Leica IIIF Problem

[andyryan]

Hello,

I recently acquired a Leica IIIF camera. Everything seems to be great on the camera except for one thing: the shutter system. Turns out the previous owner's son tried loading film into it without cutting the leader, and ever since then the shutter has acted up. What it's doing for me is I will release the shutter and regardless of shutter speed it will just make a very quiet click sound (sounds like a leaf shutter), and then as soon as I begin to advance to the next slide the shutter moves across. In this process the shutter never opens. Anyone know of a way to fix it or where I may be able to take the camera to in the greater Los Angeles area? Thanks!

 

[_goodtimez]

IIIf shutter

IIIf shutter

Have you observed from the lens side into the body at various shutter speeds ?
I never cut leaders on my screwmounts and never get a problem. The leading edge of the film is in any case wound onto the spool and does not disturb anything.

 

[Robert Lai]

There is likely to be a chip of film obstructing the passage of the shutter. Put the shutter on B, and with the lens off, look around the shutter channel for a torn chip of film. Once found, remove it and then see how the shutter works.

 

[mikemc_photo]

chunk of film.....Did it cycle properly before loading the film? Sometimes the shell needs to be removed to get all the film chips out.

 

[Dez]

I think Robert is likely correct that it is a film chip jamming something, especially if this problem just happened suddenly. You will probably have to remove the body shell to clean it out. Check my post in this string:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=138521

It's really not as difficult as it seems.
I have often seen similar problems in older Leicas also occur due to congealing of the lubricant in the shutter mechanism, especially if the camera has been sitting for a long time, requiring a thorough cleaning to resolve. In this case though, I suspect it is a film chip caused by incorrect loading.

Cheers,
Dez