Is the Leica R a "real Leica" and more questions

[RezaLoghme]

ADDENDUM: I find the Leica R7 totally cool and, yes, in a few years down the line people will regret not having bought one (Rolleiflex GX/2.8F anyone, if you remember?). R7 is black, has the cool half-way contemporary Leica look (if only the leatherette had a finer grain) and is cheap as chips, compared to their other models (M etc). With a proper 50mm lens, we are still talking sub-1000 EUR/US$ here, maybe some CLA, and off you go. SO TEMPTING.

If had had not sworn not to buy any more gear, a R7 would be on the list. In black.
Maybe buying that Brian Long book helps?

 

[Radost]

I own one, how / why should it avoid it?
And if the shutter (or rather: mirror) becomes "sticky", I will have it repaired, or buy another body.

The repair is costly. If you buy another body it will have a sticky mirror as well. It is a real shame the germans messed up the nice minolta design.

 

[RezaLoghme]

The repair is costly. If you buy another body it will have a sticky mirror as well. It is a real shame the germans messed up the nice minolta design.

So what should I do now in your opinion

 

[Radost]

So what should I do now in your opinion

Avoid R4-R7
I have R4 R4S 2 R5 r7. R7 from Leica store in germany. All having the same issues.
I shoot SL and R3
R3 is the fastest SLR i have ever used.

 

[RezaLoghme]

How can I "avoid" them if I own them already

 

[250swb]

Any of the R bodies make fine cameras and are cheap enough to buy a replacement if something needs repairing. What is wrong is thinking a few posts on photo forums about 'sticky mirrors' represents the views and experiences of all those people without a sticky mirror. As ever you only hear from the disgruntled on the internet, nobody ever posts 'working well, nothing to report, sorry to waste your time'.

 

[RezaLoghme]

Well, mine are working well, nothing to report.

 

[koraks]

the germans messed up

That's a very unfortunate way to formulate your gripes with a technical issue. Please don't do that.

 

[BrianShaw]

Well, mine are working well, nothing to report.

This is good to know. Hopefully it stays that way and it very well may. There’s often a certain consternation that occurs when something statistical like reliability/availability (or opinion) is stated in absolute terms.

 

[RezaLoghme]

If i had not self-imposed a GAS embargo I might be tempted by both an R3 and R8!

 

[Radost]

That's a very unfortunate way to formulate your gripes with a technical issue. Please don't do that.

I Am sorry.
The Leica engineers messed up.
This is not an insulated "one generation of cameras" issue. This has been an issue for 16 years and 7 generations of cameras production. I was told by Leica Germany unless you keept shooting your camera all of them develop this issue.
And the complicated design makes it extremely difficult to fix.

I own 5 cameras that have that isssue. Sometimes the mirror does not even fall down.
I would love to be able to shoot my R7.

 

[Radost]

This is good to know. Hopefully it stays that way and it very well may. There’s often a certain consternation that occurs when something statistical like reliability/availability (or opinion) is stated in absolute terms.

Nothing absolute about a design defect "again kept for 16 years and 7 generations of cameras.
Also general bad reliability of r3-r5 cameras is well known.

 

[Radost]

For the record Leica says that the issue has been corrected in R8-R9

 

[Radost]

For the record apart from the mirror dampening issue they are amazing cameras. I am a sucker for 1980-90 Leica R black paint.

 

[beemermark]

R6 has the same sticky shutter issues as other R4-R7 cameras
Avoid them unless you know how to fix them or are willing to spend money to repair.
I even got an R7 from Leica store in Germany that had the sticky shutter delay issue.

The early R3 had electronic problems (I had 3). Bought an SL2 and used it for a couple of decades and about 4 years ago bought an R7. Love it. Dropped it last winter and while no visible damage it wasn’t working. DAG fixed it and did a CLA for $180 with a quick turnaround.

Early post I did have Minolta and tried a couple of the 24mm lenses. Compared to my 1st gen 24 R lens, the Leica lens has more “pop”.

 

[RezaLoghme]

This is good to know. Hopefully it stays that way and it very well may. There’s often a certain consternation that occurs when something statistical like reliability/availability (or opinion) is stated in absolute terms.

I really started to love the R series and yes, R8 is a surprisingly cool camera.

 

[250swb]

I Am sorry.
The Leica engineers messed up.
This is not an insulated "one generation of cameras" issue. This has been an issue for 16 years and 7 generations of cameras production. I was told by Leica Germany unless you keept shooting your camera all of them develop this issue.
And the complicated design makes it extremely difficult to fix.

I own 5 cameras that have that isssue. Sometimes the mirror does not even fall down.
I would love to be able to shoot my R7.

So reliability increases the less GAS you have, all you need to do is stick to using one, or maybe two cameras. Isn't that the case with almost any other camera? Put a working Compur shutter in a cupboard for a year and it can stick next time you want to use it, leave batteries in an unused camera and they can leak, grease dries out, mirror foam degrades, light seals turn to jelly, Nikon rubber turns to glue, a lens gets no UV light so fungus starts to grow. There is an easy lesson to learn and it has nothing to do with the reliability of Leica R series cameras, it's to do with the owner.