i got my M6 tested at a dealer when the leica technician was about. he said at 1000thsec mine registered slighly faster at about 1200, and similarly at 500th sec it was about 650th. At all slower speeds they were pretty accurate. He said to compensate at 1000th and 500th by opening up by half a stop. 1. Is this normal? I've only had my M6 for a year 2. Is it because of the mechanical-ness of the shutter that its slightly out 3. if so, shouldn't it have been picked up by QC before shipping 4. Is it really anything to worry about? as I could send it in to leica as it is still under passport warranty. but dont want the hassle of not having my body for weeks/months for them to fix it 5. how do i test it and know they have fixed it without having to buy a speed testing machine If i had to send it in! thanks in advance,

-- sparkie (sparkie@mailcity.com), December 10, 2001

Answers

Are you having a problem with your negative densities? When you use the two highest speeds, are you getting underexposed negatives? If you are not having a problem with your negatives, I would not worry about getting it adjusted. The higher speeds tend to slow down between CLAs so your camera will get more accurate as it ages.

If you are having a problem with your negatives, then when they adjust it, the problem should disappear.

-- John Collier (jbcollier@powersurfr.com), December 10, 2001.

The 1000 and 500 shutter speeds are both controlled by the same adjustment. 1/1200 is not even 1/4 stop off, which would not even affect exposures on slide film. Feel lucky it's that accurate and let it be. If you test the shutter on an M at 1/1000 ten times in a row you'll get ten different readings, all over the place up and down. Some of them will be as much as 1/3-stop off no matter how carefully you adjust the shutter.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), December 10, 2001.

Sparkie

Don't worry. As others have said I am sure my manual shutters are not completely accurate. I expect only plus or minus a third of a stop and I think this is fine, even for work with Kodachromes. Greater than that it may become an issue.

-- Robin Smith (smith_robin@hotmail.com), December 10, 2001.

I believe +/- 20% is Leica's standard for shutter accuracy. I don't know if this applies to the top speed of 1/1000, or if the standard may even be a little looser there. 1/1200 would be a 20% difference from 1/1000. 1/650 is really a bit outside that tolerance. It's 30%, or nearly 1/3 stop. I'd say that's out of tolerance.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), December 10, 2001.