Leica M6 Help!

[beedubs]

Hey guys,

I've been experiencing a problem with my M6 of late and was unable to find any info regarding the problem online.

It happens intermittently, zero times on one roll then six times on another.

When apply a slight amount pressure to the shutter (not enough for a normal exposure) it triggers a curtain then nothing, the shutter button goes floppy.

The next curtain is triggered as soon as I advance the film.

The frames come out completely unexposed, leading me to believe that the initial movement is the second curtain firing followed by the first curtain when the frame is advanced.

But is that even possible?

As I mentioned, I couldn't find any information regarding this problem online, so any ideas would be great.

Apparently the camera was CLA'd two years ago if that makes any difference.


Thanks in advance!



Dan.

 

[sinisaostojic]

I would suggest you send the camera to someone to have a look at it. My M6 is close to thirtly years old and it works well, not sure if it was ever CLA'ed. However, I also have Zorki 3, which has a similar problem that you describe, but I have not bothered getting it repaired as it would probably cost more than the camera is worth. Sorry, that I cannot be of more help.

 

[beedubs]

^ Thanks mate.

Anyone else have any ideas??

 

[michaelwj]

It happened to me once (or something very similar, can't remember exactly), I ran through all the speeds several times with no film in it, for maybe 30 min or so, never happened since.
I've heard its good to run through all the speeds every now and then, especially if its been sitting for a while. Its supposed to be used a lot.

Good luck,
Michael

 

[maddoc]

It might be related to the long flat spring located under the cover with the film loading scheme imprinted. If memory serves me right than the slightest adjustment of this flat spring either in camera front or camera back direction changes how pressing the shutter button releases the lock of the first curtain.

Two years ago my bag with the M4-2 inside tipped over a bench and this small impact was enough to slightly bring that spring out of adjustment. As a result all short shutter-speeds went 1/1000s, slow speeds were OK, and the shutter did not stay open in position "B". I just realized this problem after coming back from a trip with all rolls exposed using this camera were heavily under-exposed. In my case removing the loading scheme cover and re-attaching it did the trick.

An illustration of how the shutter button releases the M shutter can be found in the M2 repair manual.