New-to-me Leica / New-to-Leica me

[batterytypehah!]

I put the first roll of Walgreens 200 through the IIIf with W-Nikkor-C 3.5cm/2.5 that I bought on ebay recently. Just walking around in Red Bank NJ this Saturday, nothing special, and in fact too lazy to do more than f/16 at 1/200 and hyperfocal distance for at least half of the roll. 😱

The good: I had no trouble with trimming the film, loading, advancing before changing speeds, and all that. Most frames came out nicely exposed and the frame spacing seems OK. Love the lens!

The bad: I need a better finder. I'm using a Petri Tele/Wide but I wear glasses and it's impossible to see the wide brightline. Might as well use the 50 finder on the camera. The RF patch is dim.

The ugly: Light leaks on several frames (samples attached) and 1/1000 sec just plain doesn't work -- blank frames on both attempts.

Now, I had played around with the camera quite a bit to get used to it, and was pretty confident the curtains were fine and the speeds OK. At first I thought T was hanging but the manual tells me it's supposed to... Whatever, I don't need it. 1/1000 is something else. So, some more playing and I realize that indeed I can make out a reflection from the pressure plate at all speeds up to 500, but not at 1000. No gap between the curtains, I suppose.

So I have a couple questions for you experts out there.

The speed selector on mine doesn't settle back down all the way at 1/1000. Is it supposed to? It rests about 1mm higher than on the other speeds.

To my eye, the curtains look great, but keep in mind this is the very first Leica I have ever handled. The first curtain (feel free to correct my terminology -- I mean the one that's visible with the shutter cocked) is nice and elastic rubber, no wrinkles or brittleness, a few tiny white specks in the black. The second (visible with shutter released) is a spotless black silk surface. The stitching is straight and even. However, I'm wondering how much tension they are supposed to have. They give easily under (careful) finger pressure, and I can see them tightening up crosswise as I advance.

As for the light leaks, there is a chance the roll was mishandled (drugstore) so I'm not going to get all worked up just yet. I have a roll of Neopan 1600 in it now, that should show if it's the camera.

TIA, sorry this got so long.

 

[ferider]

That's a cool lens you have there. I recommend to send the camera to Youxin, he is not far from you and can tune it up, including speed adjustment, leak fix and beam-splitter replacement which will vastly increase RF contrast.

Regarding 35mm viewfinder, the biggest bang for the buck is the Olympus VF-1, currently, IMO. I bought mine used but in great shape recently for US 80.

Best,

Roland.

 

[brachal]

+1 for Youxin. He did a great job tuning up my IIIf. It is normal for the shutter speed selector to sit a little higher at 1/1000 than at the other speeds.

 

[batterytypehah!]

Right, I wanted to mention that I'm not considering a send-out CLA. Just not in the budget. I've been lucky so far that none of my cameras have needed real work, so I'll have to build my skills, but a guy's got to start somewhere. I know I'd much rather dive into this shutter than the one on the Contax...

I've got patience, a reasonably steady hand (that antique store shot was at 1/10), and I know how to say Tuchschlitzverschluss. Which ought to count for something.

 

[colyn]

If you plan to go at it yourself I'd suggest you take plenty of photos as you go along and keep all parts with their respective parts. But you are still asking for trouble if you've never done one of these Leicas.

 

[john neal]

The 1/1000 speed setting should be a little higher than the others - this is so that the release lever inside the top plate hits the right part of the 2nd curtain release pawl. No shutter at 1/1000 could be a 2nd curtain release problem or simple shutter capping because the 2nd curtain tension is too high. You almost certainly won't see the slit from the front of the camera, better to put a white card with alternate, diagonal, 1/8" black & white stripes into the film plane - you can see the slit much more easily then!

Amateur repairers often increase the tension to try to cover up other faults and go too far. Difficult to tell without actually seeing the body. Have a look on Kim Coxon's site www.pentax-manuals.com, where he has a good article on the Leica type shutter, also Rick Oleson's site.

The curtains do look different - one is mounted with the rubber facing out towards the lens, the other with the fabric side facing out. White spots are not, neccessarily, deadly faults, but could point to drying out of the rubber.

As to light leaks, these can be difficult to track down - possible causes are many and varied - missing screws, ill-fitted parts, etc, etc. If they are always the same on every frame, it is likely the camera somewhere. I had a problem that only showed on a IIIa when I didn't wind on immediately - finally tracked it down to a missing screw inside the top plate.

The other thing to check is that there are no film chips in the path of the shutter blinds, or around the drums - these can slow down the blinds with a different effect every time, depending on the shutter speed.

 

[Sadaf62]

My lllf is giving me problems with the shutter speeds & the shutter release button sticking in the pushed down position. Who is Youxin? Does anyone have his contact info? Do you know what he charges for a CLA? One more question please: Anyone else in the US good at working on Leica lllf's, especially in the Western half of the country?
Thanks!

 

[batterytypehah!]

That's Youxin Ye. His name is mentioned here a lot. A Google search should give you all you need. (This forum's search function doesn't work too well.)

 

[ferider]

....and I know how to say Tuchschlitzverschluss. Which ought to count for something.

It does 🙂 The only thing I've ever done to a Barnack is cleaning the slow shutter escapement. Still I recommend to at least get a quote from Youxin, you might be surprised, he's not expensive. Much less money than what your camera and lens are worth.

Roland.

 

[batterytypehah!]

Thanks, I'll consider it but I'm actually itching to try my hand at this. Plus, as we all know and John confirmed above with an example, the light leak could be time-consuming to find and fix. Youxin's got to charge for that time, if he has any kind of business sense.

The lens is a keeper; the camera, in its current condition, is worth, what, something in the $100 ballpark? The way I see it, yes, I might wreck it, but I'm only gambling the difference between that $100 and what it's worth as a basket case. I'm in no rush and in fact, I'll be in Germany next month. Maybe I'll manage to pick up a flea market FED to practice on.

 

[John Shriver]

Spring for Tomosy's Leica Repair Handbook. The National Camera repair manual on Leica IIIf is also very good.

 

[batterytypehah!]

Thanks for the tip! I'm a big believer in not trying to reinvent the wheel.

I've had a couple of Tomosy's books on loan from the library before but those were the "Collectible Cameras" volumes. Nice but a page or two and a few photos per model really doesn't cut it. Good to know there's something more in-depth.

 

[colyn]

Thanks for the tip! I'm a big believer in not trying to reinvent the wheel.

I've had a couple of Tomosy's books on loan from the library before but those were the "Collectible Cameras" volumes. Nice but a page or two and a few photos per model really doesn't cut it. Good to know there's something more in-depth.

Here ya go..

http://www.pentax-manuals.com/manuals/service/leica_iiif.pdf

http://cgi.ebay.com/Amateur-Leica-R...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item414dc60ed9

 

[batterytypehah!]

Update: I looked under the lady's skirt, I mean, I took the body shell off the Leica today. Didn't find anything obvious (to me) to explain the light leak. All the screws were there (going by Rick Oleson's drawings), baffles in place, etc.

I went as far as taking the inner cover plate off, expecting to find debris to clean out, but it was hardly necessary. Some loose dust was all. All gears and shafts bone dry and black paint worn away in spots, though. I left that alone for now; I'll go back in for lubrication and touch-up at a later point.

The whole job, including the putting it back together part, was easy and straightforward. Someone's been in before, as half of the screw heads are semi-messed up.

Good practice run for the attack from the other end, to fix the speed issue and RF mirror.

 

[colyn]

Since someone has been in it there is a possibility the felt strips under the upper and/or lower parts of the baffles is missing/moved out of place..

 

[batterytypehah!]

There was no felt anywhere. The only felt strip I found was on the inside of the shell, running diagonally between the slow speed wheel and the two screw holes on that side.

At any rate, two of the frames on the roll have the light leak clearly going past the film gate, into the next frame and the sprockets. So I suppose the baffles in front of the shutter wouldn't be the prime suspect to begin with.

Are the curtains supposed to touch and seal all around the gate? Because they're not. (I have some digicam shots if that helps.)

 

[colyn]

There was no felt anywhere. The only felt strip I found was on the inside of the shell, running diagonally between the slow speed wheel and the two screw holes on that side.

In the photos below is the main baffle plate which forms the film aperture. Notice the 2nd photo. You will see two strips of felt. They are required to help seal the shutter from light leaks.

At any rate, two of the frames on the roll have the light leak clearly going past the film gate, into the next frame and the sprockets. So I suppose the baffles in front of the shutter wouldn't be the prime suspect to begin with.

You need to take a look at the bottom plate. You should also remove the crate from the shell and with a black paint stick or grease pencil paint the top edge of the crate.

Are the curtains supposed to touch and seal all around the gate? Because they're not. (I have some digicam shots if that helps.)

No.. That would cause too much drag on the shutter..

 

[batterytypehah!]

In the photos below is the main baffle plate which forms the film aperture. Notice the 2nd photo. You will see two strips of felt. They are required to help seal the shutter from light leaks.

Oh, I see. I didn't have that part out. It didn't look like I could get it with the drums in place. I had the side and bottom pieces out. I'll check next time and thanks!

 

[colyn]

Oh, I see. I didn't have that part out. It didn't look like I could get it with the drums in place. I had the side and bottom pieces out. I'll check next time and thanks!

This part requires the rf arm to be removed as well as 2 screws from the top and 3 from the bottom to remove but can be removed with the drums in place.