Visoflex II, Leica M CLA questions

[JohnM]

I bought a small lot of Leica equipment a few weekends back and I'm starting to look it all over. So far, it's generated some questions...

1) I bought the lot to pick up a SS M3 that appears to be in very good shape. I want to send it in for a CLA - I have an M3 that was CLA'd by DAG just prior to my purchasing it and all seems very well with that camera. However, Golden Touch is almost local to where I live and it would be more convenient to just go a bit out of my way to drop it off there.

My only concern is that I get the camera back in a reasonable period and Sherry Krauter seems to be very hard to get a hold of - someone told me to call her at 11 at night, but I'm not about to. I gather both are very good at what they do, so it becomes more a question of speed and convenience - is one better/faster than the other?

2) Part of the lot was a Visoflex system that looks to be in good shape - is it worth keeping in order to occasionally turn a small, light rangefinder into a heavy, clunky SLR-ish camera? My first thought is no, but if someone has had a great user experience, I'd like to hear it.

3) Among other things, I now have a third M3 and a collapsible 90/4 that I do not intend to keep. The M3 is a early-ish double stroke (7-hundreds serial #). If anyone is interested in either one, drop me a private message - I'll be reasonable with both.

 

[former member]

I just can't see getting a Viso-Flex. I passed on one when I bought my first M3 at a camera shop. The Viso-Flex was only ~$100. That is what SLR's are for. "In the Day" when the M1, M3, or other was used in the Lab, I could see it. I even have an old Bellows for M-Mount left over from cleaning out an old lab. They would buy Leica and Nikkor lenses in the '50s, and take them apart to get the individual optics...

 

[JohnM]

I already have it - it came with the batch. It was actually already mounted to the double-stroke M3 and stored in what looked to a camera case specially designed to hold the system. It came with the bellows as well.

I just can't see any practical reason to keep it considering that it really only seems to turn the camera into something that it really isn't very good at.

The whole mess did come with a nice set of old instruction manuals - the M3 brochure reads like an Erwin Puts review.

 

[former member]

I am sure there is someone out there that would love to have your Viso-Flex, and it will probably pay for most of the CLA. Having the original instruction manual is very nice, it puts you in the correct frame of mind when using the camera. I have yet to read an instruction manual that talked ill of a camera, even of the Argus C44.

 

[SolaresLarrave]

I sometimes would like to have a Visoflex. In fact, that was part of my whole idea behind getting my own M3. The problem is that I feel a bit disinclined to take apart my two lenses that are (I think) usable with a Visoflex (a 'cron 90 and an Elmarit 135). However, it's universally known that the Leica + Visoflex make a great macro outfit. Probably with a macro tube...

In any case, e-mail Sherry. She's more likely to reply that way... Or at least that's what I've heard...

 

[Ben Z]

I have an M3 that was CLA'd by DAG just prior to my purchasing it and all seems very well with that camera. However, Golden Touch is almost local to where I live and it would be more convenient to just go a bit out of my way to drop it off there.

My only concern is that I get the camera back in a reasonable period and Sherry Krauter seems to be very hard to get a hold of - someone told me to call her at 11 at night, but I'm not about to. I gather both are very good at what they do, so it becomes more a question of speed and convenience - is one better/faster than the other?

A couple years ago I bought a nice M4P from a camera store after it had just been overhauled by Golden Touch. I shoot slides and found that my exposures were very uneven, so I brought the camera to a repair shop where I know the owner and he put it up on his fancy shutter calibrator and gave me a readout of the speeds, which some were as much as a half stop too fast and others too slow (so just adjusting my meter's ISO wouldn't work). DAG overhauled my M4 for me, and my M3 was one he'd overhauled before I bought it, both of those are 10-15% in the range of all the speeds as marked. This was just my experience with one camera, so I'm not saying it proves anything. DAG is usually available on the 'phone during normal business hours (it's true about calling Sherry after 11PM she's a self-professed nightowl, which I am definitely not), and with UPS, FedEx, DHL etc. to me it's not much different than if he were across the street. As for time to completion, both of them have only 2 hands and plenty of work.

2) Part of the lot was a Visoflex system that looks to be in good shape - is it worth keeping in order to occasionally turn a small, light rangefinder into a heavy, clunky SLR-ish camera? My first thought is no, but if someone has had a great user experience, I'd like to hear it.

Great? No, but the Leica is my travel outfit and sometimes there's a great detail in a small object that cries out to be photographed, and slipping a 90 or 135 straight onto the Visoflex makes a quick and dirty macro rig. Otherwise I don't bother with it.

 

[Roger Hicks]

I have a Viso and use it with a 65/3.5 for macro and copying. I used to have a 280 and 400 but got rid of them. Now I'm idly thinking of looking for them again. I might even have a cone made for my 300/4 East German bottle. Visos are wonderful macro tools with 100% coverage (except the round corners).

Cheers,

Roger

 

[jaapv]

I sometimes would like to have a Visoflex. In fact, that was part of my whole idea behind getting my own M3. The problem is that I feel a bit disinclined to take apart my two lenses that are (I think) usable with a Visoflex (a 'cron 90 and an Elmarit 135). However, it's universally known that the Leica + Visoflex make a great macro outfit. Probably with a macro tube...

In any case, e-mail Sherry. She's more likely to reply that way... Or at least that's what I've heard...

You don't have to take them apart, they just unscrew, just like a screw-mount. No chance of damage (provided these are Visoflex-compatible lenses!)