Leica LTM My Leica IIIf sounds too loud

Leica M39 screw mount bodies/lenses
raid

raid

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I find the IIIf to have a very noisy shutter sound. Is this OK or is maybe something wrong with the camera? The shutter curtain was torn, and Eddy just fixed the camera. In comparison, my Canon IVsb sounds much quieter.

How do you rate the sound level of your Leica LTM cameras?
 
Screw Leicas are louder than M Leicas. The only way to tell if your IIIf is louder than it should be is to compare it with a couple of other Leica screw bodies.
 
ya, my IIIC, IIIF are louder than any of my M5. And u have a feel that the moving of the curtain not as smooth (can't find an exact word to describe) as M body.
 
My IIIf is certainly louder, and while I did get to try one in a shop that seemed quieter it was not side by side.

It isn't a problem though because it takes great photos, I enjoy using it and I don't use it quiet venues like performances where it would bother those seated around me. At other times on the street where you would like a quiet shutter mine gives such a "clack" sound that it appears to go unnoticed because it doesn't sound quiet or loud like typical camera sounds.
 
Yeah indeed, my Leica IIIf RD ST shutter is much louder than my Leica M7, but much quieter than my Canon EOS 5D Mark II ;-)

But I'll never sell my Leica IIIf RD ST, because I find it to be the most beautiful camera ever made ;-p
 
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I've had a Youxin Ye CLA'd IIIf and certainly wasn't 'loud', a little more than my CLA'd M2 but not by much and certainly quieter than my pre-shutter brake IIIa and a IVSB2 I had.

Of course, these are old cameras, and 'loudness' is subjective without emperical testing.
 
I own a IIIa and a IIIc and while both are louder than the M3 and M5, they match the M8 in terms of noise.

Yesterday evening I shot a portrait of my sons babysitter (well, he's 8 yrs...) from 3.5 mtrs distance with the M8, she never noticed it until I showed it to her. The room wasn't noisy, her mind was just set on finding a phone number in her cell phone...

A shutter is only loud when its too loud😀
 
I have a Leica II D and a III C. The II D seems to have high tensioned springs compared to the III C, which looks even weak in compare. The III C is my most silent camera among all. However both cameras offer the exact same shutter speed accuracy.
 
Be sure the repair guy has not tensionned the shutter curtains springs too hard.

At 1 30s must sound like a gentle Tee-tlak ! Not TAK PLAK !
 
I had the same question recently.
my IIIf sounded a bit "metallic", the shutter gives a high pitch sound.
The effect was that it "sounds" louder than my III which has a very soft sound.
I discovered that it improves above 1/50.
I "played " with the shutter brake without any improvement.
I asked Don Goldberg about this and he told me that there is a certain variability among these cameras, and two cameras of the same model can sound quite different.
 
I now suspect that maybe the type of shutter curtains used may have an impact on how noisy a IIIf is. Could I be right here?

At least I know that I am not the only member in the TAK PLAK Club!

One of the smoothest sounding shutters is in my Standard Leica. It sounds butter smooth.
 
Raid,

I just went and dug-out three of my Barnacks: 1932 D ( II ), 1933 F ( III ), and 1952 IIIf, s/n: 600xxx.

Tried all three at the same shutter speeds throughout their repsective ranges.

I don't find my IIIf significantly louder than the other two cameras.

All are unrestored, and have their original curtains, as far as I know.

The IIIf definitely has its original curtains, as they are all crackly and no longer light-tight.

I do have them in eveready cases for shooting, but don't think that quiets them very much.

As long as you don't hear "shreiking" or "squawking" from dry parts ( my Exakta squawks in cold temps!), I wouldn't worry about it.

I'm sure your IIIf is quieter than most SLRs...

I have noticed that cameras with Focal-Plane shutters make more noise than those with leaf-type ( Compur ) shutters.

I think my Contax IIIa is quieter than my Barnacks.

Regards,

Luddite Frank

( Just dug-out the Contax: definitely a quieter camera. Heavier too ! )
 
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Raid, one of the things that's happened is that Leica users have said that their LTM cameras are much quieter than an SLR, which is generally true.

But then others have taken that a step further and said that Leica LTM cameras are very quiet, which is stretching things a bit.

They are really wonderful cameras, and I think out on the street they are quiet and not noticeable because no slapping mirror and a small "form factor."

One of the things that surprised me when I bought my IIIf is that the shutter was louder than I expected -- especially after reading the hype for several years.
 
LOL ... a "loud blast"!

With so many cameras to pick from, I really should not worry about one RF camera being louder than other RF cameras in my posession. Maybe it is a "wake-up kids" camera so that when I take photos of them, and they appear to doze off, a quick [and noisy!] sound from the IIIf wakes them up. This is like Beethoven's work on ....
 
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