To M6 CLA or buy lenses? Both expensive!

Dump the M6 and get the black MP. Life is short and cruel. Life with a black MP is tolerable, if not downright pleasurable. Just holding this camera makes me smile.

I trust your years of experience on exposure. If the shutter speeds are off on your M6, then it needs to be sent away to be adjusted. No two ways about it.

And I hate spending money on fixing stuff.
I would rather start over.

You deserve an MP. Look how hard you have been working 🙂.
 
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Ahhh, you don't want to get help to solve the problem - you want reasons to buy a MP!!!! Well if it helps: To make a M6 going to work in a good way you have to spend thousand of Dollars in the next years, going from on CLA to the next. MPs NEVER need overhauls and they already have a good finder - so BUYING a MP is MUCH CEAPER on the long run. 😀😀
(Sorry, couldn't help - my advice: get an electronic shutter tester which will cost you about 20 bucks, see, if the speeds are off, in case they are, get this fixed (Youxin) and then use it some time. If you then get along with it, you can think of a MP finder (I myself think I would recognize a difference but never hardly had any problem with the original finder) - otherwise its not a matter of under- or overexposure - its a serious beginning of GAS 😀
 
Yes, this problem is slowly evolving into GAS. What started as a genuine desire to correct a problem, has rapidly taken a turn for the worse.
 
hteasley said:
I spent this afternoon at Youxin's, watching him CLA a IIIf I picked up a month or so ago...

He cut a new beam splitter from a larger piece of silvered glass for the rangefinder and installed that.
Click to expand...

I'm curious how this was done? I'm going to replace the rf mirror on my minolta AL, once I figure out how to cut down one of the pieces I have. Thank you!
 
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Tke the back of the camera off, take the lens off, set speed to 1/1000 and hold the camera a few inches from a white noise chanel on an old crt tv. Fire off a few frames while looking through the gate. You should see a line 2-3 mm wide arcing from top right to mid left. You won't see it every frame due frequency but keep firing and you should see this line. Change to slower speed 1/500, 1/250 and lastly 1/125 and the line gets wider. If this is ok then it's not the shutter.
This is how I test every M I have had before either buying or before I start adjusting.
If you still think it's in need of attention then sell it to me for parts!!!! :}
 
anitasanger said:
Yes, this problem is slowly evolving into GAS. What started as a genuine desire to correct a problem, has rapidly taken a turn for the worse.
Click to expand...

Then good luck finding a good MP🙂 (but still try to figure out if it#s the shutter so that you might be able to get more money selling the M6 if the shutter is ok...)
 
I say if you're happy with your M6, get it CLA'ed and rest assured you have a perfectly functioning camera for a good long time to come. There are no assurances that any MP you bought may not need a CLA too.

There's a lot been written about CLA's here, and if going this route it's important to get the job done right. CLA'ing a camera is an time consuming activity, and involves taking everything apart and cleaning it, re-lubing it and putting it all back together. Any inherent problems will also be revealed by a CLA, and you can rest assured you will be getting back a camera in factory condition.

Cheap CLA's may be tempting, but often a false economy, and there have been many reports of cheap CLA's involving nothing more than soaking everything in lubricant and re-assembling. No dirt/ dried lubricants are removed and the returned camera is just ready for disaster. I'm not saying any of the tech's listed on this thread are like that, but there seem to be enough out there that are, that it would be wise to ensure you are getting a good CLA. Even if it's expensive, it's nothing really over the trouble-free life of the camera you will be getting back.

Figure a CLA takes about 20/ 25/ 30 labour hours when properly done, so you can probably do the math yourself, to see what tech's are getting out of it.

I would say get the camera done. I might skimp on the MP upgrade, if it was me though. Peace of mind is invaluable.
 
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damien.murphy said:
I say if you're happy with your M6, get it CLA'ed and rest assured you have a perfectly functioning camera for a good long time to come. There are no assurances that any MP you bought may not need a CLA too.

There's a lot been written about CLA's here, and if going this route it's important to get the job done right. CLA'ing a camera is an time consuming activity, and involves taking everything apart and cleaning it, re-lubing it and putting it all back together. Any inherent problems will also be revealed by a CLA, and you can rest assured you will be getting back a camera in factory condition.

Cheap CLA's may be tempting, but often a false economy, and there have been many reports of cheap CLA's involving nothing more than soaking everything in lubricant and re-assembling. No dirt/ dried lubricants are removed and the returned camera is just ready for disaster. I'm not saying any of the tech's listed on this thread are like that, but there seem to be enough out there that are, that it would be wise to ensure you are getting a good CLA. Even if it's expensive, it's nothing really over the trouble-free life of the camera you will be getting back.

Figure a CLA takes about 20/ 25/ 30 labour hours when properly done, so you can probably do the math yourself, to see what tech's are getting out of it.

I would say get the camera done. I might skimp on the MP upgrade, if it was me though. Peace of mind is invaluable.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the detailed explanation. These are very, very valid points and helps me when choosing a CLA technician. The last thing i want to do is choose a technician who cuts corners, only guaranteeing future problems. It sounds like vey intricate, very delicate, time consuming process!
 
I contacted one of the techs a few years back about a CLA and was told never have one worked on unless you are certain it needs it. I would work the shutter, many times, without film and then try again, fresh film, fresh batteries ect. Make certain.
Ok some one what is an MP upgrade? Just the finder or more to it?
 
cosmonaut said:
I contacted one of the techs a few years back about a CLA and was told never have one worked on unless you are certain it needs it. I would work the shutter, many times, without film and then try again, fresh film, fresh batteries ect. Make certain.
Ok some one what is an MP upgrade? Just the finder or more to it?
Click to expand...

The MP upgrade is a finder upgrade only. There's nothing more to it.

Having used both an M6 and an MP, I have to say that the MP finder is much nicer. It's pretty incredible to me, how folks say they seldom get bad patch flaring on their M6s, when using mine, I was getting patch flaring almost every outing. It was a really noticable issue for me. M6s are nice and all, but it shocks me that they might vary so wildly that some folks have no troubles, and others (like me) have a lot of trouble with the patch.
 
With regard to cla's. Most of the mechanism is assembled at factory and is not dis assembled during a cla to my knowledge unless there is a broken component etc. Removing the core from the shell, cleaning out the dust and dirt, relubing certain bearings and adjusting speeds and focus is about all you'll get.
Taking a camera down to it's component parts is completely unecessary UNLESS something is broken.
My old MP (sold to a member here) and incidentally bought from a member here, had a problem with slow speeds. A new MP with erratic slow speeds! slipped the net of quality control. I took it to Will van Manen who knows exactly what he's doing and he said it probably needed the slow speed mech cleaning. An easy job and one I've done myself more than a few times. He cleaned it but no joy. Turns out that the top plate of the mech was not quite straight! So Will took the mechanism apart which when you see one is no small job, hammered the plate straight and put it back together.
The point to all this is that if it's working ok then don't get it fixed and certainly don't assume that your CLA is going to be a total strip down as it probably wont be unless something is actually broken.
C clean
L lubricate
A adjust
It doesn't mean a strip and rebuild!
 
If I know the M-shutters since 1963, I doubt your shutter could be off so severe to cause 1 to 2 stop underexposure at all speeds. Before shipping the M6 for CLA, I suggest you make a final test: Find a place your meter shows 125/5.6. Then shoot at 125/5.6, 250/4, 500/2.8 and 1000/2... then repeat the same the opposite way; 60/8, 30/11, 15/5.6. Develop your film and check the density of each frame. This will tell you a lot about each speed.
 
Try making a simple shutter tester. If you have a soldering iron it will take twenty minutes and cost almost nothing. For example I used the one here with the expired link now available here, but there are various similar ones if you google.
 
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