I could use some help understanding what I am seeing in the viewfinder of my new to me Leica M4 and recommendations on what to do next.
I got the camera last week from Kenmore Camera. The camera is in amazingly good physical condition and I am happy with it. Today I got my first lens, a new 35mm CV 2.5 Color-Skopar lens. So, today was the first time I could see how the camera worked with a lens attached.
When I look through the viewfinder with the lens attached the double image doesn't align. It is off both vertically and horizontally. I assume it needs to go either back to Kenmore or to someone else to be serviced.
I am completely new to the Leica ecosystem. Could I being doing something wrong when I mount the lens so much so that I am causing the issue? The lens locks in and appears to be correctly lined up on the body. BTW the correct 35mm frame lines appear as expected. Or is it likely just out of alignment? The camera appears to have been serviced by DAG as it has the "92" wax seal in the mount. The camera otherwise is smooth as glass. I am not inclined to mess with adjusting anything internal to the camera myself FYI. I tried to get an iPhone photo showing the issue in the finder but it didn't work well enough to illustrate the issue.
geekcop wrote:
I could use some help understanding what I am seeing in the viewfinder of my new to me Leica M4 and recommendations on what to do next.
I got the camera last week from Kenmore Camera. The camera is in amazingly good physical condition and I am happy with it. Today I got my first lens, a new 35mm CV 2.5 Color-Skopar lens. So, today was the first time I could see how the camera worked with a lens attached.
When I look through the viewfinder with the lens attached the double image doesn't align. It is off both vertically and horizontally. I assume it needs to go either back to Kenmore or to someone else to be serviced.
I am completely new to the Leica ecosystem. Could I being doing something wrong when I mount the lens so much so that I am causing the issue? The lens locks in and appears to be correctly lined up on the body. BTW the correct 35mm frame lines appear as expected. Or is it likely just out of alignment? The camera appears to have been serviced by DAG as it has the "92" wax seal in the mount. The camera otherwise is smooth as glass. I am not inclined to mess with adjusting anything internal to the camera myself FYI. I tried to get an iPhone photo showing the issue in the finder but it didn't work well enough to illustrate the issue.
Any advice or suggestions are appreciated. ...Show more →
You’re not doing anything wrong. They sold you a camera with the RF out of whack.
It needs to be serviced. You need to factor that cost into the decision whether you want to keep it, send it back, or have Kenmore pay for the service.
Rangefinder alignment is something you do every once in a while on an M. Sometimes it happens, no need to panic yet.
Check the original listing and talk to the shop, see whether the camera was sold "as-is" or "full working condition". There is a possibility that an old camera was fine while in the shop, but got knocked about in shipping, which can definitely make the RF alignment move.
Don't recommend DIY. Get a respected technician known for working on Leicas to do it properly.
No panic. Just taking the next steps. Jim Patterson who works at Kenmore is on FM and he is helping me get it resolved one way or the other. This is literally my first Leica purchase and it is just a little sideways at the moment.
geekcop wrote:
I could use some help understanding what I am seeing in the viewfinder of my new to me Leica M4 and recommendations on what to do next.
I got the camera last week from Kenmore Camera. The camera is in amazingly good physical condition and I am happy with it. Today I got my first lens, a new 35mm CV 2.5 Color-Skopar lens. So, today was the first time I could see how the camera worked with a lens attached.
When I look through the viewfinder with the lens attached the double image doesn't align. It is off both vertically and horizontally. I assume it needs to go either back to Kenmore or to someone else to be serviced.
I am completely new to the Leica ecosystem. Could I being doing something wrong when I mount the lens so much so that I am causing the issue? The lens locks in and appears to be correctly lined up on the body. BTW the correct 35mm frame lines appear as expected. Or is it likely just out of alignment? The camera appears to have been serviced by DAG as it has the "92" wax seal in the mount. The camera otherwise is smooth as glass. I am not inclined to mess with adjusting anything internal to the camera myself FYI. I tried to get an iPhone photo showing the issue in the finder but it didn't work well enough to illustrate the issue.
Any advice or suggestions are appreciated. ...Show more →
This is actually a more complex question than it first seems. The camera does not need a lens attached for the Range Finder to work. So we must isolate whether it is the lens or camera that is out of adjustment. Best to send your lens(es) and camera in together to be tested and aligned for perfect focus.
But for information purposes here is a link to a process to follow.
Thanks for the suggestions all. I am going to return it to Kenmore Camera. They want to see it before they decide what they want to do with the camera. I'm going to take a refund and call it a day. I'm just going to stick with my 35mm SLR's.
geekcop wrote:
Thanks for the suggestions all. I am going to return it to Kenmore Camera. They want to see it before they decide what they want to do with the camera. I'm going to take a refund and call it a day. I'm just going to stick with my 35mm SLR's.
Yeah. It was an expensive purchase and for that (or any purchase really) you expect for it to work straight out of the box.
A couple of years ago I bought a 'perfect' M4 from Camerawest, and it just had a shutter service (new curtains etc) from DAG. They included the receipt. When I got it I immediately saw the curtains were dragging and bouncing! No idea how that happened but it shows that even the best can sometimes not have a good day.
Sent it back, got a refund. Annoyingly though they asked to see evidence of the issue before accepting return. Which was easy enough - I sent them a short video of the shutter bouncing - but it left a little bit of a bad taste to me.
They should have checked it was ok before taking my money.
This was my second attempt at buying a Leica. I also ordered two lenses when I ordered the M4. One I can return for a refund the other hasn't arrived yet and was bought here. So I'll see what I can do with the second lens. It was not expensive, but I don't expect the seller to take it back. In all a $2300+ experiment with most money coming back to me.
If the second lens is a wideangle, you could get a zone focus Leica M like an MD (they don't have VFs!) and not have to ever worry about RFs being off!
Personally I would not get one as my one and only M, but it's an option. I occasionally use one.
