Good and bad with a IIIf Leica

[Vickko]

I just got back some shots from using a IIIf and 3.5cm Elmar lens.

The good - I was shooting a balloon launch and the colours and sharpness were wonderful.

The bad - looks like I have two pinholes in the first curtain of the shutter. Sigh. Two identically placed spots on every frame.
So, who's the top gun for economically replacing shutter curtains these days?

Vick

 

[wlewisiii]

That's $120 not $20. He's still as inexpensive as it gets, but not that cheap 🙂

William

 

[raid]

Eddy Smolov is another experienced and low cost repair person for shutter curtains.My IIIf sounds rather loud though.

 

[wlewisiii]

Went back to my email - I was remembering a price that included CLA, curtains & beam splitter replacement - all of that came to a total of $120. My mistake, I hope that didn't cause anyone any trouble.

William

 

[raid]

$20 is a bargain indeed.

 

[Rob-F]

I've used John Maddox in South Carolina--Greenville. He's good--he's done two IIIcs for me. But the shutter curtain added about $105 or so to the cost of the CLA.

Youxin Ye charges $20, eh? Anybody got his address and phone number? Just in case.

 

[typhillips]

I can definitely recommend Youxin. He did a CLA on my IIIf last year and also worked on one of my lenses. He is FAST and does excellent work. His e-mail address is: wye7@yahoo.com.

 

[fbf]

The cla is 70$ for non-ST and 80$ for ST
20$ for the curtain or for the labor?

 

[splitimageview]

No way it's $20. 😉

Email him for a quote. He's still the fastest/cheapest even if it isn't $20.

 

[ZorkiKat]

But do you really need to replace the shutter....

But do you really need to replace the shutter....

What's the condition of the cloth blinds? Do they look dry..."dry" though can be relative... Do they appear to flake? Do they have cracks?

If they look supple and still pliant, then a COUPLE of pin holes can be remedied without the "full treatment".

Are the holes small? They can be patched with black textile paint. This is just one of the possible methods to fix the problem without going through major surgery.

I've gone through some Leica and Leica clones with similar problems and patched the holes. Years later, their shutters are still going well. I replace the blinds only when the curtain is really bad.

 

[Frank Petronio]

Youxin is a great asset, he is reliable and fast as well as being a good value. It's worth it to have him do a complete CLA and replace the beam splitter, he has done that for a couple of my IIIc's and it makes a huge difference.

 

[downstairs]

Is it possible to spot pinholes while buying a III in a store?

 

[payasam]

There's a man named David Eve somewhere in Canada.

 

[Luddite Frank]

Is it possible to spot pinholes while buying a III in a store?

Pinholes are tough to spot w/o shooting a roll, as you can't "look through the camera", due to the fixed back.

IIIfs seem to be notorious for poor curtain material, due to material issues immediately following WW II.

Probably the best you can do w/o shooting a test roll would be to remove the lens, and carefully examine each curtain - once with the shutter wound & again with the shutter released. If you see any crackles, holes, patches, or blobs of paint, plan on having to replace the curtains.

I bought my IIIf (s/n 600xxx) from Ritz Collectibles, and at first the curtains were fine, but began to crackle, and after about four rolls of film, they need to be replaced.

The curtains in the rest of my Barnacks appear to be fine.

 

[moonwalker]

i never sent a screwmount to youxin but i had him replace shutter of a m4 before, if i remember correctly, it s $50/1 curtain, plus CLA is $80. It came back perfectly....very good communication.