Thank you Michael & Leica!

[bradleygibson]

I just got through watching the tour of the M9 assembly--wow!!!

Fascinating stuff--thank you to Michael and Chris for going through whatever red tape you had to to film the assembly of the M9 and 'thank you' to Leica for allowing it!

I was fascinated by the amount of manual labour required to get the machine into the eager customer's hands.  I had imagined rows of Honda assembly plant robots cranking out these machines--this was a special insider's look--I was fascinated.  It helps me to appreciate what goes into one of these cameras!

Thanks again!
-Brad

[rosemanbridge]

Ditto. I learn so much from your work and LL. Thank You Michael.

[Andrey]

Very informative video of Leica's factory!
But I was really fascinated by this little orange sticky tools for cleaning the sensor. I wonder who sells those?

[sreidvt]

I just got through watching the tour of the M9 assembly--wow!!!

Fascinating stuff--thank you to Michael and Chris for going through whatever red tape you had to to film the assembly of the M9 and 'thank you' to Leica for allowing it!

I was fascinated by the amount of manual labour required to get the machine into the eager customer's hands.  I had imagined rows of Honda assembly plant robots cranking out these machines--this was a special insider's look--I was fascinated.  It helps me to appreciate what goes into one of these cameras!

Thanks again!
-Brad

Just Michael actually.  He did all that himself.

[snickgrr]

But I was really fascinated by this little orange sticky tools for cleaning the sensor. I wonder who sells those?

http://dotlinecorp.net/index.php?main_page...0f2f3f4f073ac0e

[nickjohnson]

Michael,  please accept my thanks too.

….. fascinating video – especially -

1)The “shims” used in mounting the sensor assembly into the camera body. I assume they are added to adjust the sensor surface to be be perpendicular to the centre line of the test lens ? If that is the case, me thinks any service centre doing a sensor change is going to need the same high standard of equipment and technical skill as show in the video. Apparently not all the M9's parts are fully interchangeable. Is this common in the industry – or only seen in the lower volume, high end products?

2)The hammering noise I heard – repeated every few minuets. I would love to know who or what hit who or what, and for what purpose !

Best regards,

Nick.

[michael]

The shims are common in medium format backs for precision alignment. Not sure about consumer DSLRs. Maybe that's we have back focus issues with them.

Frankly I don't even recall the hammering, though it's audible in the video. The curse of poor built-in sound recording in these kinds of cameras.

Michael

[schrodingerscat]

Michael,  please accept my thanks too.

….. fascinating video – especially -

1)The “shims” used in mounting the sensor assembly into the camera body. I assume they are added to adjust the sensor surface to be be perpendicular to the centre line of the test lens ? If that is the case, me thinks any service centre doing a sensor change is going to need the same high standard of equipment and technical skill as show in the video. Apparently not all the M9's parts are fully interchangeable. Is this common in the industry – or only seen in the lower volume, high end products?

2)The hammering noise I heard – repeated every few minuets. I would love to know who or what hit who or what, and for what purpose !

Best regards,

Nick.

The shims are also common to virtually all DSLRs, and they are to adjust the distance from the lens mounting flange to the sensor as well as ensuring it is parallel with the mount. In servicing, you just have to make sure that the shims are kept in place after the sensor assembly is removed, to avoid mixing them up. If replacing either the sensor assembly or mirror box, factory equipment is needed for adjustment.

Not sure about Leica, but for servicing Hasselblads, the two of the most common tools were a hammer and file. Used for adjusting the camera to the shell.