| Author |
Message |
    
israbut
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 11, 2004 - 06:48 pm: | 
|
Hi..
Recently, I got a dead Leica R from my friend, this camera was once wet and seem like the inside parts was rusted, not working at all. However, it's body is in exc. condition.
I consulted with an experienced camera collector , he told me that if I can find Minolta XE-7 in working condition,I can bring a Leica R3 back to life using Minolta XE-7 innards?
Is is comment true?, if not, what can I do with this dead R3?
Thanks for your attention |
Michael Linn
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 11, 2004 - 06:58 pm: |
|
Except for the diaphragm actuating mechanism, nearly all of the internal parts are the same. If you have unlimited time and patience, along with all the assembling charts, you might bring it off. A good working XE-7 is not that much cheaper than an R3. You might be best off selling it to someone with a beat-up R3 who needs an excellent condition top and bottom plate. |
Henry
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 11, 2004 - 07:19 pm: |
|
Do you have any Leica lenses to use on the R3 if you get it fixed? They are very expensive in comparason to Minolta glass.
If the mechanical components are corroded enough to stop moving imagine the condition of the electronic circuitry. My advice is to sell it to someone needing parts...but don't expect much. I've bought a rough looking (but not dented) R3 for US$50. And it was working perfectly! A good looking but non-functioning R3 would be worth even less.
Personally I enjoy working on R3's and XE-7's because they are such a challenge. They are NOT tinkerer friendly cameras.
Henry |
israbut
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 11, 2004 - 10:19 pm: |
|
Thanks Michael&Henry, the things is I already own leica R6.2 with 4 leitz lens and I can purchase Minolta XE-7 in very cheap price in my country, Thailand. Appx around 50-60 USD. So, if I can replace the innard of R3 with XE-7, I'll have a spare camera body ready for my work.
BTW, another option that my camera repairman told me is transfer Leica R mount to my nikkotmat FTN for I can use Leitz lens on this solid manual body. any comment??? |
Winfried
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, October 11, 2004 - 11:57 pm: |
|
I just stumbled across a web site where someone had his Nikon F-something converted to Leica R mount. This seems to be possible but will allow stop-down metering with the Nikon body only. |
Jan Dvorak
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, October 12, 2004 - 05:07 pm: |
|
Hello Israbut,
Here are the links to this famous Nikon F2 body to Leica R lens conversion:
http://www.nemeng.com/leica/017c.shtml
http://www.cameraquest.com/NikF2R.htm
I don't believe it is worth the time, expense and effort, specially if you were to do it to a Nikkormat. As mentioned above, you would be limited to stopped down metering only.
As to transplanting Minolta XE-7 guts into an R3 body - did you think about the spotmeter option that is on the R3? The minolta did not have this. I have to agree with the posts above - it would make better sense economically to find an R3 or even an R4 body on and use that. Sell your R3 to a tinkerer.
Good luck,
Jan |
Henry
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, October 12, 2004 - 07:27 pm: |
|
Frankly R3's are too cheap to go through that much trouble..ie. swapping all the internal parts from an XE-7. If you ever opened one and saw that tangle of wires you might think twice...quickly.
Still a project I've pondered a couple times is to cross breed a R3 and an XE-7. By swapping mirrorboxes and electronics I think one might come up with a Leica that uses Minolta lenses and a Minolta able to shoot Leica glass. Of course this would only be for novelty purposes.
Henry |
