Newly purchased Leica M3 DS Questions

[david.elliott]

Hello All,

I just received a Leica M3 DS I purchased on ebay.

Making my way through Stephen's Leica M Buyer's Checklist, I have arrived at two questions.

(1) The checklist states that after the shutter trips, I should not be able to see the seam on the left hand side. I can't see a seam, but I can see a bit of the black connecting bit. I.e. I see the right-hand side of the connection - perhaps 1mm max. Is this normal or does the shutter require servicing? If necessary, I can power up the ole dslr and take a photo of it.

(2) Looking at the front of the camera, the left hand side has a little lever with an arrow and an "R." What is this? Is this the frameline preview lever? It doesnt do anything on my camera that I can figure out. I have an early M3 though going by the serial numbers. This one is 737198.

Thanks for the help.

-David

 

[Pickett Wilson]

The lever is the rewind lever. You move it to R to rewind the film.

Here's a link to the owners manual. I think you need it.

http://www.butkus.org/chinon/leica/leica_m3/leica_m3.htm

 

[thetooth]

the r is your rewind lever . once the film is all exposed even if you are mid strike on the advance lever push down the rewind lever and rewind the film then finish your advance .

 

[david.elliott]

Aha! Thanks. That makes sense. My brain is pretty dead after spending all day reading commercial transactions cases. Looks like I dont have a frameline preview lever then.

Any ideas as to the shutter?

 

[Vickko]

Not sure what you mean by "the seam".

Whatever you see, you should not see a gap between the two shutter curtain edges, when the shutter is tensioned, or after the shutter is fired and in its rest position.

If you do see a gap, then if you had film in the camera, it would fog.

You might be able to see the metal edge of the shutter curtain, in the film gate, depending on whether the shutter is tensioined, or fired. This visibility of the metal edge changed with the era of the camera models.



Good luck

Vick

 

[david.elliott]

I dont see any gap. Here are a few photos of the shutter in its rest position - this is what I was trying to describe above. Is this okay?

It looks like this is the metal edge you are describing Vick?

 

[payasam]

Further to what Vick said, I'd recommend that you fire the shutter -- at all speeds -- with the lens and back removed to see if all is well.

 

[david.elliott]

Further to what Vick said, I'd recommend that you fire the shutter -- at all speeds -- with the lens and back removed to see if all is well.

Thanks. I have done that. I held it up to a light. In doing so, I can see and hear the difference between the speeds. None hang up or jam. And 1 second sounds about right. I saw no gaps or pinholes either! 🙂

Just want to make sure that the shutter looks okay - as to the left hand side in particular where there is that metal connection.

 

[Vickko]

Yes, metal edge looks fine.

I've seen in some, that the more of the edge shows with the shutter at 1 sec, than at 1/1000 sec. Probably due to normal tension differences at the different settings.

Key thing is that the shutter is completely capped and no light leaks (check in a darkened room, with a flashlight). If no leak, then you're fine.

And the 1 sec buzzing should be smooth, and the 1/15 sec should have a "double sound" when the shutter fires.

...Vick

 

[david.elliott]

Happy to hear that the shutter looks right!

Just checked in the darkened room with a flashlight, both at rest and tensioned - no light leaks. So that is good news.

At 1 sec, I have smooth buzzing for the duration followed a bit of residual buzzing after the shutter closes. I have timed it, as best I can against my dashboard analog clock widget, and it looks essentially spot on.

I dont have a 1/15th though. I have 1 sec, 1/2, 1/5, 1/10, 1/25, 1/50, 1/100, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000, and bulb of course.

 

[wjlapier]

Excellent then. I have a early DS M3 I love to shoot. Enjoy your's...

Bill

 

[payasam]

My M3 also had the "old" speeds. What Vick describes should happen at 1/10 sec.

Put in a roll of film now and show us what you bag.

 

[david.elliott]

Excellent then. I have a early DS M3 I love to shoot. Enjoy your's...

Bill

Will do! 😀

 

[david.elliott]

My M3 also had the "old" speeds. What Vick describes should happen at 1/10 sec.

Put in a roll of film now and show us what you bag.

I am not sure if I am hearing a "double sound," since I dont really have any idea what it sounds like. It does sound different than the 1/5 speed though. I guess I will just assume it is okay.

I am going to shoot a test roll around the house tomorrow. I think that I have it loaded right. I jammed the leader somewhat into the very tight takeup spool's slot, put the film and the spool in, twisted the spool to get rid of the slack, made sure the sprockets were engaged, closed the back, put the bottom plate back on, and fired off two frames. The red dot on the rewind knob rotated so I think all is okay.

I'll try and get some non-test roll photos this weekend. I'll post them when I do. They'll be taken with the CV nokton 50/1.5.

Thank you all for the help!

 

[Al Kaplan]

Enjoy your "new" camera! You should get many years worth of use out of that camera.

 

[nksyoon]

I've just bought one myself, serial 740xxxx, and will pick up the first test roll of Astia today.

Regarding loading, I've read that one should fire and wind the first frame with the back open so that you can see the sprockets engage. How necessary is this?

 

[Carlsen Highway]

You will find out once you have closed the back and wound on the film and the film doesnt advance....😀

Check that the sprockets are engaged with the sprocket holes in the film, so you can be sure that the film is going to advance correctly. Then close the back and the next wind on look at the rewind knob to be sure it turns around.

 

[david.elliott]

Enjoy your "new" camera! You should get many years worth of use out of that camera.

Thanks Al.

It seems like a pretty awesome user. Barring any issues with the test roll, the only "problem" is that the film advance is no smoother than my bessa R3M. Not a huge deal to me though, and not worth sending in for a CLA just for that in my opinion.

I'm going to try and replace the vulcanite myself with an aki asahi covering.

So excited. 😀

 

[menos]

David, I am completely new to Leica M cameras and bought my first M6 classic a few days ago.

I was wondering about the shutter curtain seam too (thanks to Steven's excellent buyers guide) and posted about it in another thread.

My shutter looks exactly as yours, shown on the pictures.
It looks to be ok this way.

 

[david.elliott]

David, I am completely new to Leica M cameras and bought my first M6 classic a few days ago.

I was wondering about the shutter curtain seam too (thanks to Steven's excellent buyers guide) and posted about it in another thread.

My shutter looks exactly as yours, shown on the pictures.
It looks to be ok this way.

Great!

And congratulations on your M6 Classic. 🙂