Keith (M) Posted March 26, 2012 Share #1 Posted March 26, 2012 Advertisement (gone after registration) On holiday in Dorset and was photographing the NT's magnificent Kingston Lacy mansion today. I noticed odd behaviour from the shutter in that it was tending to release only when I started to lift my finger off the button. Have just taken the film out to see what is going on, at speeds > 1/30 the curtains only move after releasing the button. Having worked my way down through the speed range and started back up again, when I reached 1/60 the second curtain jammed mid-way and the shutter mechanism seems to be totally jammed When I return from holiday I will obviously have to send it for repair but wonder at what component(s) have failed and the likely price for repair (UK)? The six month warranty that it came with expired at the end of 2011. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted March 26, 2012 Posted March 26, 2012 Hi Keith (M), Take a look here M4 Shutter Curtains Jammed. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
wattsy Posted March 26, 2012 Share #2 Posted March 26, 2012 This kind of damage can be caused by a chip of film getting caught. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wattsy Posted March 26, 2012 Share #3 Posted March 26, 2012 By the way, I don't know about the cost. When something like this happened to me (my first Leica after about a week of ownership:eek:) Leica kindly repaired the curtains for free. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falstaff Posted March 26, 2012 Share #4 Posted March 26, 2012 Give Peter at CRR a call. Good work, good prices and the two times I used him, on time. Falstaff Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomB_tx Posted March 26, 2012 Share #5 Posted March 26, 2012 A piece of film can jam the shutter and not cause damage. I recently got a bargain on a '50s SLR with jammed shutter. After removing the mirror box found a fragment of film rolled-up in the curtain, causing it to drag. Removed the fragment and the shutter worked perfectly. So don't assume an expensive repair. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith (M) Posted March 26, 2012 Author Share #6 Posted March 26, 2012 This kind of damage can be caused by a chip of film getting caught. I did consider that and have examined the interior as closely as I can but have not seen any sign of such a fragment. I always leave some of the film leader protruding from the cassette when I rewind a film and therefore know that there has not been any damage to the leaders, at least during my ownership (and the camera had been serviced prior to me buying it from a reputable dealer). I suppose a component failure has to be occasionally expected in a precision mechanism of such age... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nobbylon Posted March 26, 2012 Share #7 Posted March 26, 2012 Advertisement (gone after registration) Component failure is extremely rare with Leica film cameras. They were built to last however it sounds like the shutter release is not doing it's job properly. I'll second Peter at CRR. A true gentleman who's always got time for me when I ring and ask him technical questions when I'm doing my painting and minor tweaking for my projects. The only failures I've had in 10 years with different M's are light shield felt strip jamming a shutter (m2), a curtain detachment from an M2 and a wind clutch that had worn engagement lugs on an M6. I doubt it's a big problem and whatever it is, it can be fixed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tobey bilek Posted March 28, 2012 Share #8 Posted March 28, 2012 Trying to force an extra frame tears the sprocket holes and the chips fall into the tracks. You or previous owner(s) did it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest suilvenman Posted March 29, 2012 Share #9 Posted March 29, 2012 Keith, according to the CRR site an M4 shutter repair is £98. I, too, can personally vouch for Peter Grisaffi's work - in my case, a self-timer repair and full service on an SL. Given his workload, he's very generous with his time on telephone enquiries. Ken. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
philipus Posted March 29, 2012 Share #10 Posted March 29, 2012 I did consider that and have examined the interior as closely as I can but have not seen any sign of such a fragment. I always leave some of the film leader protruding from the cassette when I rewind a film and therefore know that there has not been any damage to the leaders, at least during my ownership (and the camera had been serviced prior to me buying it from a reputable dealer). I suppose a component failure has to be occasionally expected in a precision mechanism of such age... My M3 caused what looked like light leaks. The camera was within warranty and when servicing it Tamarkin found a piece of film behind the pressure plate. So don't forget to look there, and shake the camera about a bit (gently). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith (M) Posted March 29, 2012 Author Share #11 Posted March 29, 2012 I realised yesterday evening that the M4 is still within it's six month guarantee (doh!), so emailed the dealer (Peter Loy) with the details of the problem and requesting an address to send the camera to when we have returned from holiday. My email was sent at about 7.00pm and I though I might have a reply before the weekend. Fifteen minutes later my phone burbled to indicate new emails and lo & behold, there was a reply from Peter commiserating on the failure and telling me to send it to Newton Ellis & Co in Liverpool. How is that for prompt customer service! As an aside, I note that Newton Ellis & Co do not feature in the forum's 'Leica Repair Specialists' list. Has anyone have any dealings with them? Good, bad or indifferent results? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebidwell Posted March 29, 2012 Share #12 Posted March 29, 2012 I realised yesterday evening that the M4 is still within it's six month guarantee (doh!), so emailed the dealer (Peter Loy) with the details of the problem and requesting an address to send the camera to when we have returned from holiday. My email was sent at about 7.00pm and I though I might have a reply before the weekend. Fifteen minutes later my phone burbled to indicate new emails and lo & behold, there was a reply from Peter commiserating on the failure and telling me to send it to Newton Ellis & Co in Liverpool. How is that for prompt customer service! As an aside, I note that Newton Ellis & Co do not feature in the forum's 'Leica Repair Specialists' list. Has anyone have any dealings with them? Good, bad or indifferent results? I had dealings with Newton & Ellis about two years ago ago with my brother-in-laws Exacta Varex IIb which need a full service and new shutter blinds. In fairness the Exacta is a very old model which had gone out of production but I do have to say it was away for I'd say nine months or so. But they eventually sorted it and I think hes been very pleased with it. However if that's who Peter Loy is telling you to contact then I suppose that's what you should do. I'm surprised though that Peter is telling you to contact Newton Ellis instead of doing it himself as technically if its still under his warranty I should have thought he would handle it. Best of luck Regards Mike Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith (M) Posted March 29, 2012 Author Share #13 Posted March 29, 2012 I had dealings with Newton & Ellis about two years ago ago with my brother-in-laws Exacta Varex IIb which need a full service and new shutter blinds. In fairness the Exacta is a very old model which had gone out of production but I do have to say it was away for I'd say nine months or so. But they eventually sorted it and I think hes been very pleased with it. However if that's who Peter Loy is telling you to contact then I suppose that's what you should do. I'm surprised though that Peter is telling you to contact Newton Ellis instead of doing it himself as technically if its still under his warranty I should have thought he would handle it. Best of luck Regards Mike Mike, Perhaps I did not put it clearly but Peter is merely saying to send it to Newton Ellis for the repair to the shutter for which they will bill him, not me. Newton Ellis apparently carry out all servicing and repairs for the wide range of 'collectable' photographic equipment that Peter deals in. The camera will be returned direct to me afterwards, thus avoiding a 'me - Peter - Newton Ellis - Peter - me' time-wasting scenario. When my M7 went to Solms under warranty, I had to arrange for Ffordes to write to Leica CS stipulating that it could be returned direct to me rather than making a Germany - Scotland - Wiltshire circuit (even though the camera had been collected directly from me). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tobey bilek Posted March 29, 2012 Share #14 Posted March 29, 2012 I had chips in my very first Leica, two repair people failed to find them. I finally sent it to Leica and I personally talked to the person who is now head of repair in NJ who happened to be in my local store during a demo. He saw to it they were found and removed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebidwell Posted March 29, 2012 Share #15 Posted March 29, 2012 Hi Keith, sorry if I misread the situation re Peter Loy. He's a nice guy whom I've bought a few things from with no probs. Re Newton & Ellis, the guy I dealt with there is a really nice guy I think his name was Peter also however they did take an inordinately long time to fix the Exacta . I hope they don't take as long to fix Leica's. Best wishes Mike Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith (M) Posted May 1, 2012 Author Share #16 Posted May 1, 2012 Update on the repair. The M4 was received back from Newton Ellis late last week and over the weekend I put a roll of Tri-X through it across the range of shutter speed and aperture combinations. Developed it this morning and all the negs look to be consistently exposed. Can't scan it yet as being Tri-X it will have to spend the few days being flattened under a pile of books... (Cue Andy) So in essence, excellent and speedy service by Ian at Newton Ellis, efficiently facilitated by the dealer Peter Loy, from whom I purchased it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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