What do you do when you just turned a near mint M5 into a shooter? I nocked it off a shelf in my safe and it impacted the bottom of the door frame. There is enough of an impression on the bottom near the rewind knob that it slightly dented the bottom of the shutter box and left an ever so slight ding on the bottom edge of the rear film loading door. Can someone like DAG straighten these out at all? Anyone have a spare black bottom plate? The fall also took the paint off the very edge of a voigtlander 15mm lens cap. Fortunately I had just replaced the Noct with the less costly Cosina lens. I guess that makes me lucky but I don't feel so luck right now.

-- mark (mramra@qwest.net), April 23, 2001

Answers

Think of this as an opportunity.

-- Chris Henry (henryjc@concentric.net), April 24, 2001.

Mark, I think this would upset most anybody. But as losses go, this one is only about money and cosmetics, and time will heal the wound. Shoot with your M5 until it becomes a part of you, dents and all. There will come a time when you won't part with it even if someone offers you the mint price for it. That's how I feel about my M2.

Best Wishes

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), April 24, 2001.

Yep. You may have lost a very valuable paperweight, but you've gained a pretty cool camera.

-- Mike Dixon (mike@mikedixonphotography.com), April 25, 2001.

Mark: I think you gave the right answer yourself. If you just turned it a shooter, shooting is what you should do. That is what it was built for in the first place, wasn't it? Best wishes for the two of you: you and your camera. Iván

-- Ivan Barrientos M (ingenieria@simltda.tie.cl), April 25, 2001.

Thanks for all the words of understanding. I think this rank as an epiphany in my life. Its strange. I didn't get upset when I saw the dent, I just stared at it in disbelief. And now I find myself not getting at all upset about other things of even lesser importance. Time to go get some film.

-- mark (mramra@qwest.net), April 28, 2001.