Should I get a "broken" M3?

[Kozhe]

Hi everybody,

I might get an M3 in good shape from a fellow with the "only" problem that its film advance lever doesn´t work anymore. I don´t know too much about M3s and he won´t let me open it before I pay him...

I know this is not like my Zorki I which I can open and fix myself even if I´m not a mechanics expert, but what do you think about this? Does this sound like a typical problem that I could fix myself or will it probably be one of those situations when you pay more for a repair than what you did for the camera?

 

[John Lawrence]

It all depends on how much the seller is asking for it. Wind / transport problems are not usually that costly to fix (if that is the only problem with it) professionally, which is the only way I would go with an M3.

The most important item on an M3 is the rangefinder. If this has deteriorated this can be very costly and not something that I would recommend to attempt as a home fix.

I'm not sure what you mean by "not letting you open it" before you pay him. If you mean he will not let you open the back door or take off the base plate then I would be wary. If you mean take the camera apart i.e. the top plate off etc. then I could understand this.

 

[HuubL]

As said above, if it's going for less than $300 and it would look pretty decent, I'ld take my chance. A $200 CLA is obligatory anyhow, even with M3s that (seem to) work, and this would almost surely fix the problem.