I'm back into a manual RF system once again. I gave up on my Contax G2 and traded it for a Leica CL with the 40 & 90 lenses to go with the voigt 24 that I still have from my last Leica adventure. The G2 was a great camera, but it just annoyed me in a few important ways (though, it should be said, not the noise etc that other people complain about. So back into manual RF I go.

The CL is in good cosmetic shape and the shutter speeds sound correct. But the meter is intermittent and I'm not sure it can be trusted. I think a CLA is in order when I get some money. Does anyone have suggestions for a good CL repeir person? Especially for fixing the meter. Is there anyone in the Seattle area? Or am I going to have to send it away? The lenses are a little rougher cosmetically, but their glass is clean. So I'm not too bothered by it.

I'm about to go into the darkroom to print some of the first roll I took yesterday (T400CN) abd I should be getting a roll of slides back middle of next week where I really tested the RF accuracy with the 90 by shooting wide open and close up.

If anyone has any CL using hints, I'd love to hear them.

-- Josh Root (rootj@att.net), July 22, 2001

Answers

Sherry Krauter is one of the few people left really qualified to repair the meter on a CL. The repair is very expensive, and turn around time is not fast. The manager of the local camera store just had his done, and it works 100% perfectly now. I gave up trying to find a CL with a working meter after looking at a half dozen that either worked once and a while, jumped all over the place (very common) or read consistantly 3 or 4 stops off. A regular "we fix all cameras" type of camera repair place tried 3 times to get the meter right on one camera, and it still wasn't working as it should. If you really want a CL with working meter that will not fail again in a few months, bite the bullet and send it to Sherry.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), July 22, 2001.

About 3 weeks ago I purchased a CL, which looks like it had never been used. The meter in it acts pretty strangely (mostly by indicating an exposure about 2 stops greater than expected), and based on the above response it sounds like a repair is in order. I have replaced the alkaline 625 with a Wein cell. So...

1. How do we get in touch with Sherry Krauter? 2. Does Don Goldberg do meter repairs on the CL?

Thanks.

-- John Sonewald (jsonewald@aol.com), July 22, 2001.

DAG did the repairs on my CL, and it's still metering fine after more than a year -- a new record.

-- Bill Mitchell (bmitch@home.com), July 22, 2001.

And 3: What did you pay for the work on your CL?

-- Josh Root (rootj@att.net), July 22, 2001.

Welcome to the joys of the CL meter. After some 18 years of heavy use my CL meter started to act up. It is about 3 stops off in low light and daylight will often shoot 1 stop over. I've fiddled with the ASA dial, deliberately overexposing 1 stop in daylight and 3 stops in low light. Nothing seems to work consistently or that well.

The CL was made for an old mercury battery that is no longer made. Would the new battery types affect the meter?

The sad thing is that it is such a small and quiet and niffty little thing! I think there is a very cheap and fast solution to the meter problem. Toss the battery and shoot meterless like an old Lecia M--or use the Voigtlander meter with it. Leave that weird meter arm in for old sake's sake. And who knows Voigtlander just might come out with a miracle fix!!

-- Alex Shishin (shishin@pp.iij4u.or.jp), July 22, 2001.

Sherry can be reached at 1-845-496-8834. The Golden Touch 118 Purgatory Rd. (for cameras on their way to hell?) Campbell Hall, NY 10916. Call before sending anything in. She may have been actually involved in the CL project, as she mentioned something about this to my friend when she took in his camera. It might be interesting to find out what exactly her connection to the CL was.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), July 22, 2001.

Josh, here's an old thread with more discussion of CL meter problems:

CL METER PROBLEMS

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), July 23, 2001.

Josh

My comments about the meter are in the thread above. Tell us how you get on the with 90mm. I use the Tele-Elmarit and find the focus a little difficult (even at f4). There are three possibilies: 1) I must learn to live with it, 2) I need an eyesight correction lens, or 3) I need an original 90mm Rokkor or Elmar-C with the steep cam. I will be intrigued to hear how you get on. It is lovely with the 40mm or 50mm.

-- Robin Smith (smith_robin@hotmail.com), July 23, 2001.

Don Goldberg does do Leics CL repairs. He has always said nice things about the camera to me. He is a great repaiman.

-- jay goldman (goldman@math.umn.edu), July 23, 2001.

I apologize for the spelling in my last e-mail. It has been a long day.

-- jay goldman (goldman@math.umn.edu), July 23, 2001.

Josh,

You might want to check with CameraTech on University Ave. If they can't work on the CL they should know if anybody else local can.

Good luck and have fun.

-- Tom Finnegan (tomf@piengr.com), July 24, 2001.