M2 versions and their acoustics

[darius]

Hello!

Yes a strange thread title, but I'm wondering if there is anyone with experience with different versions of the M2 who could shed some light on something.

It's taken me a year or so to even begin to make progress in my switch from an F2 system to using the M2. For me the main challenge has been a change in framing and visualisation, and indeed exposure. But it's going very well!

I have a lever rewind M2 without a self-timer, and one with a self-timer. The latter body came to me from a hard 30 years or so of constant use by a studio somewhere. It was knackered! The frame lines were all over the place and the top speed didn't actually expose the film at all. Dings and extreme chrome loss all over the body.

I took pity on it, and saw with a service, a good body without any aversion to rain, sand, concrete, food and so on. After the CLA I was amazed. Winding was so very smooth, and the shutter sounded very very nice indeed. It was quiet before but seemed more so after.

The other M2 body I own, a 1959 no self timer model has a very different feel about it. It seems to me to be louder, with a crisper 'click' and vibrates a little more when the shutter fires. I wondered if the self-timer mechanism damps the body shell a little, since they certainly sound different when you tap them with a knuckle. Perhaps I thought the extra space resonates like an empty box.

So does anybody have experience with these different models. Do you prefer self-timer or not, and how does a CLA affect how these cameras sound? Seeing that later serial numbers seem more valuable I wondered if there are some assembly differences too.

Thanks!
Darius

 

[jtm]

Your M2 without timer sounds like it needs its shutter brake or tension (or both) adjusted, if you can feel more vibration from the shutter. The timer may add some damping mass, but an M2 with a timer can sound extra loud if it is not properly adjusted.

I have a later M2 (with timer, lever rewind). When I got it, the shutter didn't close reliably, so I bought it a CLA. When it came back, it worked fine, and it was quieter than a Bessa R. All was good.

Except that I also have an M3, and if I used the M2 and M3 together, it was obvious that the M2 had, just as you described, a little more vibration and a more assertive "clack". Since both cameras had been recently CLA'd, I was asking questions like yours, wondering if the M2 was less pleasant to use because it was more cheaply made (for example).

I eventually sent the M2 somewhere else for repair, suspecting a brake problem. DAG said that the brake indeed needed to be rebuilt, and that the shutter had been too tightly wound as well. It came back every bit as nice as the M3.

So my guess is that you're hearing differences in adjustment or condition -- both your cameras are over 40 years old -- more than differences in construction.

 

[Xmas]

Darius

I've never noticed any difference in sound between any of the mechanical M cameras, M2 no DA, M3, M4, M4-2, except when a ribbon snaps, when you only feel one blind run.

If you open the back remove the lens and fire the shutter looking at a bright light you might see bounce if the brake is not operating at all well. A shot of a live cathode ray TV might show bounce, not tried the latter myself.

I'd ignore until you can afford or need a service for other reasons, if you have access to a good service person he is likely to want to service it on principle, the sound of the shutter will sound like an envelope of unmarked 20s.

Noel

 

[tajart]

m sound

m sound

i had a much used, dinged, scratched, with a good patina, self-timer, lever rewind m2- i had the speeds tested and they were right on, and i never had it cla'd, it just worked great and sounded good too...but then i bought a fairly pretty early m2 button rewind without a self timer. as pretty as it is with one minor scratch near the lens mount, it came to me with a dry sound and when the speeds were tested they were not good. so i sent it off to youxin and he did a beautiful cla and now it is as sweet as can be.
i think a cla is the ticket to bringing things back to specs, and with regular exercise they'll go on for another couple decades.

 

[richard_l]

Many M2s have had a hard life. The 35mm framelines made them more desirable for pros. There is no difference in build quality between the M3 and M2, only different features.

Richard