M7 & The Slot Canyons in Arizona

[mflannery]

I have just returned from visiting the upper Antelope Slot canyon near Page Az with my M7 and am still awaiting the development of four rolls of film to check the results. However, I thought I would give a report on my camera and get advice on what to do next.
It was a cloudy and blowy day in the Slot and sandy dust was blowing all around. The light was still good, but not good conditions for cameras in general. I changed several rolls of film in these conditions and changed the lens several times-probably not too bright an idea under the circumstance. The camera performed well with a tripod with up to ten second exposure times. But the next day, while shooting elsewhere, the advance mechanism and actuating button froze up. I cannot take a picture, nor advance the film, in either AE mode nor on the manual speed which takes the batteries out of play. I replaced the batteries the day before to make sure they would not be a problem, so I do not have a dead battery problem. The exposure button only deflects downward a small amount so I suspect that sand or something is preventing the actuation of the lights, and not allowing the advancement of the film.

I intend to contact Leica, DAG and Sherry to see who to send it to, but I think I also need to replace the ISO pin sensors with the optical type as I ocassionally get false meter readings, and it needs to be "recycled" to get a correct reading.
Any opinions would be appreciated.

Also I was the only film shooter in a group of eight. One photog quit early due to conditions, and two others with high end brand name DSLRs experienced problems on site with their auto focusing lenses and other issues, so I was not alone-but at least I made it through the session.
I apologize for the long post-but those Canyons are really worth the visit.

Mike Flannery

 

[Zonan]

Yes, those canyons are beautiful, but the fine dust blowing in, floating down from above, is brutal on mechanical equipment. Even if you have a non-interchangeable lens camera, it still gets into the focusing mechanism if the lens barrel moves in/out.

You hit on a key point: opening the camera back and/or changing lenses presents an opportunity for trouble. Some kind of covering/tenting would help on the prevention side. Canned air may help clean some parts, but can also drive the gritty dust into delicate areas.

Short of using an underwater housing, there is no sure thing. I think you're on track about a good cleaning. Good luck.

 

[mbisc]

Last time I was in there (well, actually the Lower Antelope Canyon) with any of my new cameras (Contax Aria), I had to send 3 lenses to Zeiss for a thorough cleaning. Since then, I have only gone there with an old wood field camera with even older lenses (1940s Kodak lenses) which are easy/cheap to CLA, and don't have a focusing mechanism.

In short, I feel your pain, and you are not alone ...

 

[waileong]

Short of an underwater housing, one could use a pro weather-sealed slr.

Let us know if it was "worth" it once the repair bill comes back.

 

[mbisc]

Let us know if it was "worth" it

You're joking and/or have never been to Antelope Canyon 😀 -- my bill was a couple hundred dollars, and it was worth every penny 😉

 

[gavinlg]

Olympus e3 would be perfect for that, but it wouldn't make as nice pictures as leica/zeiss lenses projecting onto velvia!