Leica M3 film advance. Is this normal?

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ediz7531

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Hi all,

I've been looking for my first rangefinder for a while now, and I purchased an M3 which I received today. I have a question. The film advance does not feel buttery smooth as I would have expected, except when the film back door is opened. I shot a short clip on my phone, which you can view here:

https://youtu.be/haXsse2mTzI

The first film advance with the film back door open feels smooth, the other two advances with the door closed feel like the roller hits friction and feels kind of ratchety. Please pay attention to the difference in sounds.

Is this normal?
 
If the camera hasn't been CLAd recently than it could very likely not feel buttery. All I know is when my old M2 wasn't service it didn't feel very good and smooth as i was expecting. but after it got a CLA! butter was achieved.
 
Thank you all for your input. It's hard to capture this on video...
Some clarifying thoughts: I have handled 1 or 2 M3's before. More recently, one from Igor Reznik, which unfortunately I had to send back due to a light leak. The latter *was* buttery smooth, so my expectations are normalized to reality. These were handmade of course, so I understand no two M3s will feel the same.

The camera I displayed the short clip of was CLA'd by Youxin last December.

Cheers,
 
OK, at 2:30 am I went upstairs to my Camera Room. Because curiosity.

The results:

My M3 single stroke does not make that ratcheting sound during the wind stroke, as yours does. After winding and the lever is slowly allowed to come back, it does make a soft ratcheting sound. Either way, motion is totally smooth. Tried it with door open and door closed - no difference. I don't let the lever snap back like you and other people do, but no big deal. Camera hasn't been CLA'd in over 20 years.

My M3 double stroke makes no sound whatsoever in winding or releasing the lever (both times for a double stroke). Very smooth operation. It was CLA'd by Youxin about two years ago.
 
Every used M I ever bought needed a cla . People simply do not service a camera before selling it.

If you were trading in a car, would you buy new tires, change oil , and fill the gas gas tank.

The roughness usually goes away after cleaning and lub-CLA
 
Oddly enough, all my cameras had a range of "butteriness"... but the one that to me was the best was my black-paint M2. It was a rough job, so I sent it for a repaint and it came back a lot less "buttery" than before, even after being CLAd.

In short, this is purely subjective.
 
My thought is that if you have the receipt for this camera, and it was truly CLA'd by Youxin in December, then it is likely just fine. He does good work.

If it had been CLA'd by "some random shop down the street," I would have a different thought.

But "butteryness" is a very subjective goal. And different Leica cameras (or any camera for that matter) can have slightly different "feel". I have an black M6 classic CLA'd by Don Goldberg that feels different in winding, perhaps less buttery, than another M6 classic that I have operated. But I have complete confidence that the camera is just fine, given the reputation of Don (DAG).
 
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My M3s don't make any ratchety sound advancing the lever, only on the return.
They are super smooth, but both have a notch feel at the very end of the advance stroke. As do all my other Ms.
 
Huss said:
My M3s don't make any ratchety sound advancing the lever, only on the return.
They are super smooth, but both have a notch feel at the very end of the advance stroke. As do all my other Ms.
Click to expand...

The seller kindly suggested that I send the camera to Youxin for an assessment, so I decided to take them up on their offer. I'll report back on the verdict here.
 
Well, I sent the camera off on Saturday to Youxin, and he evaluated it already (!!). He says the roughness is caused by the camera back being dent on the winding side, so when one closes the door, the pin touches the camera sprocket. A new camera back should fix the problem.
 
ediz7531 said:
Well, I sent the camera off on Saturday to Youxin, and he evaluated it already (!!). He says the roughness is caused by the camera back being dent on the winding side, so when one closes the door, the pin touches the camera sprocket. A new camera back should fix the problem.
Click to expand...

Good news! You called it in your first post when you said it was smooth with the back open, and ratchety with it closed. Makes me wonder why others said that was normal?

Is the seller going to pay for the repair?
 
Huss said:
Good news! You called it in your first post when you said it was smooth with the back open, and ratchety with it closed. Makes me wonder why others said that was normal?

Is the seller going to pay for the repair?
Click to expand...

Indeed, that just seemed so strange to me!
The seller is paying for the repair. They've been a class act all along.
 
Huss said:
Makes me wonder why others said that was normal??
Click to expand...

I think it's really hard to tell from the video. And "butteryness" and "ratcheting sound" can be difficult to discuss when not holding the camera.

I'm glad that Youxin was able to fix it. It's kind of amazing (frustrating) that the camera got a dent that significant between December (when it was last CLA'd) and now.
 
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