Leica LTM Easy question about shutter release outer thread ring - if any

[[o] Marc]

A question so simple I wouldn't find the answer mentioned anywhere - easy for any one of you to answer (so thanks in advance!) :

my IIIa is lacking the ring which would "normally" - I am guessing the obvious from all of your cameras I have seen posted - be around the outer thread around the shutter release button. As the camera has other signs of professional use (e.g. traces on the mount indicating it must have carried an external rangefinder), I have the idea that it may have been used with a remote cable release and the original ring (if any) wasn't put back after the cable got removed.

Can you confirm this is what could have happened and that there is indeed a ring which could either be screwed on or have got lost? I have no other Leica to compare with, unfortunate as this may sound 🙂

 

[dlove5]

I can confirm that is exactly what happened to my IIIa. I used to have a shutter release guard that I unscrewed on occasion to use a cable release. At some point it never made it back on. I probably still have it somewhere, but haven't clue where.

 

[BillP]

9th item down...

http://www.mwclassic.com/acatalog/MW_Classic_Cameras_ACCESSORIES_13.html

Regards,

Bill

 

[VictorM.]

1) It isn't necessary to remove the ring to use a cable release
2) This may work: http://cgi.ebay.ca/Leica-shutter-ri...ryZ30030QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[Rob-F]

I bought my II off the auction site. It was in ex+ condition, and did not have the collar. The illustration on the cover of the manual that came with the II showed the camera, as supplied new, without the collar. Apparently in the early days a collar was not supplied. It could be that the collar was not being supplied right on through the IIIa; or, it could just be missing. You don't by any chance have the manual for your IIIa? Or does anyone else? The illustration ought to shed some light on this.

 

[[o] Marc]

Thank you all - apart from solving my question, this shows at least to different roads to replacing what appears to have been lost.

(I like the the description of the japanese replacement

I recomand to use a sandpaper for make a old feeling.
(...) Nobody will find the distinction with original parts surely.

- yet I might go for the other one 🙂


PS: Rob-F, I haven't got a IIIa manual yet, but I've been looking for this detail on numerous pics of IIIa's ever since the time of considering to (identify and) buy my collarless one, and I can't remember a single one without. Worth a thought, though.

 

[VictorM.]

Ha ha! I missed the sandpaper recommendation! For a IIIa manual, Butkus to the rescue!: http://www.butkus.org/chinon/leica/leica_iiia/leica_iiia.htm

 

[Luddite Frank]

I have two black III's (both 1933) that came (to me ) w/o the release collar.

I have one black II (1932) that has what appears to be the original nickel-plated collar.

My chrome III and my III-f both have their collars intact (and appear to be correct for their respective vintages).

DAG has replacements too...

If you might do cold-weather shooting, you might want to get one of those FSU-type "funnel" collars: keeps a gloved index finger from dragging the shutter-speed dial ( I've messed-up more than a few shots this way this winter...).

Luddite Frank

 

[jolefler]

I bought one of the "sandpaper" deals.....got it fast with good communication.

BTW, I didn't think it necessary "for maks a old feeling". Looks like the original would have on my III without doing anything......hmmmm.....

maybe I should sand the body AND the shutter ring, THAT would look like made in 1937!

 

[[o] Marc]

In the context of cameras, the mere mention of sandpaper releases a shudder in me 🙂

Thanks for the Butkus link to the IIIa manual and for the cold weather-shooting warning - I'm still a newbie so I wouldn't dream of finding the button at all with gloves.

 

[LeicaTom]

ALL Leica IIIa`s HAD a shutter release button collar - that one was lost like many due to being used at some time with a cable, Leitz changed that problem about 1946 with a screw over cap with a hole drilled in the top to attach the cable
(I DO NOT KNOW THE LEITZ CODE NAME)
It worked perfectly with the IIIC`s so the collars didn`t have to be removed anymore

Tom

PS: Ohh and someone`s going to have to PROVE to me that some Black Leica II`s
didn`t have the collar from the factory - I have seen Leica II`s NEW in the box and they ALL had collars
(I don`t think this is true, while the button`s unslightly looking without the collar - it would`nt be a good selling point, just does`nt fit with the fine Leitz finish of the 1930`s)

 

[LeicaTom]

9th item down...

http://www.mwclassic.com/acatalog/MW_Classic_Cameras_ACCESSORIES_13.html

Regards,

Bill

Great there`s that infamous Leica "Lawn Mover" quick cable release 😀

Tom

 

[Roger Hicks]

I remember finding many years ago that the securing collar from a bicycle inner tube fitted entirely adequately on those Leicas that had lost their collars. Looked about right, too.

Cheers,

Roger

 

[[o] Marc]

Ha ha ha thanks, Roger - and perfectly so. You made my day!
This sounded so weird that I had to try it right away.

You will notice, however, one tiny disadvantage to it...

In fact, you were probably referring to a thinner valve ring such as the ones disappearing in the DoF of my mobile phone shot. In fact, one of the less high collars works and is now actually on my camera.
*** PS after homework: we are speaking of the Schrader valve type not Presta - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schrader_valve for details. - I am now off to researching air pump remote control possibilities for my IIIa ;-) ***

The high collar as worn in the picture incidentally solves my problem of securing the release button during transport (for which I prefer to have it cocked...)

 

[Dralowid]

Roger, You have found me out at last!

After a number of experiments I can now modify bicycle valve collars to make quite acceptable collars. All that is needed is a supply of collars with 'vertical knurling', a lathe and a little practice. The ones with cross hatched knurling look OK but are less prototypical.

Some are nice and thin walled, unlike many repro collars, and are nickel plated. A quick polish and they look quite at home on black cameras.

Michael

 

[BillBingham2]

I think another option is to use a Nikon AR-1 Soft Shutter Release. My gut tells me it's the same size. I have an old cable release that my father adapted with a bike tire cap that works.

B2 (;->

 

[Luddite Frank]

I was just looking through my re-prints of the 1933 and 1936 E. Leitz London catalogues, and all of the cameras pictured have a shutter release collar, EXCEPT for the Leica "Standard" : that one clearly shows a naked tnreaded stem below the release button...

There are copious listings of "small accessories" for the Leica, but none for "shutter release collar".

Based on this, my theory is that all models of Screw-mount Leica were originally furnished with a shutter release collar. The catalog photo of the "Standard" sans collar was probably an accident: the collar was removed to fit a cable release at some point, and never re-installed.
Catalog photos tended to be recycled for years at a time, so that same photo might have appeared in MANY publications...

The factory (?) photos in my 1951 & '55 editions of Morgan & Lester's "Leica Manual" all show cameras with release collars, except: the 1914 UR Leica, the 1924 Null, and the 1928 "B" (Compur leaf shutter). The "A" and "C" Leicas both have the vertical-milled collar, as do the D (II) , E (Standard), and F ( III ) Barnacks.

The 1956 Catalog shows the -f and -g cameras, all of which wear collars.


Luddite Frank

 

[David Hughes]

I bought my II off the auction site. It was in ex+ condition, and did not have the collar. The illustration on the cover of the manual that came with the II showed the camera, as supplied new, without the collar. Apparently in the early days a collar was not supplied. It could be that the collar was not being supplied right on through the IIIa; or, it could just be missing. You don't by any chance have the manual for your IIIa? Or does anyone else? The illustration ought to shed some light on this.

Hi,

I've several PDF's of the IIIa handbook (only it's "Directions ") and, of course, there's the Hove Camera Co reprints about. There's also what seems to be a IIIa one that has the USA letters ("G" perhaps) on the i-net but it isn't the right one. If you're in the UK I could find it/them and put them on a CD and post it etc but please don't all ask as I'll run out of cash and I do like to eat every day.

regards, David

PS PeterGrisaffi of CRR was saying he'd have some release button surrounds in stock soon.

 

[[o] Marc]

Following VictorM.'s suggestion, I downloaded the [English version] IIIa Manual from Butkus' orphancameras.com, and on page 4 it says:

5. Press Button, to which may be screwed a Wire Release (after the milled protective ring has been removed).

and on page 25:

For time exposures, ... a short wire release is used, which screws on to the press button 5 after the protective ring has been unscrewed.