Loud shutter

[SrdjanS]

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Hi everyone,

 

I am quite new Leica user. Got M6 TTL few months ago. Love the camera big times. If I new how it's gonna be I would save my self a lot of money and time and buy one much earlier instead of going through all the cameras I've been till now.

 

But... and there is always one BUT... shutter on my Leica is quite loud. When I say loud I mean much louder than my friend M7. It's not like a major problem but I'm wondering if it means something (as if I should check the camera)? I live in Abu Dhabi and any kind of repair or even CLA is a bit of the pain in the neck, so I would like to start planning it as soon as possible.

 

Any advice is more than welcome.

[jerzy]

Srdjan,

many reasons, but most probable, if it is really louder than typically M6 are would be breaks for the curtains. Could be some parts which need replacement or CLA only.

In any case i would leave the work to a good repairman.

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[SrdjanS]

Thanks jerzy,

 

I wasn't even thinking about giving it to any repair shop. That's why I asked here, to get prepared for what might happen. I'll see to send it somewhere for full CLA.

[gyoung]

When I bought my M6ttl it was noticeably louder than my M3 (although not objectionable). It was secondhand, about 4 years old but had never been used. About a year later it had to go for repair after being knocked off the table in the customs hall at the airport, by another careless passenger. It was in a case, so no physical damage but rangefinder was off.

It was checked over by Malcolm Taylor, the rangefinder corrected and the shutter lubcricated and the brakes adjusted, now its pretty well as quiet as the M3.

Malcolm commented that poorly adjusted shutter brakes were not uncommon on M6tls produced in that era, straight from the factory

 

Gerry

[earleygallery]

The shutter in an M6 is mechanical. The shutter in the M7 is electronic. The mechanically timed shutter will be a little noisier. How does it sound when set to 1/15?

[SrdjanS]

@earleygallery: Well, I don't know what you mean by "how", all I can say is it doesn't sound "wrong". I mean it is the sound of shutter, doesn't sound like anything is broken.

[earleygallery]

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At 1/15 the M shutter makes a pretty distinctive sound like a ball bearing bouncing a few times.

 

In my experience if it's not making that sound there's usually a shutter fault.

[Guest]

Hi everyone,

 

I am quite new Leica user. Got M6 TTL few months ago. Love the camera big times. If I new how it's gonna be I would save my self a lot of money and time and buy one much earlier instead of going through all the cameras I've been till now.

 

But... and there is always one BUT... shutter on my Leica is quite loud. When I say loud I mean much louder than my friend M7. It's not like a major problem but I'm wondering if it means something (as if I should check the camera)? I live in Abu Dhabi and any kind of repair or even CLA is a bit of the pain in the neck, so I would like to start planning it as soon as possible.

 

Any advice is more than welcome.

 

Maybe try a slide film first?

It has the least exposure latitude, so any shutter malfunctions are visible much clearer than on any other film.

First find the correct exposure at f:5.6 and the necessary exposure time to go with it. Don't shoot yet.

Make the first exposure at maximal apperture and a reduce the exposure time accordingly. Next close one stop and double the time. Over again and again until the apperture if closed to the minimum and the times are long.

Putting the camera on a tripod and aiming at an evenly and constantly lit surface, should give evenly lit slides.

In order to fill the slide film, you could do the same procedure two more times: secondly overexposing a second series by one stop and thirdly (and finally) underexposing the whole series by one stop. This to check if your built-in light meter is correct - and if it's slightly off to still have a correctly exposed series.

 

Having 18 pages of paper and writing for every picture on each side

your apperture & exposure time pairs and making these notes part of all your test shots makes it more reliable and is worth the extra effort imo.

 

There are methods of checking shutter speeds with a vinyl disk turn-table, but you may not have one. And it's waaaay over the top imo. Cameras are for picture taking after all

 

Enjoy your M6 TTL!

It's my prefered Leica.

(The times wheel turns as on the digi-Ms and if you grow fond of it, you could have a MP view-finder built-in. But that is a totally different story .) Please keep us posted, if you find the time.

 

Cheers,

Simon

 

PS What James just wrote is exactelly correct. But you need to know the right sound. And for this you should have at least 3 or 4 M2-M6 models, that work as they should to train your ear.

[azzo]

@earleygallery: Well, I don't know what you mean by "how", all I can say is it doesn't sound "wrong". I mean it is the sound of shutter, doesn't sound like anything is broken.

 

 

 

You also might want to pop in a good camera shop (before sending it away) and politely ask if according to them, the shutter sounds right.

IMO, they should know/feel that something's not quite right.

[JonnyW]

Salam Studios have a technician in their service centre in Al Quoz in Dubai who deals with Leica issues, anything major and it gets sent back to Solms but it may be worth having a chat with them. I would suggest calling their Wafi branch and talking to Achmed in the photography department, I am sure he can help (+971 4 704 8484).

[semi-ambivalent]

Srdjan,

 

My brand new MP sounds "much louder" than my M3 (979xxx, 1958-ish). The MP also sounds crisper. A lot of time between those two and certainly some design changes. My guess is higher shutter tension/speed balanced by a narrower curtain slit in the MP as well as its age.

 

There's no way of knowing how many exposures your camera has made; how much it has "worn in". If it bothers you bring it to the tech JonnyW mentions here and let him have a look-see. He's probably listened to thousands of Leica shutters and would be a valuable resource for diagnostics.

 

Good luck,

s-a

[gyoung]

My M6ttl was noticeably louder than my M3 when I got it. It went to Malcolm Taylor who (among other things) lubricated the shutter and adjusted the brakes. Now its only a bit noisier than the M3. According to Malcolm Taylor the M6s etc often left the factory with poorly adjusted brakes :-(

 

Gerry

 

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