TIL Japanese rangefinder adjustment is way more forgiving than German designs

I spent two hours fighting a Leica M3's vertical alignment last week, but a Canon 7 I grabbed for parts lined up in 15 minutes with the same screwdriver. Anyone else find the old Canon and Nikon rangefinders easier to calibrate than the German stuff?

3 comments

3 Comments

kim.jake12d ago

The canon P I had once took 10 minutes vs my M3 which took hours.

joel_jones12d ago

Hold up, TEN minutes? That is absolutely CRAZY to me. I've never heard of a camera taking that long for a single photo, even on the slowest film or in the darkest room. Was it one of those old wooden plate cameras or something? That sounds like you could almost go make a sandwich while waiting for the shutter to close.

rowan_thomas8411d ago

Used to think old cameras were just slower in general, but reading your breakdown really changed my mind on that. Never considered how the specific model and its condition could make such a difference in timing. Appreciate you sharing that, makes the history behind these things a lot more interesting.