Leica M3: Rangefinder patch moves when moving the eye???

[Nitrofunk]

Hi group!

I lost the eyepiece of my late (s/n >1million) Leica M3 and got a replacement eyepiece today (also a late M3 eyepiece ... at least that's what the seller told me). But now I'm noticing something that I didn't notice before. Or at least I think that it wasn't there before: When I look through the finder of my M3 and move my eye slightly away from the center-axis of the finder, the small rangefinder-image moves, too. An example: The rf-patch and the image line up, but when I move the eye away from the center-axis, they don't line up anymore by a small fraction. Could anybody please check this on his or her M3?

Thanks a ton!
Peter

 

[BLKRCAT]

I had an M2 that had this issue. I never noticed it but always had problems with focus because I wasn't putting the camera up to my face in the same spot every time.

I was told that my M2 was a "floater". This is likely the same thing that your M3 is. I was told that the rangefinder needs replacement to correct the issue. It's an expensive fix.

I suspect that my issue was that the camera was dropped at some point in it's life before I owned it. But I can't confirm for sure.

 

[Erik van Straten]

One of my M2's has it, but only a tiny little bit, no problem at all. My other M's do not have it.

Erik.

 

[Nitrofunk]

Well, to me it's a big and annoying problem, since I don't know if my subject is in focus or not: As I said, the focussing depends on the angle of view, which is something I never noticed on any of my M cameras. Am I really the only one (apart from BLKRCAT and Erik) who noticed this phenomenon? And I still don't understand what causes it?
Confused,
Peter

 

[DanskDynamit]

talk to Alan from cameraworks in the UK, I'm sure he can fix it.

 

[Dante_Stella]

That's a "Germany" issue per DAG. At least on later Ms, that's an internal adjustment that requires a very specific test fixture.

Dante