Search the Community

Hi, Found this lovely forum while searching for info on a Leica R4 body described as having a "small problem". It belongs to a friend who gave me the option of buying it off him cheap, in its existing state, and trying to fix it and re-sell to a collector. I have been reading up on this and trying a few things and had a couple observations and questions that I am hoping the experts in this forum can help me with. 1) When I received it, I discovered that the shutter was not just firing with a delay, it was stuck and unusable. The film advance lever was stuck as well, indicating that the shutter probably froze midway through its cycle. The mirror was down, but the DOF preview lever was "loose". 2) The battery LED would light, but there was no activity in the viewfinder, meaning no leds or anything at all. The camera seemed dead. New batteries did not change anything. 3) After a fair bit of research, I found a thread (unsure where) that suggested "smacking" the camera bottom on a bed or similar soft surface. Somewhat frustrated, I did this, and it actually worked. The shutter finished its cycle and the film advance lever was working again, AND the viewfinder leds worked. I checked the meter and it seems fine too. 4) Advance the lever (no film), press the shutter, and same exact problem. But over many tests, I discovered that in B and 100, both mechanical modes, it would sometimes fire with a big delay, and other times get completely stuck. Smacking always releases the shutter. 5) Based on many threads in this forum, I believe this problem is typically related to dirty magnetic dampers. However, I find mixed information on how to reach the magnets. There was one thread that suggested it can be reached from the bottom plate and is easy, while another suggested it is behind the dof preview lever and complicated to reach, requiring some degree of disassembly. Unfortunately, I did not find information on WHAT disassembly is required. 6) In the meantime, I have also found that in all of the electronic modes (manual operation, but shutter speed electronic), the shutter button actually never fully depresses and therefore the shutter never fires at all. It feels like a half-press only in the electronic modes. In the mechanical mode, I can clearly see and feel the shutter go much deeper and actuate something. So my questions: 1) Is the shutter button behaving normally? Is there something else I am missing, as to why the shutter button won't fully depress in electronic mode, but works in mechanical mode? 2) If its the dampers, do I go from the bottom or the top? In any case, how do I get the top plate off and get any sort of serious disassembly done on this camera? I see one screw in the back, by the eye-piece control dial, and know that the top most screw on the mount holds the top plate down. But are those the only two screws? What else do I need to remove to get the top plate off? I am guessing the film rewind lever (on the left side, over the ISO dial) needs to come off, and the entire ISO dial mechanism probably needs to be lifted off too. What about on the right side, how do I get under the film advance lever and the shutter control? 3) Given the fact that the meter seems to work properly, I am guessing the electronics on this sample are okay (its a 156xxxx serial number). But just to be sure, if the electronics are toast, how do I know this? Any help/advice is appreciated, including an opinion on what price its worth buying at and then trying to fix it so I can keep it for myself, OR sell in working condition to a collector. A warning that it might be more valuable sold off to a collector in present condition than executing a botched repair and destroying its value completely is also taken in the right spirit. Thanks, Karthik PS - I literally went thru every single page of the English forum looking for answers. Now after posting, I see threads related to this in the German forum! Is there a way for me to search on the other language forums? Any pointers appreciated, but please understand that I did a pretty comprehensive search and processed what information I already found before making this thread

Hi! I have to disassembly the top plate of my Leica R7 for cleaning contacts (selector mode not recognize all the modes as it should). The ASA dial it's not a problem but the program dial and wind advance lever are quite difficult. I've seen some Minolta's XD disassembly videos but all of them had an indentation for tools on the shutter dial. If anyone can show me or tell me how to put this 2 things apart.. (pic found in the web, only for demostration) Thank you very much. Davide