Urgent help needed on M3...

[sanmich]

Hi all

I just bought a clean M3. It was sent to France where my father received it.
He doesn't have a lens to check it and something bugs me about the frame selector.

Apparently, without a lens, two frames are visible, the 50 and wether to 90 or 135.
when the selector is pushed, nothing happens.

Is that normal ??

Thanks!

 

[Kim Coxon]

No! I had one sent to me like that and it had to go to CRR for repair. It would appear the slector is stuck which is not that uncommon a fault. I would contact the seller.

Kim

 

[sanmich]

Thanks Kim for the quick answer

I will contact the seller. Since it is a clean sample, I'll try to discuss the price instead of sending it back.

Do you remember if that was a massive repair or a simple cleaning?
If you remember the costs, it could be great too.

Thanks

 

[ruby.monkey]

It's an M3. The 50mm line should always be visible, no matter what lens is attached.

 

[Kim Coxon]

The M3 went in for a complete CLA for other reasons as well. I had an M6 which only needed the frames doing and I think that was around the £40 mark plus postage. I would be careful, the obvious problem with the M3 was the framelines but once Peter had a look at it, there were other issues as well which resulted in the full CLA.

Kim

 

[Kim Coxon]

Not so. I think you are confusing it with the CL where the 40 line was always there.

Kim

It's an M3. The 50mm line is always visible, no matter what lens is attached.

 

[ruby.monkey]

With an original M3 viewfinder, the 50mm line is always visible as a thick, almost-complete rectangle with rounded corners. The 90mm and 135mm lines appear inside it as required.

If this isn't the case then either something's broken, or the viewfinder assembly has been replaced with one from a later model.

 

[sanmich]

By "original" do you mean "early"?

Mine is fairly early (1955)

If THERE IS something wrong, do you know if it's a heavy repair or something in the CLA range?

 

[ruby.monkey]

As far as I know, all M3s came as standard with this viewfinder, with roughly .9x magnification and fixed 50mm frameline; and this is the only finder type where the 50mm frameline is always visible. Some have since had a newer type fitted, often as part of a repair, since original spares were no longer available.

As for whether there's something wrong... I don't think the design of the non-M3 M frameline masks allows for one to show constantly while the others switch. You would have to have it checked out to know for sure.

 

[sanmich]

without doing anything, the 50mm frame is visible and a very thin trace of one of the other frames appears.

pushing the selector doesn't change anything.

 

[Kim Coxon]

It appears very much as though the frames are stuck. If they don't move on the frame selector, it is most likely that they won't with a lens either. You need to speak to the seller but I ouldn't agree anything unless it is the return of the camera until a tech has looked at it.

Kim

 

[ruby.monkey]

Heh. I'm an idiot. I missed the part about having no lens attached.

 

[ruby.monkey]

Ok. If all is well, and assuming an M-mount lens or correct adapter:

With a 50mm lens, you should see just the 50mm frameline.
With any other lens, you should see the 50mm frame line and either the 90mm or 135mm frameline, depending on the focal length of the lens lens.
With no lens, you should see the 50mm and 135mm framelines together.
In all cases, you should be able to change which of the framelines shows using the preview lever. Again, the 50mm frameline should always be visible.

The 50mm frameline is a thick line. The 90mm and 135mm framelines are very thin in comparison.

 

[sanmich]

But in any case activating the selector should do something to the frames, eventhough no lens is attached
right?

 

[colyn]

Hi all

I just bought a clean M3. It was sent to France where my father received it.
He doesn't have a lens to check it and something bugs me about the frame selector.

Apparently, without a lens, two frames are visible, the 50 and wether to 90 or 135.
when the selector is pushed, nothing happens.

Is that normal ??

Thanks!

With the lens removed from the M3 both the permanent 50mm lines and the 135mm framelines will be visible which is normal..

 

[sanmich]

Ok I think I figured out my camera has a problem.

Thanks all for the help!!

 

[colyn]

Ok I think I figured out my camera has a problem.

Thanks all for the help!!

If you are seeing the 50mm and 135mm framelines nothing is wrong. This is perfectly normal..