Got schooled by a vintage Leica at a swap meet in Austin

I was at the big camera swap meet in Austin last fall, looking for parts. A guy had a beat-up Leica M3 with a stuck shutter. He wanted $50 for it, said it was junk. I bought it thinking I could fix it easy. Took it back to my bench and spent three hours trying to get the curtain to move, using all my usual tricks. The old brass gears were just fused solid from decades of old grease. I had to walk away. That one camera taught me to never assume a simple fix, especially with pre-1960s stuff. How do you guys approach a total shutter seizure when heat and solvent won't touch it?

3 comments

3 Comments

jamesblack1mo ago

Three hours on a stuck shutter" is brutal. I would have lost my mind after the first hour. Sometimes the old grease turns into actual glue and you just can't win.

the_leo1mo agoProlific Poster

You only spent three hours? @jamesblack is right, that old grease is basically cement.

luna_wells571d ago

Three hours is practically nothing for something that's been sitting for decades. Some of those old cameras basically need an exorcist more than a repair.