philipus Posted August 25, 2011 Share #1 Posted August 25, 2011 Advertisement (gone after registration) Hi everyone The cases I've seen for the M3 have a rather big screw underneath to one side, which I understand is for attaching the case to the tripod mount. Do all Leica cases have that screw or are there models without? The screw seems to make the case a bit impractical if one wants to place the camera flat. Cheers and thanks in advance Philip Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted August 25, 2011 Posted August 25, 2011 Hi philipus, Take a look here M3 bags and the screw underneath. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
bill Posted August 25, 2011 Share #2 Posted August 25, 2011 My M2 lives in a Luigi case, with no screw. It is held in place by little tabs over the strap lugs. Regards Bill Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
philipus Posted August 25, 2011 Author Share #3 Posted August 25, 2011 Thanks for the reply Bill. Which model do you use, if I may ask? cheers Philip Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lars_bergquist Posted August 25, 2011 Share #4 Posted August 25, 2011 The screw was for holding the camera in the case. It had a male thread inside for the camera baseplate, and a female thread underneath for the tripod screw. Modern cases hold the camera in the bag with two small straps, one above each strap eyelet. So you could put the camera on a tripod without first removing it from the case. The modern method is so fast that generally speaking, no such arrangement is necessary (through Luigi Crescenzi makes cases with tripod screws for those who want them). Older bodies used the continental or 'German' 1/2 inch tripod screw, not the smaller 'English' 3/8 inch size, so the same goes for the contemporaneous cases. Old camera bodies can take the smaller screw size by way of an adapter that goes into the baseplate screw socket, but obviously, modern bodies are incompatible with the old larger screw size. The old man with his head still screwed on (M39 x 1mm) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill Posted August 25, 2011 Share #5 Posted August 25, 2011 Sorry, Philip, I should have said. It's an M2, in what I think is a "standard" Luigi halfcase, with the little bump on the front. Rather nicely it covers up the self-timer so makes holding a bit more pleasant. Regards, Bill Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
philipus Posted August 25, 2011 Author Share #6 Posted August 25, 2011 Tack så mycket, Lars. Modern cases hold the camera in the bag with two small straps, one above each strap eyelet. So there are modern Leica cases for the M3 without that big screw? I must admit I haven't seen them. I found on Leica's site the Ever Ready Case M, but it says "Compatibility: With all analogue M models, with the exception of Leica M5 and Leica M3 from the first series." So that doesn't seem to work with M3. Cheerio Philip Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lars_bergquist Posted August 25, 2011 Share #7 Posted August 25, 2011 Advertisement (gone after registration) Tack så mycket, Lars. So there are modern Leica cases for the M3 without that big screw? I must admit I haven't seen them. I was speaking of modern cases in general – not specifically for the M3. But a modern-style Leica brand case works perfectly for my M4-P, so the only reason such a case would not work for an early M3 with the same shape factor should be its long 'Buddha ears' double-rivet eyelets for the straps, which would not go into the smaller holes on the modern case. A competent leather craftsman might be able to modify it. The other solution would be a Luigi case of course. The old man Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
UliWer Posted August 25, 2011 Share #8 Posted August 25, 2011 With a later M3-model, which has the small non-buddhistic ears, the problem should be solved and you should be able to use a modern bag for the MP - though I never tried. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
giordano Posted August 25, 2011 Share #9 Posted August 25, 2011 Older bodies used the continental or 'German' 1/2 inch tripod screw, not the smaller 'English' 3/8 inch size. Are those Swedish inches, Lars? For the imperial world, that's 3/8 inch for the big old ones and 1/4 inch for the smaller. Originally these were BSW (Whitworth) threads - and Wikipedia still says they are - but for the last few decades ISO 1222 has specified UNC (Unified Coarse). For these diameters, BSW and UNC have the same pitch (20 and 16 tpi respectively) and are interchangeable in light use such as holding 10 or so kg of camera and lens. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gyoung Posted August 25, 2011 Share #10 Posted August 25, 2011 Are those Swedish inches, Lars? For the imperial world, that's 3/8 inch for the big old ones and 1/4 inch for the smaller. Originally these were BSW (Whitworth) threads - and Wikipedia still says they are - but for the last few decades ISO 1222 has specified UNC (Unified Coarse). For these diameters, BSW and UNC have the same pitch (20 and 16 tpi respectively) and are interchangeable in light use such as holding 10 or so kg of camera and lens. I always thought the large, i.e. 'continental', size was 10mm, why would they use an antique English thread like Whitworth when Napolean had made it all so logical Actually, in short length screws 10mm and 3/8 whitworth are interchangeable. Gerry Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
UliWer Posted August 25, 2011 Share #11 Posted August 25, 2011 Here you have an example with an M3 and a bag for the M6 (no ideal combination as it's the high version, but it fits the later M3 with "normal" lugs). [ATTACH]274830[/ATTACH] Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
philipus Posted August 26, 2011 Author Share #12 Posted August 26, 2011 Thank you everybody. This is truly a helpful forum with an unbelievable wealth of knowledge about even the smallest of things. Who would have thought that the thread pitch of the screws could be so different! My M3 is a late SS. How can I find out which tripod mount screw it has? Thanks in advance Philip Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lars_bergquist Posted August 26, 2011 Share #13 Posted August 26, 2011 So there are modern Leica cases for the M3 without that big screw? I must admit I haven't seen them. Cheerio Philip Philip, I spoke of modern cases for M cameras in general. Any screw-less case that can take a M6 for instance should also accommodate earlier Ms, except for the the early M3 withy the long strap fixtures, as I wrote before. And btw all M3 cameras and the M2s too had the large thread bushing. The M4, as in so many other things, was the first model to use the smaller 3/8 size. The old man Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
giordano Posted August 26, 2011 Share #14 Posted August 26, 2011 My M3 is a late SS. How can I find out which tripod mount screw it has? If there's an adapter in the M3's tripod bush (you'll see the coin slots for unscrewing it), it's the large, 3/8 inch size. If not, compare it with any recent camera (DSLR or smaller). If the M3 has the larger hole, it's 3/8 inch; if they're the same size, it's 1/4 inch. Or take a 6mm (or 1/4 inch) drill bit. If it fits into the M3 tripod bush, the thread is 3/8 inch. The difference between BSW and UNC is unimportant here. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
philipus Posted August 26, 2011 Author Share #15 Posted August 26, 2011 Thank you, giordano. This makes it very clear for me. /Philip Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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