Beautiful M3 - shutter louder than MP?

[markbrennan]

Hello Everyone -

Still obsessing over the M3, so please bear with me. But I feel that this, of all forums, is probably the best place to share gear obsessions.

I played w/ both a DS M3 and SS M3 yesterday at 2 NYC Leica shops (same 2 bodies I have mentionted in other threads, so apologies if I'm re-hashing the same questions, but trying to cover different areas here).

I fired each one side by side w/ my MP, both the M3 and MP had a 50 cron mounted.

I am convinced that the M3 shutter is not as quiet as the MP. It's very subtle, but there is a difference. The MP shutter seems ever so slightly "damped" in sound, amplitude, or timbre.

The MP makes a kind of "phhhhhhhhhut" sound.

The M3's shutter is more like a "phhhhhhhhhat" sound. Just a bit more metal in the sound. The timbre is a bit brighter, so therefore sounds a bit louder.

Anyone else notice, or experience, this?

On another note, I've asked about DS Ms before so have a lot of good replies on that, plus there are tons of threads in the photo.net archives on this, but wondering if anyone has BOTH a DS and a SS M3 and how they deal with that? I can see the DS motion becoming second nature, but what about switching between DS and SS bodies - anyone do that?

Finally, although i'm covering this in my other thread, I'm wondering if anyone has noticed slightly better eye relief w/ the SS M3 over the DS M3? I have heard that the SS M3 eyepiece is slightly larger, thereby offering greater eye relief for glasses wearers? Any truth in this?

Thanks everyone.

Best,
-Mark

 

[spyder2000]

I'd wager what you're hearing is the difference in the tensions between the shutters. My M2 sound changed remarkably following its overhaul.

 

[rover]

The M3 shutters are 50 years older then your MP's shutter. We all get a little cranky as we age. I wonder when either M3 was last serviced?

 

[ferider]

I am convinced that the M3 shutter is not as quiet as the MP. It's very subtle, but there is a difference. The MP shutter seems ever so slightly "damped" in sound, amplitude, or timbre.

I am confident that this is due to CLA and different shutter tension.
Coming fresh out of Youxin's my newest M3 was noticably quieter than before.

Finally, although i'm covering this in my other thread, I'm wondering if anyone has noticed slightly better eye relief w/ the SS M3 over the DS M3? I have heard that the SS M3 eyepiece is slightly larger, thereby offering greater eye relief for glasses wearers? Any truth in this?

I don't know from first hand experience (both my M3s are from 64-65),
but check with Brian Sweeney, he mentioned this once as well.

Best,

Roland.

 

[alexz]

Mark, your M3 shutter experience should mean nothing until that M3 is serviced (CLA) by a qualified technician. After a proper CLA that Youxin gave to my beater M3, the smoothness of its advance is just amazing and the shutter flap is as soft and quet as I couldn't imagine it can be ever. My M6 (trouble free) is noticably more loud on film advance (my Leica standards, of course) and also on shutter (exhibits that kind of metallic sound).
A proper CLA may prove to be totally diferent experience with M3, mind you....

 

[drewbarb]

I've played with hundreds of Leica M's (owned four, and I used to work in one of those NYC shops, and sold and handled loads of cameras there) and it's my experience that the shutter sounds are fairly individual. Each camera is unique, ultimately. The exact adjustment of the shutter brake, the amount of lubrication in the body, the physical condtition of the parts, age, the materials used in the top plates and body coverings, and a dozen other factors each will pay a part in the exact sound and volume of that camera's shutter sounds.

Obviously the electronically controlled shutter in the M7 is a different story, but as for the mechanical shutters in the other M's, each has a subtly different character. Nothing to worry about, but I'd say your observations refer to specific cameras, not models- and other's points about service are absolutley true.

 

[Bill Blackwell]

... and it's my experience that the shutter sounds are fairly individual. Each camera is unique, ultimately. The exact adjustment of the shutter brake, the amount of lubrication in the body, the physical condition of the parts, age, the materials used in the top plates and body coverings, and a dozen other factors each will pay a part in the exact sound and volume of that camera's shutter sounds.

Obviously the electronically controlled shutter in the M7 is a different story, but as for the mechanical shutters in the other M's, each has a subtly different character. Nothing to worry about, but I'd say your observations refer to specific cameras, not models- and other's points about service are absolutely true.

This has been my experience exactly. I have owned perhaps a dozen M3 cameras, about half as many M2s, two M4s, an M5, two M6s, two MPs, and an M7. While the shutters all have similar sound characteristics, they are unique and vary considerably as to volume.

As long as you hear a smooth “werrrrr” on the slow speeds and the unique flapping at the closure of a 15th and (usually more subtle) a 30th, you’re fine.

However, the shutter sound on an M7 (and an M5 for that matter) will be somewhat different when compared to other (mechanical) M cameras.

As long as you have a fresh CLA and a good in-store guarantee, you shouldn’t worry about the volume of the shutter.

 

[thomasw_]

i hear a slight difference between my SS M3, a late over 1 million SN model, and my MP. Sooooo slight. The MP being new is quiet; my recently CLA'd M3 is also quiet: but their 'quietness' has a slight tonal difference that I cannot reproduce in words. Nothing get your balls in a knot about, though. They both can take great photos 🙂 thomasw_

 

[proenca]

i toyed around today with a M3 and albeit the shutter sound ( in decibels ) should be more or so the same ( comparing with my MP ) , it sounds different - more metalic perhaps ? My MP sounds smoother.

 

[Never Satisfied]

FWIW all of my M's (4) have very different sounding shutters, which is to be expected given that they're mechanical and vary hugely in age. There is a difference in the way the D/S and the S/S M3 shutters are constructed with the D/S having 2 shutter brakes. The D/S IMHO is usually the quietest.
Cheers Andrew.