i understand that one should 'excersize' a leica m if it's not used regularly. i have a 2nd m6 ttl that i don't use very much and am wondering what the proceedure should be and how often?

-- Tristan (tristan@tristantom.com), December 27, 2001

Answers

You need a good priest to do this.

-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), December 27, 2001.

Load with film and expose a few frames. ;<)

-- Steven Alexander (alexpix@worldnet.att.net), December 27, 2001.

let soak in a hot bubblebath for 20-30 minutes, then air dry....

-- grant (g4lamos@yahoo.com), December 27, 2001.

Tristan,

Ignore those funny boys. They probably ate too many Christmas cookies and they’re a little hyper.

The correct answer is send the camera to me and I will exercise it for you.

Also kidding of course. Remove the battery, wind and fire the shutter at all speeds a few times, exercise the brightline selector. Better yet of course, shoot film with it.

Cheers,

-- Jeff Stuart (jstuart1@tampabay.rr.com), December 27, 2001.

Tristan,

If you are not using the camera, it is a good idea once to ex-cer- cise (no Z in there) all shutter speeds a couple of times ONCE A MONTH.

This will keep the slow speeds from clogging up.

Even if you USE the darn thing, if you don't use the slow speeds, you might find trouble down the road. Excercise them as well before you reload.

Have a Happy New Year!

-- Steve Hoffman (shoffman2@socal.rr.con), December 27, 2001.

ex-er-cise

--Webster's ninth new collegiate

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), December 27, 2001.

Tristan

Some good replies here, especially the sensible ones! Exercising and cleaning a disused camera is a good idea. If you're not using the camera for a protracted period, it's a good idea to take out the batteries to prevent leakage and corrosion.

Every 2 months:

* cock and fire the shutter at every speed;

* rotate the ISO dial on the back, from one end of its travel to the otrher, to avoid build-up of dust on the contacts;

* wipe the gold contacts that connect the back to the body.

-- Ray Moth (ray_moth@yahoo.com), December 27, 2001.

Hi all, hey Ray,

Isn't it usefull to add the necessity to move also the frame lines selector? Reading past posts, it seems to me that problems could appear here; am I wrong? Thanks, happy new "Leica year" Alain

-- alain.besançon (alain.besancon@chu-dijon.fr), December 28, 2001.

Leica say that once every three months is just fine. Move everything that can be moved. As others have stated make sure to move swithes and contacts through there full range of movement. So the ISO dial and the shutter speed dial should be moved throught their full range to wipe the contacts clean. A clean pencil eraser works well to clean the gold contacts on the body and back door. And finally, "store it in a cool dry place".

-- John Collier (jbcollier@powersurfr.com), December 29, 2001.

sell it; sell it asap. or, better yet, give it to someone who'll put it top good use.

-- chris chen (charity@msn.com), January 10, 2002.