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sako · 04/19/08, 01:22 AM

I discovered a M3 last week in a warehouse belonging to a friend which had belonged to his elderly father. A call to my friend's father ascertained that the camera had less than a dozen fims through it. The body was manufactured arround July 1959 and is cosmetically near mint with a couple of very slight bright marks on the base, probably caused by the screw on the Leica never ready case it was stored in. There is absolutely no dings or scatches or wear marks and the vulcanite is complete. It comes with a Sumicron 35/F2 lens with Leica cap attatched.

The shutter speeds all sound good. The curtains look to be in perfect condition and the inside of the camera looks like brand new. The rangefinder lines up perfectly at infinity. The viewfinder shows no sign of separation. The lens is smooth to focus, the aperture blades look as they should and the aperture changes are smooth and normal in operation.

That's the good part; now for a few negatives. The film advance lever is not as smooth as it should be. The 1 second speed is about 1.2 secs. The viewfinder contains some slight dust on the inside and is very slightly hazy. The lens has what looks like a mild degradation of the front coating and contains a partial finger print on one side which of course has eaten into the coating, although the area is quite small.

I have acess to a very experienced retired Leica trained repairman who still does some work and loves working on the older leicas. I will get him to give a full assessment of the cost of servicing the camera when he comes back from his holiday. I'm figuring it will be expensive if he has to dismantle the viewfinder to clean it, plus the cost of a complete lube and adjustment.

My friend who knows next to nothing about Leicas wants to sell the camera. I no longer use Leicas otherwise I'd buy it myself. Is it worth having any work done first or should he just put it on ebay as is? What would be the value (price) as is and/or after servicing? Thanks in advance for any replies.

04/19/08, 01:22 AM	#1 (permalink)
sako Neuer Benutzer Join Date: 04/17/08 Posts: 3	Value of a Leica M3 I discovered a M3 last week in a warehouse belonging to a friend which had belonged to his elderly father. A call to my friend's father ascertained that the camera had less than a dozen fims through it. The body was manufactured arround July 1959 and is cosmetically near mint with a couple of very slight bright marks on the base, probably caused by the screw on the Leica never ready case it was stored in. There is absolutely no dings or scatches or wear marks and the vulcanite is complete. It comes with a Sumicron 35/F2 lens with Leica cap attatched. The shutter speeds all sound good. The curtains look to be in perfect condition and the inside of the camera looks like brand new. The rangefinder lines up perfectly at infinity. The viewfinder shows no sign of separation. The lens is smooth to focus, the aperture blades look as they should and the aperture changes are smooth and normal in operation. That's the good part; now for a few negatives. The film advance lever is not as smooth as it should be. The 1 second speed is about 1.2 secs. The viewfinder contains some slight dust on the inside and is very slightly hazy. The lens has what looks like a mild degradation of the front coating and contains a partial finger print on one side which of course has eaten into the coating, although the area is quite small. I have acess to a very experienced retired Leica trained repairman who still does some work and loves working on the older leicas. I will get him to give a full assessment of the cost of servicing the camera when he comes back from his holiday. I'm figuring it will be expensive if he has to dismantle the viewfinder to clean it, plus the cost of a complete lube and adjustment. My friend who knows next to nothing about Leicas wants to sell the camera. I no longer use Leicas otherwise I'd buy it myself. Is it worth having any work done first or should he just put it on ebay as is? What would be the value (price) as is and/or after servicing? Thanks in advance for any replies. Last edited by sako : 04/19/08 at 01:24 AM.