this problem. I just took my time and very very gently, without any (vertical) pressure, gave the screw a counter-clockwise turn of about 0.5mm and it was spot on. I nudged the screw back and forth to confirm and was done.

Thanks for all the advise, concern, and help!
 
enero said:
Just a quick update for future interest, I found a flathead (drill, muti-head screw driver, etc) bit that fit the screw perfectly and it took me about a minute to fix this problem. I just took my time and very very gently, without any (vertical) pressure, gave the screw a counter-clockwise turn of about 0.5mm and it was spot on. I nudged the screw back and forth to confirm and was done.

Thanks for all the advise, concern, and help!
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I'm having this issue as well (in fact, it sounds identical to the issue I've noticed), and appreciate the update! Just for a bit more peace of mind, have you had any focus issues (shots coming back out of focus, etc) since your DIY repair?

Thanks again!
 
fotolorea said:
I'm having this issue as well (in fact, it sounds identical to the issue I've noticed), and appreciate the update! Just for a bit more peace of mind, have you had any focus issues (shots coming back out of focus, etc) since your DIY repair?

Thanks again!
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Nope none at all. Ive since done this on a couple of different M bodies and its a pretty cut and dry kinda fix. Though if there are any focusing issues at close focus, its more about calibrating your RF to your lens then it just being misaligned. So you should confirm that before trying this. (edit: I have no idea where that sentence came from, since you didnt mention close focus, but I'll leave it for posterity...)

Just be careful not to put any vertical pressure when turning the screw. And patience is key. If you cant get it after a minute or two. Take a break and go back to it. Doing these kind of adjustments (horizontal or vertical) can be nerve wrecking. Ive found taking a break after a minute helps get these things done faster.
 
enero said:
Just be careful not to put any vertical pressure when turning the screw. And patience is key. If you cant get it after a minute or two. Take a break and go back to it. Doing these kind of adjustments (horizontal or vertical) can be nerve wrecking. Ive found taking a break after a minute helps get these things done faster.
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Thanks for the tip! (And for the quick reply!)

I'll have to look around for a tool to get this done. Any recommendations on that front? Did you just file something down similar to the photo earlier in this thread?

EDIT: Sorry, short memory (I'm also bouncing between various forums plus work). I see you already answered the above :)
 
Thats the tool I used (the second time around). Didnt need to file mine down. it fit perfectly :)

Good luck with yours!

fotolorea said:
Thanks for the tip! (And for the quick reply!)

I'll have to look around for a tool to get this done. Any recommendations on that front? Did you just file something down similar to the photo earlier in this thread?

EDIT: Sorry, short memory (I'm also bouncing between various forums plus work). I see you already answered the above :)
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I was able to adjust RF on infinity and one meter after I purchased my M4-2.
Dropped it yesterday :eek:, infinity is way off now and I can't re-adjust it. :bang:
 
enero said:
So yeah, seems that sometime in the last couple of weeks, infinity on my M6 TTL got slightly out of whack. Ive googled to see if I can easily fix the Horizontal alignment myself. Though I did find some info about doing it on M cameras in general, there was nothing specific to the M6 (TTL). I was wondering if anyone can confirm if the proceeder that I found on LEICA FAQ is the correct one for my model camera, or if I should do something else.

I wanted to ask before I went near my camera with a screwdriver. Thanks in advance!
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I am not a camera repair technician: I would not dream of fixing my Leica rangefinder. The M4-2 I bought a couple of years ago had a similar problem. I immediately brought it to my local camera tech and had him evaluate and repair the camera. He did a thorough cleaning of the entire viewfinder optics and mechanism, aligned everything, and calibrated the rangefinder. The cost was less than $100.

To me, that's a bargain. Get it taken care of properly by a trained technician.

G
 
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