Leica Meter question

Has anyone ever had one of these meters rebuilt? I am considering a
reasonable offer to rebuild mine, but am wondering if it is wise.
I just inherited two "new" or genuinely mint Leicas from the widow of my
wife's cousin, who never used them. One has a new Meter MC atop it. The
meter does not respond to light, not surprising at all. If either of these
cameras ever had a roll of film in it I'd be astounded.
Although it is unlikely that I will unload them, if I chose to sell or
trade, where would be the best place to do so? Each has a normal Summicron
lens. I tried the shutters and all seems perfect. Even the rangefinders are
good.
You sure can feel the build quality. I intend to take each for a test spin
of one roll to see how they compare with my arsenal of Pentax, Nikon,
Minolta and Canon gear.
I'm really in a quandary about the meter. I have a couple hand-held Gossen
meters, so It's not a necessity, but I'd like the outfit to be complete. If
I could find a likewise mint Meter MR that uses a battery, I might get
that, since I'm told it is better than the MC. Each Leica has a mint,
original case for it.
Ken

In article ,
"Ken Rosenbaum" wrote:

Has anyone ever had one of these meters rebuilt? I am considering a
reasonable offer to rebuild mine, but am wondering if it is wise.
I just inherited two "new" or genuinely mint Leicas from the widow of my
wife's cousin, who never used them. One has a new Meter MC atop it. The
meter does not respond to light, not surprising at all. If either of these
cameras ever had a roll of film in it I'd be astounded.
Although it is unlikely that I will unload them, if I chose to sell or
trade, where would be the best place to do so? Each has a normal Summicron
lens. I tried the shutters and all seems perfect. Even the rangefinders are
good.
You sure can feel the build quality. I intend to take each for a test spin
of one roll to see how they compare with my arsenal of Pentax, Nikon,
Minolta and Canon gear.
I'm really in a quandary about the meter. I have a couple hand-held Gossen
meters, so It's not a necessity, but I'd like the outfit to be complete. If
I could find a likewise mint Meter MR that uses a battery, I might get
that, since I'm told it is better than the MC. Each Leica has a mint,
original case for it.
Ken

I'm guessing they're some form of M4 (see
http://cameraquest.com/mguide.htm to figure out what model). If they
are truly mint, you could trade them both in for a new or nearly new M6
or M6TTL (and maybe another lens) which would have a built-in meter, and
be able to take motor drives. If they're M2's or M3's in near-mint
condition, someone might pay a whole lot of money for them. I've had
good luck buying and selling from Don Chatterton
http://www.donchatterton.com/.

If you don't expect to use them very much, just leave the meters off and
use your hand-held, like most folk did when these were new, or get the
Voigtlander VC Speed Meter II, which slides into the hot shoe like your
MC, at about $200 new. See
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...ist&A=details&
Q=&sku=355974&is=REG.

Drew

--
Drew W. Saunders

dru (at) stanford (dot) eee dee you

In article ,
"Ken Rosenbaum" wrote:

Has anyone ever had one of these meters rebuilt? I am considering a
reasonable offer to rebuild mine, but am wondering if it is wise.
I just inherited two "new" or genuinely mint Leicas from the widow of my
wife's cousin, who never used them. One has a new Meter MC atop it. The
meter does not respond to light, not surprising at all. If either of these
cameras ever had a roll of film in it I'd be astounded.
Although it is unlikely that I will unload them, if I chose to sell or
trade, where would be the best place to do so? Each has a normal Summicron
lens. I tried the shutters and all seems perfect. Even the rangefinders are
good.
You sure can feel the build quality. I intend to take each for a test spin
of one roll to see how they compare with my arsenal of Pentax, Nikon,
Minolta and Canon gear.
I'm really in a quandary about the meter. I have a couple hand-held Gossen
meters, so It's not a necessity, but I'd like the outfit to be complete. If
I could find a likewise mint Meter MR that uses a battery, I might get
that, since I'm told it is better than the MC. Each Leica has a mint,
original case for it.
Ken

I'm guessing they're some form of M4 (see
http://cameraquest.com/mguide.htm to figure out what model). If they
are truly mint, you could trade them both in for a new or nearly new M6
or M6TTL (and maybe another lens) which would have a built-in meter, and
be able to take motor drives. If they're M2's or M3's in near-mint
condition, someone might pay a whole lot of money for them. I've had
good luck buying and selling from Don Chatterton
http://www.donchatterton.com/.

If you don't expect to use them very much, just leave the meters off and
use your hand-held, like most folk did when these were new, or get the
Voigtlander VC Speed Meter II, which slides into the hot shoe like your
MC, at about $200 new. See
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...ist&A=details&
Q=&sku=355974&is=REG.

Drew

--
Drew W. Saunders

dru (at) stanford (dot) eee dee you

If they're mint, sell them and get an M6 or M7 or MP. Let the
collectors have them. You may want to get newer lenses anyway, not that
the older lenses are going to be a disappointment.

If they're mint, sell them and get an M6 or M7 or MP. Let the
collectors have them. You may want to get newer lenses anyway, not that
the older lenses are going to be a disappointment.

On Wed, 05 Jan 2005 16:27:37 -0500, Ken Rosenbaum wrote:

Has anyone ever had one of these meters rebuilt? I am considering a
reasonable offer to rebuild mine, but am wondering if it is wise.
I just inherited two "new" or genuinely mint Leicas from the widow of my
wife's cousin, who never used them. One has a new Meter MC atop it. The
meter does not respond to light, not surprising at all. If either of these
cameras ever had a roll of film in it I'd be astounded.
Although it is unlikely that I will unload them, if I chose to sell or
trade, where would be the best place to do so? Each has a normal Summicron
lens. I tried the shutters and all seems perfect. Even the rangefinders are
good.
You sure can feel the build quality. I intend to take each for a test spin
of one roll to see how they compare with my arsenal of Pentax, Nikon,
Minolta and Canon gear.
I'm really in a quandary about the meter. I have a couple hand-held Gossen
meters, so It's not a necessity, but I'd like the outfit to be complete. If
I could find a likewise mint Meter MR that uses a battery, I might get
that, since I'm told it is better than the MC. Each Leica has a mint,
original case for it.
Ken

If you must have an attached meter, get the MR. Problem is it takes a
mercury battery, no longer available, and will need to use a wien cell
requiring an adapter to fit. you can fit a thin felt self adhesive pad,
like used to cushion cabinet doors and the like attached to the
undersurface of the MR to avoid scratching the camera body top plate.

I agree that the best option is outboard light metering. I have a variety
of Leicas, mostly M4-p's and M6's. I still carry (an use) an older sekonic
selenium incident meter incase of battery or meter failure and a very
compact recent vintage Gossen digisix as well.

I'm not so sure I agree with the flat out advice to sell the older leicas
and buy an m7. If the older cameras are M series, especially m4's or
later vintage, you may with to keep them as users. If you would like to
stay with the classic leica look and feel of operation, my favorite is the
pre-TTL M6, with late serial number. Buy the M7 if the photography you do
would best benefit from the autoexposure capabilities of the M7. If not,
you would find a much better use of your money spending it on a late model
M6 "gently" used in excellent to like new condition for about $1000-1200.

On Wed, 05 Jan 2005 16:27:37 -0500, Ken Rosenbaum wrote:

Has anyone ever had one of these meters rebuilt? I am considering a
reasonable offer to rebuild mine, but am wondering if it is wise.
I just inherited two "new" or genuinely mint Leicas from the widow of my
wife's cousin, who never used them. One has a new Meter MC atop it. The
meter does not respond to light, not surprising at all. If either of these
cameras ever had a roll of film in it I'd be astounded.
Although it is unlikely that I will unload them, if I chose to sell or
trade, where would be the best place to do so? Each has a normal Summicron
lens. I tried the shutters and all seems perfect. Even the rangefinders are
good.
You sure can feel the build quality. I intend to take each for a test spin
of one roll to see how they compare with my arsenal of Pentax, Nikon,
Minolta and Canon gear.
I'm really in a quandary about the meter. I have a couple hand-held Gossen
meters, so It's not a necessity, but I'd like the outfit to be complete. If
I could find a likewise mint Meter MR that uses a battery, I might get
that, since I'm told it is better than the MC. Each Leica has a mint,
original case for it.
Ken

If you must have an attached meter, get the MR. Problem is it takes a
mercury battery, no longer available, and will need to use a wien cell
requiring an adapter to fit. you can fit a thin felt self adhesive pad,
like used to cushion cabinet doors and the like attached to the
undersurface of the MR to avoid scratching the camera body top plate.

I agree that the best option is outboard light metering. I have a variety
of Leicas, mostly M4-p's and M6's. I still carry (an use) an older sekonic
selenium incident meter incase of battery or meter failure and a very
compact recent vintage Gossen digisix as well.

I'm not so sure I agree with the flat out advice to sell the older leicas
and buy an m7. If the older cameras are M series, especially m4's or
later vintage, you may with to keep them as users. If you would like to
stay with the classic leica look and feel of operation, my favorite is the
pre-TTL M6, with late serial number. Buy the M7 if the photography you do
would best benefit from the autoexposure capabilities of the M7. If not,
you would find a much better use of your money spending it on a late model
M6 "gently" used in excellent to like new condition for about $1000-1200.